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Category: East Asia
INTERVIEW: How the West has been misreading China for years
Frank Dikötter, author of the “People’s Trilogy” about China under of Mao Zedong, has been chair professor of humanities at the University of Hong Kong since 2006. He recently published “China After Mao,” in which he argues that claims that the Chinese Communist Party has significantly changed direction in the post-Mao era are a misreading by those outside the country who “live in a fantasy world.” He told RFA Mandarin in a recent interview that Chinese leaders have been very consistent in their messaging on political reform, and their economic goals and determination to maintain their dictatorship at all costs. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. RFA: What is the difference between the Mao era and the post-Mao era? Dikötter: So, what have [Chinese leaders] been telling us? A very simple story: China is in the process of “reform and opening up.” So, there will be economic progress, and with economic change there will be political progress. China will become first a capitalist country and then a democracy. Of course, what has happened is the exact opposite. If you read the documentation carefully, you find out that never at any one point did Deng Xiaoping, Hu Yaobang, Zhao Ziyang, Jiang Zemin, all the way up to today, never did a single leader ever say, “We want a capitalist system.” They all said the exact opposite, that they would uphold the socialist road. It is in the Constitution. People take pictures in front of portraits of, from left, the late Chinese chairman Mao Zedong and former Chinese leaders Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao and current president Xi Jinping at an exhibition in Beijing, Sept. 26, 2019. (Wang Zhao/AFP) All along, they were very clear about what they wanted. They wanted to reinforce the socialist economy. So what is a socialist economy? [It’s] not necessarily something that you have under Mao. A socialist economy is one where the state has or controls the means of production. Money, labor, fertilizer, energy, transportation, all these are the means of production. They all belonged to the state. Today the money belongs to state banks. The land belongs to the state. Energy is controlled by the state. Large enterprises are controlled by the state. That was their goal, and they achieved it. Workers are seen near pumpjacks at a China National Petroleum Corp oil field in Bayingol in northwestern China’s Xinjiang region, Aug. 7, 2019. (Reuters) The second point is democratization. At no point did anyone say they wanted to have a separation of powers. On the contrary, Zhao Ziyang said very clearly back in 1987 that China would never have the separation of powers. Xi Jinping also made that very clear. But nobody in the West heard them, because they didn’t want to hear it. RFA: Has everyone misjudged the Chinese Communist Party? Dikötter: There is a profound failure on the part of a great many people, politicians, experts and scholars outside China to simply listen to what all of these leaders said very clearly and also to read and understand what’s been happening. The failure is reasonably straightforward. It is a refusal to believe that a communist — a Chinese communist — is a communist. Delegates attend the closing ceremony of the 20th Chinese Communist Party’s Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Oct. 22, 2022. (Noel Celis/AFP) The truth is that the origins of the People’s Republic of China are not in the Tang Dynasty, not in the Song Dynasty, not in the Ming or the Qing. They are in 1917, when Vladimir Lenin seizes power and establishes a communist system. That is what inspired China after 1949. That was the system behind it. So, if you do not understand that China is communist, if you keep on saying it’s not really communist, that they pretend to be communist, you will never understand anything. RFA: Will China ever have a true democracy? Dikötter: In the People’s Republic, you have a dictatorship, but they call themselves a democracy. They have no elections, but they say they have free elections. So what is an election in the People’s Republic? If you vote for the person they tell you to vote for. They give you a list one, two, three names. You can you can pick one of these three. That’s it. That’s an election. People walk along a street in the Dongcheng district of Beijing, Dec. 3, 2023. (Pedro Pardo/ AFP) RFA: You devote an entire chapter in your book to the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, but you don’t go into the rights and wrongs of it. Why not? Dikötter: The Tiananmen massacre is … the most important moment after 1976. The 200 Chinese tanks that entered Beijing in June 1989 crushed Chinese people. That’s really quite extraordinary. It’s important because it shows that the party had an iron determination to retain its monopoly on power. RFA: Do you believe that the Chinese people want democracy? Dikötter: Nobody knows what people in China want, for a very simple reason — they can’t vote. … If you do not have freedom of expression, if you cannot express your opinion at the ballot box, then we simply don’t know. You don’t know what people think in a dictatorship. But it’s probably safe to assume that a system based on the separation of powers, including freedom of the press and a solid judicial system, would probably be beneficial, for instance, for the economy. … This is basically a modern economic model based on debt. You spend to create the illusion of growth. Then you spend more. My feeling is that there may be people in the People’s Republic of China who are probably thinking about whether this is really a successful system or not. That’s all we can say. Police detain a person in downtown Hong Kong on the 34th anniversary of the 1989 Beijing’s Tiananmen Square crackdown, near where the candlelight vigil is usually held, June 4, 2023….
China arrests more than 1,000 Tibetans protesting Chinese dam project
Police on Friday arrested more than 1,000 Tibetans including monks from at least two local monasteries, in southwestern China’s Sichuan province after they protested the construction of a dam expected to destroy six monasteries and force the relocation of two villages. The arrested individuals – both monks and local residents – are being held in various places throughout Dege County in Kardze Tibetan Prefecture because the police do not have a single place to detain them, said the sources who requested anonymity for safety reasons. The sources said that those arrested have been forced to bring their own bedding and tsampa – a staple food for Tibetans that can be used to sustain themselves for long periods. One source said that the fact that police are asking Tibetans to bring their own tsampa and bedding indicates that they will not be released anytime soon. On Thursday, Feb. 22, Chinese authorities deployed specially trained armed police in Kardze’s Upper Wonto village region to arrest more than 100 Tibetan monks from Wonto and Yena monasteries along with residents, many of whom were beaten and injured, and later admitted to Dege County Hospital for medical treatment, sources said. Citizen videos from Thursday, show Chinese officials in black uniforms forcibly restraining monks, who can be heard crying out to stop the dam construction. After the mass arrests, several Tibetans from Upper Wonto village who were employed in other parts of the country returned to their hometown to visit the detention centers. They were demanding the release of the arrested Tibetans. However, they too got arrested by the authorities. The Chinese Embassy in Washington hasn’t commented on the arrests other than in a statement issued Thursday that said the country respects the rule of law. “China protects the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese nationals by the law,” the statement said. Massive dam project The arrests followed days of protests and appeals by local Tibetans since Feb. 14 for China to stop the construction of the Gangtuo hydropower station. On 14th February at least 300 Tibetans gathered outside Dege County Town Hall to protest the building of the Gangtuo dam, which is part of a massive 13-tier hydropower complex on the Drichu River with a total planned capacity of 13,920 megawatts. The dam project is on the Drichu River, called Jinsha in Chinese, which is located on the upper reaches of the Yangtze, one of China’s most important waterways. Local Tibetans have been particularly distraught that the construction of the hydropower station will result in the forced resettlement of two villages – Upper Wonto and Shipa villages – and six key monasteries in the area – Yena, Wonto, and Khardho in Wangbuding township in Dege county, and Rabten, Gonsar and Tashi in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, sources told RFA. Sources on Friday also confirmed that some of the arrested monks with poor health conditions were allowed to return to their monasteries. However, the monasteries – which include Wonto Monastery, known for its ancient murals dating back to the 13th century – remained desolate on the eve of Chotrul Duchen, or the Day of Miracles, which is commemorated on the 15th day of the first month of the Tibetan New Year, or Losar, and marks the celebration of a series of miracles performed by the Buddha. “In the past, monks of Wonto Monastery would traditionally preside over large prayer gatherings and carry out all the religious activities,” said one of the sources. “This time, the monasteries are quiet and empty. … It’s very sad to see such monasteries of historical importance being prepared for destruction. The situation is the same at Yena Monastery.” Protests elsewhere Fueled by outrage over the destruction of cultural sites and alleged human rights abuses in Derge, Tibet, Tibetan communities across the globe have erupted in protest. From Dharamsala, home to the Dalai Lama, to rallies outside Chinese embassies in New York and Switzerland, demonstrators are raising their voices. Kai Müller, head of the International Campaign for Tibet, condemned China’s “ruthless destruction” of Tibetan heritage, while Human Rights Watch highlighted the difficulty of obtaining information due to China’s tight control. These protests underscore the simmering tensions between the Tibetan people and the Chinese government, with concerns ranging from cultural erasure to potential threats to regional water security. Read about the entire struggle for Tibet and of His Highness Dalai Lama: https://ij-reportika.com/his-holiness-dalai-lama-and-the-tibetan-cause/
Over 100 scam gang suspects arrested in Myanmar
Junta troops arrested over 100 people while raiding a casino on the Thai-Myanmar border, locals said on Friday. The compound was the site of an online gambling den in Myanmar’s Tachileik city in eastern Shan state. The region comprising northern Thailand, eastern Myanmar and southern Laos is known as the Golden Triangle, notorious for gambling, trafficking and fraud. A resident declining to be named for safety reasons told Radio Free Asia that the 1G1-7 Hotel in Tachileik’s San Sai Kha neighborhood, where the casino crackdown occurred, is a long-standing institution in the city. “The raid and arrests at the casino, which was opened behind the 1G1-7 Hotel, has been open for about a decade as a casino,” he said. “It was raided and people were arrested in the morning.” Junta soldiers and police arrested Myanmar, Thai and Chinese nationals, locals said. They are currently in custody, but no further details about their location or identity are known. Troops and police gather outside the 1G1-7 Hotel in Tachileik city on Feb. 23, 2024 (Telegram: People Media) Another Tachileik resident said there are hundreds of online gambling businesses in the 11 neighborhoods of the city and in its surrounding villages. Many operate in homes and hotels, he said. “Houses are entirely rented, and the hotels were rented out by floors for operating [online casinos],” he said. “Chinese and Thai nationals are also involved.” Online money scamming gangs often disguise their operations as casinos, locals said. In 2023, more than 40,000 Chinese nationals were deported from Shan state for staying illegally in Myanmar and working in illegal businesses and scam centers. This is the first time police have cracked down on scam centers in Tachileik, locals said. The junta has not officially released any information on Friday’s arrests. RFA reached out to Shan state’s junta spokesperson Khun Thein Maung, but he did not respond by the time of publication. However, pro-military channels on the social messaging app Telegram shared that the people arrested in Tachileik were committing online fraud as part of an organization known as “Kyar Pyant.” It reported the Chinese gang, which specializes in online fraud, was raided by junta security forces. State-owned newspapers reported on Feb. 9 that more than 50,000 foreigners, mostly made up of Chinese nationals, were transferred back to their respective countries for illegally staying in Myanmar from Oct. 5, 2023 to Feb. 8, 2024. Some 48,803 Chinese, 1,071 Vietnamese, 537 Thai, 133 Malaysian, 20 Korean, and 18 Lao nationals were transferred, the statement said. In November, 19 South Koreans were rescued by junta forces after being forced to work in Tachileik in an illegal business. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.
Two-month travel ban extended in western Myanmar
Myanmar’s regime extended a travel ban in a conflict-ridden coastal area, locals told Radio Free Asia on Thursday. The ban prevents Rakhine state residents from traveling by water, fishing, and gathering on the township’s shores until Apr. 19. Kyaukpyu township, where the ban was originally established on Dec. 19, has been a source of conflict between the ethnic Arakan Army and junta forces. The Arakan Army launched attacks on Kyaukpyu’s junta naval base on Jan. 8 and 21, leading locals to suggest China should discuss its many upcoming development projects in the area with the ethnic armed group to ensure their continued protection. Kyaukpyu’s coast is the site of a Chinese-funded special economic zone, as well as upcoming ports and railroads stalled in December due to fighting. Residents have voiced concerns that Chinese development projects fail to provide local jobs and that they will impact the region’s vital fishing industry. A fisherman in Kyaukpyu city on June 4, 2019. (RFA) An official from a social assistance group in Kyaukpyu township said the travel ban was announced in a letter on Monday. “Motor boats and rowing boats are not allowed to navigate along the river and it is forbidden to have alcohol or to fight along the shore,” he said, declining to be named for fear of reprisals. “Traveling in the villages and towns has been banned in the past. Everyone gets in trouble.” The junta’s order also stated that if locals choose to violate this order, action will be taken according to existing laws. The ban applies to the township’s capital of Kyaukpyu city, six surrounding village tracts and eight neighborhoods. It also prevents locals from gathering or fishing on the Ohn Chaung stream, Than Zit River, and nearby beaches, according to the statement. The restrictions were implemented after the Arakan Army broke a year-long ceasefire by attacking junta camps in Kyaukpyu township, Rakhine state on Nov. 13, 2023, residents said. A Kyaukpyu resident who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons told RFA that the travel ban has caused residents many problems affecting their health and quality of life. “Locals are facing difficulties in getting food, and commodity prices have become expensive. Sick people in rural areas suffer because of the delay in getting medical treatment,” he explained. RFA called Rakhine state’s junta spokesperson for comment on the extension, but he did not respond to inquiries. Villagers can only receive permission to travel after submitting an application five days in advance, residents in Kyaukpyu’s surrounding areas said. Within Kyaukpyu township, the junta prohibits the shipment and delivery of most types of medicine, food, electrical equipment, and hygiene products, including women’s sanitary pads. On Monday, 60 passengers flying from Yangon were arrested after landing in Kyaukpyu’s airport. Pregnant women, children and elderly people have since been released, though the location of others remains unknown. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.
Hong Kong official slams groups’ criticism of new security law
Hong Kong security chief Chris Tang has lashed out at the London-based rights group Hong Kong Watch after it issued a statement signed by 86 groups saying that forthcoming security legislation would have “devastating consequences” for human rights in the city. The new legislation, called Article 23, criminalizes treason, insurrection, the theft of state secrets and other national security offenses. It is billed by the government as a way to close “loopholes” in the already stringent 2020 National Security Law. But Hong Kong Watch and the other groups said the definitions of such crimes were vague in the bill, and would criminalize people’s peaceful exercise of their human rights. “The proposed law includes a number of procedural changes that will dramatically undermine the Hong Kong people’s due process and fair trial rights,” said joint statement signed by 86 organizations. “The introduction of Article 23 will bring further devastating consequences for human rights beyond those brought by the National Security Law when it was imposed by Beijing in 2020,” said the statement, which called on governments to publicly oppose the law, and for those responsible to be sanctioned. “The last time the authorities attempted to introduce Article 23 in 2003, over 500,000 Hong Kongers took to the streets in protests with the plans abandoned,” the statement said, adding:” But now they can no longer speak out against it.” The bill is highly likely to be passed by the Legislative Council now that electoral rules have been changed to allow only “patriots” to run for election. ‘Slander and intimidation’ Tang, who has previously claimed that recent waves of mass popular pro-democracy movements in recent years were the work of “foreign forces” operating in Hong Kong, criticized Hong Kong Watch for using “gangster tactics.” Tang told a news conference in Hong Kong on Monday that most of the groups that signed the letter, which include Freedom House, Chinese Human Rights Defenders, Hongkongers in Britain, Human Rights Watch and the Index on Censorship, were “anti-China organizations seeking to disrupt Hong Kong.” Demonstrators in Hong Kong with tape over their mouths protest the city government’s anti-subversion bill, Feb. 14, 2003. (Anat Givon/AP) He accused “anti-China and anti-Hong Kong” organizations of “slander, intimidation … wrong, misleading and making something out of nothing,” after they criticized the planned law, which analysts have warned will broaden the definition of what is a “national security” matter still further. “These comments are slander and intimidation by external forces who want to endanger our national security,” he said, brushing aside the possibility of further sanctions on Hong Kong officials. “The more you sanction us, the more it appears that we’re doing the right thing,” Tang said, likening the law to putting in “doors and windows to prevent burglaries,” and accusing the groups who signed the statement of “gangster” tactics. Tang accused Radio Free Asia of reporting what he described as “false” criticism that the new law would target media organizations. He called the media outlet a “foreign force” that was misleading the people of Hong Kong. He said only those who “deliberately” set out to slander the government could be liable under the planned law. RFA, funded by the U.S. Congress to provide independent news in countries that lack a free press, has not publicly responded to Tang’s comments. Hong Kong’s Secretary for Justice Paul Lam, left, Chief Executive John Lee, center, and Secretary for Security Chris Tang attend a press conference on Article 23 in Hong Kong, Jan. 30, 2024. (Lam Yik/Reuters) Tang said the public response to the Article 23 legislation had been welcoming, and that claims that the new law would boost police powers to detain people at will were “attempts to intimidate the people of Hong Kong.” “I believe that our friends in the media will not endanger national security,” he said, in response to concerns that media organizations could be targeted under the law for platforming views deemed a threat to national security. Chief Executive John Lee said on Tuesday that his administration will seek to pass the new law as soon as possible. “Our work on legislation under Article 23 of the Basic Law will be advanced at full speed,” Lee said. “The government will move forward, and I believe that the Legislative Council will fulfill their constitutional responsibilities in this regard as soon as possible.” Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
Dutch government withdraws permits for ASML to export to China
The Netherlands has decided to withdraw permits for ASML, the leader in semiconductor equipment manufacturing, to export its equipment to China on fears it may be used for military purposes. In a written response to questions from members of parliament, Dutch Trade Minister Geoffrey van Leeuwen said that China is focusing on foreign expertise, including Dutch expertise in the field of lithography, to promote self-sufficiency in its military-technical development ASML tools can be used to make advanced semiconductors that can go into “high value weapons systems and weapons of mass destruction,” and the Dutch government is focused on “the risk of undesirable end use” when reviewing export licensing decisions, van Leeuwen said in a written note cited by Reuters. Netherlands-based ASML dominates the world market for lithography systems, needed by computer chip makers to help create circuitry. The minister was questioned by a lawmaker on why the government initially granted, then quickly retracted, a license for ASML to export various equipment to undisclosed customers in China. He did not respond directly to the question, but only said several licenses to export advanced equipment to China were granted since the licensing requirement was introduced in September. About 20 similar applications are expected this year, without a breakdown of how many for China. Under pressure from the United States, the Netherlands last year required ASML to apply for licenses to export its mid-range deep ultraviolet lithography machines. The company’s most advanced tools have not been sold in China. On Jan. 1 this year, ASML confirmed that some of its export permits for equipment to China were revoked. According to regulations, the company said it will not export any NXT:2000i or more advanced equipment to China, and due to U.S. restrictions, the company also cannot export NXT:1970 and NXT:1980i products to “a small number” of Chinese manufacturers. Translated by RFA staff. Edited by Taejun Kang and Mike Firn.
‘The whole trip was a complete shock and surprise.’
Ilya Voskresensky is a travel blogger from St. Petersburg, Russia, who last week joined the first foreign tour group to visit North Korea in four years. In January 2020, North Korea closed its border with Russia and China, and suspended all trade, fearful that the coronavirus would wreak havoc over the country. Tourism and the foreign cash generated by the industry came to a screeching halt. The cash-strapped North Korean government has been itching to restart tourism and actively recruited the first foreign tour group that would visit the country since before the pandemic. The 97 Russians arrived on Feb. 9 and spent four days and three nights in the capital Pyongyang and at the Masikryong ski-resort in the eastern province of Kangwon. Following the visit, RFA Korean’s Jamin Anderson interviewed Voskresensky, who said that the North Korean authorities closely watched him and tried to limit his freedom to film from the moment he boarded the Pyongyang-bound Air Koryo plane in the Russian Far Eastern city of Vladivostok. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. RFA: How did you decide to take this trip? Were there any concerns about the dangers involved? Who did you travel with? Voskresensky: I decided to go on a trip as soon as I heard that North Korea was opening and there would be a tour for Russian citizens there, and I like making films about my travels for my YouTube channel. So I realized that this was an ideal opportunity to shoot something interesting and unique, something that I had never seen or felt before in my life. I wanted to see this kind of closed country, and to have a look at how that isolation and [North Korea’s] conservative culture affects tourism, the people, and the country in general. Of course, I had concerns because I read a lot of stories, watched films about the DPRK and understood that many different things could happen to me there. Furthermore, they really don’t like those who’re constantly filming, and I was going there just to film. But we did it anyway. There were still concerns. I went there with a friend of mine. He’s my cameraman, and the two of us were there together. A magazine displayed on the Korean Air flight. Ilya Voskresensky mentioned that the first 13 pages were all about Kim Jong Un, and he felt that North Korea was a country of “the cult of personality.” (Courtesy Ilya Voskresensky) RFA: Did you encounter any unique experiences or any kind of cultural shock during your trip? Voskresensky: The whole trip was a complete shock and surprise. The fact that in Pyongyang, a large city where 3 million people live, there are very few people on the streets and there are practically no cars at peak hours – not at 17:30 in the evening nor at 7:30 in the morning. You go through the streets, and they are empty and it’s shocking. It’s also shocking how the cult of personality has simply surpassed all levels. When you open a publication, like the flight magazine on the airplane, the first 13 pages had only the face of one person [Kim Jong Un] and this is also shocking. I didn’t see anything culturally unusual, but I soon saw the oddities of the regime, the way it changes the country. The closedness of this country, which absolutely preserves its ideology. It was like being teleported to the past. Sometimes you look at pictures and there are people driving past or some kind of construction site and you have the feeling that this is all AI-generated around propaganda slogans, posters, and portraits of leaders, and it is simply astounding. Ilya Voskresensky snowboards at Masikryong Ski Resort in North Korea. Voskresensky said that filming and shooting at the resort was completely unrestricted, allowing him to document his snowboarding adventures. (Courtesy Ilya Voskresensky) RFA: What freedoms and restrictions did you experience during the trip? When they imposed restrictions, what reasons were given? Voskresensky: We encountered restrictions literally immediately on the plane. I took my camera to film how I entered the plane and I was immediately told off. When we took our seats a man was there sitting with us. He was just sitting doing something on his phone, taking pictures of the porthole. We hadn’t even left Russia yet. A member of the cabin crew came up, it was a North Korean airline, so the flight attendant just came, took the man’s phone and started looking through his photos. He looked and deleted what he didn’t like. This was the first impression we got, and we hadn’t even left the country. We were still in Russia, but sitting in a DPRK airplane. [Once we were in North Korea] we were banned from filming construction sites as well as shabby-looking buildings. [Our guide] said that these houses are being demolished and there would be new houses, but it was obvious that there were people still living in them. They only allowed us to shoot picturesque, beautiful scenes. For example, at the ski resort where we were, there were no restrictions on filming at all, and we filmed absolutely everything. We were also banned from filming military sites, but that’s something I understand, and I didn’t even ask why it’s not allowed. There was a ban on walking around the city on your own, meaning you couldn’t leave the hotel and go for a walk around the city. I asked why. I wanted to go for a walk, but I was told, ‘You don’t know the Korean language and you will have problems.’ You couldn’t film construction sites, because they supposedly look ugly, and they want to show their country as a beautiful place. It was impossible to film, as I already said, building compounds where people live. But when they brought us to certain city squares, on the contrary, they happily wanted us to take photographs. And as I said before, when we flew to the…
Airstrikes kill 6, including children, in Myanmar’s Kachin state
An onslaught of airstrikes in northern Myanmar killed six civilians and injured 13 more, rescue workers told Radio Free Asia on Monday. Junta troops retaliated after joint resistance forces attacked a regime base in Kachin state on Friday. After the Kachin Independence Army and Arakan Army, two allied ethnic armed organizations, fired on Mansi township’s “strategic hill,” the junta base turned its guns on nearby Si Hkam Gyi village. Mansi township, which borders China, has been a site of previous conflict in late January. The Kachin Independence Army claimed the capture of 30 junta troops on Jan. 22 and 57 more soldiers escaped attacks by crossing the Chinese border. Regime soldiers bombarded the village by air in a two-day attack on Saturday and Sunday, when roughly 1,000 residents fled the area, locals said. On Saturday alone, troops dropped 20 bombs on four villages, they added. A rescue worker with Myitta Shin Charity Group, who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons, said civilians and victims are being moved to safety. “Hundreds of local people are trapped in the villages, including Si Hkam Gyi village. We plan to evacuate these people first and we are waiting to pick up the evacuees coming out of the villages today,” he told RFA on Monday. “The bodies haven’t been picked up yet because they died in the bomb shelters. We haven’t been able to get inside.” The blasts killed two girls aged two and six. The airstrikes also killed four men in their 40s. The injured, mostly women, were sent to nearby Bhamo Hospital. Many of the displaced were sent to Man Thar village monastery and are being provided with medicine and food, he added. A resident of nearby Si Kaw village who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons told RFA he was forced to flee in the middle of Saturday night, during the blasts. “We left the village at 2 a.m. There was no difficulty on the way and I came with my own motorbike. I am staying in the hall next to Man Thar Monastery,” he said. “The communities in Man Thar village provided food as soon as we arrived and the Myitta Shin Charity Group’s rescue team is picking up all the people who want to take refuge and helping them.” Kachin Independence Army spokesperson Col. Naw Bu said on Sunday that people needed to live in a safe place and protect themselves from the junta airstrikes. “There is fighting on the side of Si Hkam Gyi village. The military junta fires airstrikes all day long. The fighting continues there, like it did before,” he said. “They mainly do not attack on the ground and depend on heavy artillery and airstrikes, so people must flee for their safety as much as possible.” The junta’s Northern Region Military Command Infantry Battalions 121, 276, 123 and 15 are stationed just 48 kilometers (30 miles) away from Strategic Hill. Mansi township is one of the main supply routes to junta troops in nearby Bhamo city, which is why their attacks have been so fierce, said Col. Naw Bu. RFA contacted Kachin state’s junta spokesperson Moe Min Thein on Sunday for comment on the accusations of indiscriminate firing and civilian deaths, but he did not answer at the time of publication. According to data compiled by RFA, junta airstrikes have killed 1,429 civilians and injured 2,641 more from the day of the coup on Feb. 1, 2021 to Jan. 31, 2024. Over 2.6 million people had been displaced due to war by the end of 2023, according to a report from the United Nations Office of Humanitarian Affairs. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.
For Uyghur family, a legacy of rootlessness
Tursun Muhammad was thirteen when political persecution forced his family to leave their prosperous farm in Yarkant, Xinjiang, and flee over the Pamir Mountains. Tursun’s father was targeted during the Cultural Revolution for his wealth and the fact that he was a landlord, Tursun told RFA. After attending Friday prayer at the local mosque he was locked up for three days. So, he packed up his family and left Yarkant to journey into Afghanistan. It took 45 days to reach Kabul. So high are the Pamir ranges that they are known as the “roof of the world.” The family sheltered in caves on the route. Once, Tursun passed out from lack of oxygen. An older sister died along the way. “Her body is left on the mountain, buried in stones,” he said. In Afghanistan, the formerly prosperous farmer sold vegetables from a cart to feed his family. Tursun learned to be a tailor, and as a young man started a family of his own with another Uyghur refugee, until fighting in the country forced the Muhammads to move again, this time to Pakistan. About 15 years later, the Muhammads were forced to flee again, leaving Afghanistan due to conflict and eventually settling in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. (Illustration by Rebel Pepper) Now, decades later, the family’s legacy of rootlessness may soon pass to Tursun’s son, Turghunjan, who along with his wife and their three children are part of a small ethnic Uyghur community of Afghan refugees in Rawalpindi, Pakistan’s fourth largest city. The Muhammad family has built a modest, if limited, life there, but they remain undocumented and could be forced to leave their home as the government moves to deport Afghan refugees due to a claimed fear over terrorism. “When we left Yarkant, our parents left everything in Yarkant,” Tursun told RFA. “When we moved from Afghanistan, we left everything in Afghanistan, only thinking about staying alive. Now we are hearing the same thing again.” Fears of deportation Hundreds of other Afghans have already been kicked out of Pakistan. With the help of human rights groups and the U.N. refugee agency, the Uyghurs have for now been allowed to stay, but it isn’t clear how long the reprieve will last. The family’s main worry remains being sent back to Afghanistan, a place they left decades ago. But they have heard about China’s persecution of Uyghurs. Could the Taliban, as it cozies up the Chinese Communist Party, force the Uyghurs to return to China in some sort of gesture of goodwill? “The future is dark,” Turghunjan said. “It’s dark in Afghanistan, and even now, living in Pakistan, it is dark too.” Turghunjan Muhammad grew up in Pakistan, but as an undocumented immigrant he had few opportunities. He dreamed of becoming an engineer. Without a national ID, however, he couldn’t attend school. (Illustration by Rebel Pepper) Bradley Jardine, managing director of the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs, a Washington, DC-based group that promotes scholarship about the region, said it is “not beyond the realms of possibility” that the Uyghur families could be sent back to China. “Such incidents have occurred in the past when Uyghur passports have expired” to exiles who have caught the attention of Chinese officials, he said. From 1997 through January 2022, 424 Uyghurs were deported to China and another 1,150 were detained in 22 countries, according to a database maintained by the Oxus Society. Tenuous existence In some ways the Muhammads’ story is unique. There are thought to be only about 20 families in a similar situation. Their feeling of precarity, though, is one that many Uyghur families outside of China can relate to. Beyond the anxiety of deportation are also the limits placed on Uyghur refugees in host countries that may be reluctant to grant them the full rights of citizenship. Sometimes, it is for fear of upsetting an important international partner. Other times, it is simply because of their own restrictive immigration policies. Turghunjan learned to be a tailor from his father, making traditional Pakistani shalwar kameez. His small salary supports his family, which includes his wife and three children. (Illustration by Rebel Pepper) As a refugee, Turghunjan couldn’t attend school. So, instead of becoming an engineer, an early aspiration, he learned to be a tailor from his father, stitching traditional Pakistani shalwar kameez. When his daughter was born, he could not even pick her up from the hospital because he lacked a national ID card. He had to enlist the help of a friend to convince hospital authorities to release her. Though his children, now aged 17, 12 and 8, go to private schools, they will be unable to attend a university in Pakistan. “Sometimes my daughter says that if we had an ID, she would go to college and study computer engineering,” Turghunjan said. “The conditions are not letting us grow.” Dreaming of the west Despite the challenges, Tursun said he has tried to keep alive their Uyghur culture within his family. His father has died, but Tursun has kept his almond doppa, a skull cap Uyghurs wear, and his prayer beads, along with his mother’s prayer mat. The family speaks to each other in the Uyghur language. “We follow the Uyghur culture,” Tursun said. “We are Uyghur, so even if we go back to Afghanistan there is nothing for us.” Now the family worries they could be sent back to Afghanistan or even China. Pakistan has threatened to deport Afghan refugees, including the small community of ethnic Uyghurs in Rawalpindi. (Illustration by Rebel Pepper) Like other Uyghur emigres, the Muhammads’ hope now is to reach a Western country better able to resist pressure from China and offer a greater chance for permanence. Canada’s promise to take in 10,000 Uyghurs refugees – about the number of ethnic Uyghurs now thought to live in the United States – is particularly seen as a potential solution. But even in Western countries the process to citizenship is slow and cumbersome. In a report last year, the…
China’s Xi appeared ‘humble’ but now rules supreme, ambassador says
China’s Xi Jinping was once a “humble” leader who has “totally changed” since taking control of the country in the style of Mao Zedong, according to the memoir of Hideo Tarumi, a former Japanese ambassador to Beijing who left his post in December amid deteriorating bilateral ties. In the memoir published by the literary magazine Bungeishunjū just two months after he left his post, Tarumi describes meeting Xi during a visit to Japan when he was vice president under Hu Jintao in 2009. Tarumi’s job on the night was to greet each guest personally, and he noticed that Xi showed no sign of impatience while waiting to be greeted, despite the fact that Tarumi was running late, and took a while to get to him. The encounter was to leave Tarumi with the impression of a “humble” official, he wrote, adding that Xi has “totally changed” since taking power in 2012. “Xi Jinping’s aura has totally changed,” Tarumi wrote, adding that he is now surrounded by far more security guards than his predecessor Hu Jintao, making it hard to approach him. He said Xi has now steered China away from the decades of economic reform launched by late supreme leader Deng Xiaoping in 1979, and along a path that is closer to that chosen by Mao Zedong. Former Japanese ambassador Hideo Tarumi’s memoir in a recent edition of the Japanese magazine Bungeishunjū. (Chi Chun Lee /RFA) “Xi Jinping’s actions prove that he chose … to use a high degree of centralization to maintain the legitimacy of Chinese Communist Party rule,” Tarumi wrote, adding that the centralization of power in Xi’s hands now means that the formerly powerful Politburo Standing Committee is now subordinate to Xi Jinping. He said Xi had “sacrificed the economy to achieve national security goals,” or regime stability. ‘Contradictory’ But he said the amendment of the Counterespionage Law last year and the loosening of immigration controls are also tied in with economic development. “It’s a contradictory thing, and the ambassadors of Europe and the United States are also confused about it,” Tarumi wrote of the two moves. The reform era ushered in by Mao’s successor Deng Xiaoping saw people freed up to make money as fast as they liked, and the start of a burgeoning private sector and decades of export-led economic growth, while political ideology and authoritarian rule took a back seat. In August, top Chinese economist Hu Xingdou published a 10-point plan calling for a return to those policies, and a move away from Beijing’s aggressive “Wolf Warrior” diplomacy under Xi. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying at a daily briefing in Beijing, Aug. 3, 2022. (Andy Wong/AP) Yet Xi, who is serving a third and indefinite term in office after abolishing presidential term limits in 2018, is widely seen to be moving in the opposite direction to Deng. He’s cracking down on private sector wealth and power and boosting the state-owned economy while eroding the freedoms enjoyed by the country’s middle classes. Face-off Tarumi was feted as a “China hand” by the nationalistic Global Times newspaper when he took up his post in 2020 and has since gained a reputation as a fearless challenger of Wolf Warrior diplomacy. In the book, he also describes being hauled in by foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying and lectured after then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took part in a regional strategic forum on Taiwan, which China claims as its territory despite never having ruled the democratic island. Tarumi went reluctantly after instructing his staff to “ignore” Hua’s summons – and after the foreign ministry threatened to cut him off from all future meetings. Hua berated him with Japanese militarism leading to “the slaughter of many Taiwanese.” But Tarumi, who had served in Japan’s economic and trade office in Taiwan, retorted that he knew more about Taiwan than she did, and that Japan’s 50-year rule over Taiwan was due to the ceding of the island under the Treaty of Shimonoseki in the wake of the First Sino-Japanese War. Hua appeared at a loss for words at this, and replied only: “Some people say Japanese militarism started in the 19th century. These new interpretations are unacceptable,” according to Tarumi’s memoir. A few months later, Tarumi faced an even bigger problem. One of his diplomats was detained by police after having lunch with Dong Yuyu, deputy head of editorials at the Communist Party’s Guangming Daily newspaper, who was arrested for spying on Feb. 21, 2022. Hideo Tarumi, Japan’s ambassador to China, gives a speech at his residence in Beijing, March 30, 2022. Tarumi, who left his post in Dec. 2023, has published a memoir. (Embassy of Japan in China) “Foreign personnel engaged in activities inconsistent with their status in China,” Hua told a regular news briefing at the time. “The relevant Chinese authorities conducted investigations and inquiries into this matter.” According to Tarumi, the Japanese diplomat had presented his passport and work permits, informing the police that his detention had violated the Vienna Convention because it breached his diplomatic immunity. Tarumi made an immediate protest to the foreign ministry, meeting with assistant foreign minister Wu Jianghao, who told him that the meeting was “irregular.” Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, shakes hands with Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s General Secretary Toshihiro Nikai before a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on April 24, 2019. (Fred Dufour/pool photo via AFP) Tarumi replied that Wu had misrepresented the meeting and objected strongly, with the support of the ambassadors of 13 other countries, according to his account. Eventually, the Japanese diplomat was released. A Beijing-based journalist who declined to be named said China intensified its surveillance of Japanese diplomatic missions following the incident, barring them from taking part in exchange activities as they normally would, and isolating them in their embassy and consulates. Listening devices Tarumi’s memoir appears to confirm this claim, adding that a number of dinner invitations sent to prominent Chinese intellectuals were declined after the incident, while…
