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Category: East Asia
China forces Uyghurs to work during Ramadan in bid to prevent fasting
Read RFA coverage of this story in Uyghur. Chinese authorities in Xinjiang are forcing Uyghurs to work during Ramadan to prevent them from fasting and praying as the Islamic holy month requires, sources in China’s northwestern region said. Videos circulating on social media platforms last week showed Uyghurs performing forced labor en masse during Ramadan. Some toiled in fields, while others performed cleaning work. The move is one of several measures by authorities to ban religious practices among the roughly 12 million mostly Muslim Uyghurs who live in Xinjiang amid China’s wider, systematic persecution of Uyghurs and their culture. Muslims are urged to fast between dawn and dusk during Ramadan, which this year runs from Feb. 28 to March 29. In most countries, Muslims can do this freely. But in China, authorities have banned fasting during the holy month under the guise of stamping out religious extremism — even requiring people to send officials video proof that they are eating lunch during the day. They also have forbidden Uyghurs from gathering at mosques to pray on Fridays and from observing other Muslim holidays. A video posted on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, showed residents of Hotan toiling in agricultural fields on the second day of Ramadan. Other information from a video posted on the seventh day of Ramadan indicated that residents of all Uyghur households had to perform collective cleaning. None of the videos gave details, such as where the residents performed the work, and no one offered an explanation as to why it had become necessary to work during Ramadan. “For 15 days, the residents have been working under the leadership of village and county governments to clean house yards and renovate public restrooms,” said a staffer who works for the Onsu county government in Aksu prefecture. Labor is good for you A policeman at a county police station told RFA that some residents were unhappy about being forced to work during Ramadan, but tried to defend the measure, saying that the labor was beneficial to them. “They hope that local authorities reduce their forced labor time and allow them to do their housework,” he said. A staff member of a neighborhood committee in Onsu county said Uyghurs have been working unpaid since the beginning of Ramadan, and they must perform cleaning as required or be punished for resisting. “We divided households into two groups, and each group had 10 people, and they all had to perform the expected tasks,” the staffer said. “We have not taken any measures against anyone opposing the government’s order.” Those who refused to do the work would be detained in a local cadre’s office for 7-10 days or taken “to the camps” if their resistance was strong, the staffer said, referring to the re-education camps Beijing built across Xinjiang. Uyghurs living in the Gulbagh neighborhood of Aksu’s Shayar county cleaned and organized their gardens and yards, the police officer said. Uyghur workers sew clothing at a garment factory in Maralbeshi county, northwestern China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, in 2018.(Chinese State Media) Chinese authorities in Aksu prefecture are forcing Uyghur residents to work during Ramadan so they can’t fast, said a person with knowledge of the situation who requested anonymity for safety reasons. Authorities also have required Uyghur villagers in the prefecture to attend political study sessions on the central Chinese government’s policies in Xinjiang nonstop since the beginning of Ramadan, this person said. Village cadres are intentionally holding the sessions during sahur, the pre-dawn meal, or iftar, the meal after sunset during the holy month. such as studying central government’s Xinjiang policies, the source said. A policeman from Uchturpan county in Aksu prefecture said the purpose of forced labor during Ramadan was to observe the Uyghurs. “Our purpose in doing this is to explain to them the policies of our [Chinese] Communist Party, educate them, and observe their thoughts and feelings,” he said. If a Uyghurs tire easily, feel weak or do not eat or drink while working, it proves that they have been fasting and have an ideological problem, he said. “Around 10 people were reluctant to comply with these rules, so we intensified our ideological work on them,” he said. Translated by RFA Uyghur. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika
North Korean soldiers scrounge for cigarette butts
Read a version of this story in Korean The North Korean army is ordering soldiers to stop scrounging the streets for cigarette butts to smoke even as commanders keep some of the soldiers’ monthly cigarette rations for themselves, members of the country’s military told Radio Free Asia. The subject was broached during a video conference of the General Political Bureau of the army on March 14, a member of the military in the northern province of Ryanggang told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “The meeting very seriously discussed the issue of lax discipline among commanders and soldiers,” the military member said, adding that desertion and theft were also brought up as examples of lax discipline. “At this meeting, soldiers were strongly warned against picking up cigarette butts,” he said. “It was officially declared that any soldier caught picking up cigarette butts on the street would be punished with revolutionary labor for at least three months,” a reference to getting the toughest chores. According to the military member, people sifting through cigarette butts to salvage unsmoked tobacco is a recent problem, but it’s a breach of decorum for a uniformed soldier to do it. “Each soldier is provided with 15 packs of cigarettes per month, but the commanders take them all up. So, the soldiers are left picking up the butts because they don’t have any cigarettes to smoke,” he said. “In the past, it was just the lower-ranked soldiers who looked for butts, but now even the higher-ranked soldiers are doing it too.” Cigarette rations have declined, another member of the military from the same province told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely. “In the case of the border guards, each soldier used to be supplied with 15 packs of Baekseung-brand cigarettes per month, but since last fall, they have only been supplied with 10 packs,” he said. “After the commanders skim off the top, the soldiers are left only 7 packs per month,” he explained. He said that every afternoon the leaders of the border guards send two soldiers to go collect cigarette butts because every unit has a shortage of cigarettes. “Even the border guard units, which are supposedly well-supplied, is in this state, and situations are much worse with other infantry units,” the second source said. “What is more troubling is that this year, even female soldiers have been spotted out on the streets, picking up cigarette butts.” Male units of the border guard are after the tobacco, but the female guards are after the filters, which contain cotton that can be used to make clothes or ceremonial blankets for newlyweds, a customary gift at weddings, he said. So the women — who aren’t allowed to smoke at all — trade the tobacco they collected in exchange for the filters that the men collected. With the money they get for selling the filters, they buy food for their unit. “The supply chain for soldiers is in such a sad state that soldiers are selling cigarette butts for food,” he said. “I wonder if threats like revolutionary labor can even work against these soldiers.” Translated by Clare S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika
Cambodia’s Ream naval base to open in early April
The Chinese-developed Ream naval base in southwest Cambodia’s Sihanoukville province is slated to open early next month after three years of construction, a Cambodian commander has said. General Vong Pisen, commander-in-chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, or RCAF, told the new Japanese military attaché in the kingdom that after the launch in early April, Cambodia would allow warships from his country to be the first to “historically” dock at Ream. Up until now, the main, new part of the base where China has built a deep draft pier capable of handling ships as large as aircraft carriers, a dry dock and other facilities, has been off limits to foreign vessels apart from Chinese ones. When a U.S. Navy ship visited Cambodia for the first time in eight years in December last year, it docked at Sihanoukville Autonomous Port some 20 kilometers (12 miles) away. Radio Free Asia reported last month that China sent two more warships to Ream, indicating that the construction may be near completion and the planned transfer of Chinese ships to Cambodia was imminent. This week, the naval base’s management announced that the inauguration ceremony for a Cambodia-China Logistics and Training Center would be held soon. RELATED STORIES Chinese defense company builds industrial estate in Cambodia Canadian warship visits Cambodia after drills in South China Sea Cambodia asks to renew joint drills with US amid Ream base concerns China’s foothold China and Cambodia began developing the Ream naval base with Beijing’s funding in June 2021 but a ground breaking-ceremony was held one year later in 2022. Last August, when visiting Ream, a RFA reporter witnessed the fast pace of development and was told that 100 Chinese naval personnel were “working day and night” on it. Together with the new facilities, Beijing is to give Cambodia two vessels, likely Type 056A missile corvettes, and has been training the Cambodian navy how to use them. Cambodia’s defense minister Tea Seiha (second left) inspects the Ream naval base on March 15, 2025. To his right is his cousin Tea Sokha, the new navy commander.(Facebook/Ream naval base) During the meeting on Tuesday between Gen. Vong Pisen and Japan’s military attaché, Takashi Hara, Vong said that the fact that Japanese vessels were to be given the first access showed “the high level of cooperation, communication and mutual trust” in the Cambodia-Japan comprehensive strategic partnership. Political commentator Kim Sok told RFA Khmer service that the gesture was designed to ease tensions surrounding the Chinese military presence at Ream because Japan is an ally of the United States and at the same time not considered a rival to China, therefore neutral. The U.S. has repeatedly expressed concerns over the lack of transparency in the Ream base’s development while Cambodia’s neighbors worry that a foothold at Ream would give China better control over the Indo-China peninsula and the South China Sea. Cambodia’s constitution does not allow foreign bases in the country but analysts say that China, having invested a large sum of money in the project, would have preferential access to Ream. Collin Koh, senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said that the arrangement was to give Beijing access to Ream’s facilities “predicated upon an on-demand basis, meaning they would have to be made available upon China’s request.” Edited by Mike Firn We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika
Villagers flee as fighting rocks Myanmar’s delta
Read RFA coverage of these topics in Burmese. War is encroaching into Myanmar’s rice-basket Ayeyarwady River delta, residents said on Tuesday, as fighters from the powerful Arakan Army, or AA, rebel group pile pressure on the military as they push out of their home territory. The AA has defeated forces of the junta that seized power in 2021 in almost the whole of Rakhine state, and while it focuses on the last military-controlled pockets, it is also building on its momentum to attack into the Magway region to the northeast, Bago to the east and Ayeyarwady to the south. More than 1,000 people from three delta villagers in Ayeyarwady’s Lemyethna township, about 35 kilometers (20 miles) to the west of Myanmar’s main river, were forced to flee from their homes as fighting erupted on Monday when junta forces tried to expel the AA from the area they recently occupied. “Le Khon Gyi, Wut Kone and San Kone, those villages had to move. There were about 1,000 people,” said one resident who declined to be identified for security reasons. It was the first time there had ever been fighting in the area, residents said, another indication of the unprecedented setbacks the junta has suffered over the past 18 months as ethnic minority insurgents and allied pro-democracy fighters battle to end military rule. The military is hoping to retake lost territory during the current dry season, and expand its area of control in the run-up to an election due by January, which it hopes will re-assert its authority and legitimacy, at home and abroad. Anti-junta forces reject an election under military rule as a farce and have vowed to defend their areas of control. Monday’s battle was near the Pathein-Monywa highway, a major north-south road connection where military patrols had increased, residents said. Neither the AA nor the military’s 344 Artillery Battalion which operates in the area has released any information about casualties. Their spokespeople were not available for comment. The AA draws its support from Rakhine state’s mostly Buddhist ethnic Rakhine people. Of all of Myanmar’s insurgent forces, it is closest to defeating the military in a state and taking power. The loss of the state would be an unprecedented blow to the military and would force China, which has major investments in the state, to deal directly with the insurgents to protect its interests. Chinese companies have energy facilities on the coast from where oil and gas pipelines run all the way to its Yunnan province, and it also has plans for a deep sea port as part of its Belt and Road Initiative. Tightly controlled military-run media has not reported on the dire situation facing its forces in the state and rarely gives any detail about fighting anywhere. On Tuesday, the military-run Myanmar Alin newspaper did mention the war in Rakhine state but only in connection with the disruption to the education system. Fewer than half of all school leavers in the state were able to take their college entrance exams, all in the last three pockets of territory under junta control, because of the fighting, it said. Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by RFA Staff. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika
Myanmar children, monks among dozens killed in heavy airstrikes
Read RFA coverage of this topic in Burmese. Myanmar’s military killed 40 civilians, including Buddhist monks and children, in airstrikes in northern Myanmar as it tries to pound its enemies into submission, insurgents told Radio Free Asia on Monday. Myanmar’s rising toll of civilian casualties comes as a humanitarian crisis is looming and a major food aid agency announced it will have to cut support because of a funding shortfall. Myanmar has been engulfed by conflict since the military overthrew an elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, with thousands of civilians killed, villages razed and some 3.5 million people displaced by war and natural disasters. Forced onto the defensive by unprecedented opposition from young people from the majority Barmar community teaming up with ethnic minority insurgents, the military has increasingly turned to its air force to unleash devastation, often on civilian areas, rights groups and insurgents say. “We can say they are purposefully attacking civilians,” said Lway Yay Oo, spokesperson for the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA, an ethnic minority insurgent force in Shan state, which is on the border with China. Junta airstrikes on the Sein Yadanar monastery in Shan state’s Nawnghkio town on Sunday, killed 13 civilians, including six monks, four of them young novices, said Lway Yay Oo. Seventeen people were wounded in the air attack, 13 of them monks, she said, adding that the military was trying to force the TNLA back into peace talks that China, with extensive economic interests in Myanmar, is trying to broker. The Myanmar army has a long record of trying to overcome insurgencies by undermining their civilian support, often by attacking villagers, rights investigators say. Lway Yay Oo said there was no question the military was targeting civilians. “They’re deliberately attacking religious buildings in Nawnghkio and they also bombed the hospital …. We’ve also seen that they’re burning and destroying homes.” The spokesperson did not say anything about prospects for talks with the military, which is keen to roll back insurgent gains over the past year as it prepares for an election, due by January, which it hopes will bolster its legitimacy at home and abroad. Myanmar’s military rarely releases information about the fighting, which has erupted in almost all corners of the country, and attempts by RFA to reach the junta spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, by telephone were not successful. Related stories Living ‘day-by-day’ in Myanmar’s rebel camps Myanmar junta troops massacre 11 villagers, most too old to flee, residents say Myanmar’s Karen fighters capture junta camp, soldiers flee to Thailand Blood on road to Mandalay On Friday, a junta air attack on Let Pan Hla village, on a main road 70 kilometers (45 miles) north of Mandalay city, killed up to 27 people, according to a spokesperson for a pro-democracy insurgent force operating in the area. “They attacked for no reason and deliberately targeted the public. They were targeting customers and vendors in a busy street near the village market,” said Mandalay People’s Defense Force spokesperson, who goes by the one name Osman. Residents of Let Pan Hla village, north of Mandalay city, survey damage after a Myanmar military airstrike on March 14, 2025.(Mandalay People’s Defense Force) The People’s Defense Force, or PDF, captured the area in July and junta forces have been on the attack ever since, he said. The PDF commander, Soe Thu Yazaw, said in a social media post that six children were among the dead and many people were wounded. “The bombing targeted people going about their daily activities at the market, so the number of injured is also high,” he said. “Long distance buses often stop in Let Pan Hla for food and a break, so it’s busy.” The death and destruction from the fighting is compounding a dire humanitarian outlook in a country where the U.N. says a “staggering” 15.2 million people are unable to meet their minimum daily food needs and some 2.3 million people are facing emergency levels of hunger. The U.N. food agency has warned that more than one million people will be cut off from its food assistance from April due to critical funding shortfalls. “The impending cuts will have a devastating impact on the most vulnerable communities across the country, many of whom depend entirely on WFP’s support to survive,” Michael Dunford, representative and country director of the World Food Programme, said in a statement. Internally displaced people in Rakhine state, where fighting has been particularly heavy, would be hard hit, the WFP said. Aid agencies helping in Myanmar have been under pressure since a January order by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to freeze all global aid until a review was completed. Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by RFA Staff. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika
PHOTOS: Thousands rally against China’s ‘mega-embassy’ in London
LONDON — Hong Kong rights groups, Tibetans, Uyghurs and local residents gathered at the historic former Royal Mint Court on Saturday to rally against China’s proposed ‘mega-embassy’, voicing fears that Beijing would use the building to harass and monitor dissidents living abroad. It’s the second mass protest in in five weeks at the site near the Tower of London. Organizers estimated that 6,000 people participated. Video: Chinese ‘mega-embassy’ protest in LondonThe protesters dispersed peacefully after the rally and no one was arrested. The Chinese government purchased the historic building in 2018 with plans to build what would become Beijing’s largest diplomatic facility globally. An architect working on the project revealed some of the details of the project, including a tunnel connecting two of the former Royal Mint buildings, basement rooms and accommodation for hundreds of staff. Signs depicting British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Chinese President Xi Jinping as Winnie the Pooh are wait for protesters at the proposed site of the Chinese “mega-embassy” in London, March 15, 2025.(Ka Kit Chan/RFA Cantonese) Protesters gather near the proposed site of the Chinese “mega-embassy” in London, March 15, 2025.(Ka Kit Chan/RFA Cantonese) Protesters gather near the proposed site of the Chinese “mega-embassy” in London, March 15, 2025.(Ka Kit Chan/RFA Cantonese) A protester holds a sign depicting British Prime MInister Keir Starmer and Winnie the Pooh which represents Chinese President Xi Jinping at the proposed site of the Chinese “mega-embassy” in London, March 15, 2025.(Ka Kit Chan/RFA Cantonese) We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika
RFA operations may cease following federal grants termination
The federal grants that fund Radio Free Asia and partner networks were terminated Saturday morning, according to a grant termination notice received by RFA. An executive order issued by U.S. President Donald Trump late Friday calls for the reduction of non-statutory components of the United States Agency for Global Media, or USAGM, the federal agency that funds RFA and several other independent global news organizations. The U.S. Congress appropriates funds to USAGM, which disburses the monies to the grantee news outlets. The brief order calls for the elimination “to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law” of USAGM and six other unrelated government entities that work on museums, homelessness, minority business development and more. While the order addresses “non-statutory components” of USAGM, RFA is statutorily established, meaning it was congressionally established by a statute in the International Broadcasting Act . But a letter sent to the president of RFA Saturday and signed by USAGM special adviser Kari Lake, whose title is listed as “Senior Advisor to the Acting CEO with Authorities Delegated by Acting CEO,” notes that the agency’s federal grant has been terminated and that RFA is obliged to “promptly refund any unobligated funds.” It says that an appeal can be made within 30 days. It was not immediately clear how and when operations would cease, but RFA is solely funded through federal grants. In a statement issued Saturday, RFA President Bay Fang said the outlet planned to challenge the order. “The termination of RFA’s grant is a reward to dictators and despots, including the Chinese Communist Party, who would like nothing better than to have their influence go unchecked in the information space,” the statement says. “Today’s notice not only disenfranchises the nearly 60 million people who turn to RFA’s reporting on a weekly basis to learn the truth, but it also benefits America’s adversaries at our own expense.” An editorially independent news outlet funded through an act of Congress, RFA began its first Mandarin language broadcasts in 1996, expanding in subsequent years to a total of nine language services: Cantonese, Uyghur, Tibetan, Korean, Khmer, Vietnamese, Burmese and Lao. RFA news programming is disseminated through radio, television, social media and the web in countries that have little to no free press, often providing the only source of uncensored, non-propaganda news. Because RFA covers closed-off countries and regions like North Korea, Tibet and Xinjiang, its English-language translations remain the primary source of information from many of these areas. Its parent agency, USAGM, oversees broadcasters that work in more than 60 languages and reach an audience of hundreds of millions. These include Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which reported Saturday that its grants had also been terminated. Voice of America and the Office for Cuba Broadcasting, which are directly run by USAGM, put all staff on paid administrative leave Saturday. In a post on Facebook, VOA Director Michael Abramowitz wrote: “I learned this morning that virtually the entire staff of Voice of America—more than 1300 journalists, producers and support staff—has been placed on administrative leave today. So have I.” Committee to Protect Journalists Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna urged Congress to restore funding to USAGM, “which provides uncensored news in countries where the press is restricted.” “It is outrageous that the White House is seeking to gut the Congress-funded agency supporting independent journalism that challenges narratives of authoritarian regimes around the world,” he said in a statement. China watchers cautioned that cuts to RFA in particular could impact Washington’s ability to counter Beijing. “Radio Free Asia plays a vital role in countering China’s influence by providing accurate and uncensored news to audiences facing relentless propaganda from the People’s Republic of China,” Rep. Ami Bera, a California Democrat, wrote in a post on X. “RFA helps advance American values amidst our ongoing Great Power Competition with China and exposes egregious human rights abuses like the Uyghur genocide and Beijing’s covert activities abroad.” Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul called the dismantling of RFA and its sister publications “giant gifts to China,” while Human Rights Watch’s Maya Wang posted that in places like Xinjiang and Tibet: “Radio Free Asia has been one of the few which can get info out. Its demise would mean that these places will become info black holes, just as the CCP wants them.” In a statement issued by USAGM Saturday evening and posted to X by Lake, the agency deemed itself “not salvageable” due to a range of alleged findings of security violations and self-dealing, though few details were provided. “From top-to-bottom this agency is a giant rot and burden to the American taxpayer — a national security risk for this nation — and irretrievably broken. While there are bright spots within the agency with personnel who are talented and dedicated public servants, this is the exception rather than the rule,” the statement read. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika
Immigration crackdown in southern China puts Myanmar migrant workers on edge
Read RFA coverage of this topic in Burmese. Undocumented Myanmar migrant workers in southern China are living in fear amid an increase in raids by Chinese authorities on farms and factories near the border, workers and labor activists say. The arrests increased after 500 workers at a factory in Yunnan province protested against poor labor conditions in early March, migrant workers told Radio Free Asia. Ever since, Chinese police have made daily arrests of at least 30 Myanmar migrant workers in the border towns of Ruili and Jiegao who are undocumented or carry expired border passes, which people use to cross the border without a passport, the workers told RFA Burmese. Win Naing, who landed a job at a toy factory Ruili in early January, was issued a border pass so that he could commute to work, but it was short-term and has since expired. But now he’s too afraid to go outside, and isn’t sure when he’ll next see his his wife and three children, who are just across the border in Myanmar. “Since we stay inside the factory, we don’t have to worry as much about being arrested, but we can’t leave at all,” said Win Naing, who earns around 1,500 Chinese yuan (US$210) per month, considered a decent salary. “Without passports, we have to work and live very cautiously.” Most of those detained are being held in prisons in Ruili and nearby Yinjing village, they said, although some have been deported and banned from re-entering China “for several years.” People are desperate for jobs Every day, nearly 10,000 people wait at the border in Muse, in Myanmar, for a chance to cross into China and authorities only issue passes to about 700 of them. Short-term border passes are good for one week of entry into China, and when they expire, holders must reapply for one in Muse. But those who make it across often overstay their pass, said a resident of Shan state’s Kutkai township named De Dee, who is working in Ruili. That puts them at risk of arrest during frequent police inspections in places such as the Htike Li and Hwa Fong markets, where Myanmar migrants are known to live and work. “Chinese officials conduct checks on the streets and even inside homes,” she said. “Around 30 or 40 migrant workers are arrested each day.” The situation is similar in Jiegao, a migrant working there said on condition of anonymity due to security concerns. He said there are frequently “police cars circling the markets,” while authorities regularly “stop motorbikes and arrest people.” A migrant working in Muse told RFA that the amount of time undocumented workers are detained in the Ruili and Yinjing prisons varies, as does the lengths of bans on their re-entry to China. “Some undocumented migrants … are detained for a week, 10 days, or a month,” he said. “Those arrested in early March — mostly women— following the protest were banned from reentering China for about five or six years.” Those banned from re-entry who need to return to China are forced to pay more than 2 million kyats (US$953) — an incredibly steep cost for the average Myanmar citizen — to do so via illegal routes, the migrant added. Aid workers were unable to definitively say how many Myanmar migrants have been arrested in China since the protest earlier this month, and RFA was unable to independently confirm the number. ‘There are so many of them’ Attempts by RFA to contact the Chinese Embassy in Yangon about the arrests of undocumented Myanmar nationals in Ruili and Jiegao went unanswered by the time of publishing, as did calls to the Myanmar Consulate in Yunnan. RFA Mandarin spoke with a Chinese resident of Ruili surnamed Sun who said that police in the town had been targeting illegal Myanmar migrants for at least six months, although the arrests had intensified beginning in March. “Most of them are men who enter the country and go to the industrial park to find work, including jobs making parts for domestic cell phones and daily-use hardware, with salaries of 1,000-3,000 yuan (US$140-420) per month,” he said. Sun said that illegal migrants who are arrested “are usually repatriated, but not fined.” A merchant surnamed Zhang from Yunnan’s Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, where Ruili and Jiegao are located, told RFA that Myanmar migrants also find work in area restaurants and massage parlors. He said that “because there are so many of them, the Chinese police are not in a position to carry out mass expulsions” and choose to repatriate small numbers of them back to Myanmar at a time. Translated by Aung Naing and RFA Mandarin. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika
Did European countries ban popular Chinese film ‘Ne Zha 2’?
A claim began to circulate in Chinese-language posts that the Chinese animated film “Ne Zha 2” has been banned in Europe. But the claim is false. Keyword searches found no credible reports or announcement to back the claim. The film’s distributor confirmed that it had bought exclusive theatrical distribution rights for the film in more than 37 countries in March, including European nations. The claim was . Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture also denied rumors that the film was banned in Taiwan, stating that the movie has not yet applied for a Taiwanese theatrical release. Translated by Shen Ke. Edited by Taejun Kang. Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) was established to counter disinformation in today’s complex media environment. We publish fact-checks, media-watches and in-depth reports that aim to sharpen and deepen our readers’ understanding of current affairs and public issues. If you like our content, you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika
Taiwan president slams China as ‘foreign hostile force’ in toughest rhetoric yet
Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te on Thursday called for a tougher response to Beijing, describing China as an “foreign hostile force” intent on “absorbing” the democratic island — the toughest rhetoric yet toward Beijing from a Taiwanese leader.
