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Category: East Asia
Manila dismisses China’s ‘gunboat’ claim
Updated Oct. 10, 2023, 06:20 a.m. ET. The Philippines’ military chief on Tuesday rejected a claim that its navy vessel was driven away from a disputed reef in the South China Sea by the Chinese coast guard, calling it “Beijing’s propaganda.” Early on Tuesday, the China Coast Guard said a Philippine Navy gunboat came into China’s “jurisdictional waters” near the Scarborough Shoal in the Spratly Islands. “On Oct. 10, a Philippine Navy gunboat intruded into the waters adjacent to China’s Huangyan Island, ignoring China’s repeated warnings,” Chinese Coast Guard spokesperson Gan Yu said in a statement, using the Chinese name for a shoal the Philippines calls Bajo de Masinloc. Gan said that China Coast Guard ships “took necessary measures, such as tracking and controlling the ship’s route, to drive away the Philippine vessel according to the law.” Beijing’s claim – which comes against a backdrop of deteriorating relations between the neighbors – was rejected by the Philippines’ top military commander, who denied such an incident had taken place. “That is just propaganda from Beijing … to show that they are doing something,” Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. told RFA-affiliated news organization BenarNews on Tuesday. A Philippine navy boat was in the vicinity of Bajo de Masinloc, but it was carrying out a maritime patrol. “It was sailing and it just so happened that the China Coast Guard was there and we issued a challenge,” Brawner said. “Our ship continued with its mission. He added the boats were “far” away from each other. A China Coast Guard ship is seen from a Philippine fishing boat at the disputed Scarborough Shoal April 6, 2017. Credit: Reuters Both Beijing and Manila claim sovereignty over Scarborough Shoal, which China seized after a standoff with the Philippines in 2012 and has maintained control over since. The Chinese spokesperson accused the Philippines of violating China’s sovereignty over the shoal, adding: “We call on the Philippines to immediately stop its infringement.” On Monday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry also warned Manila against “making provocations and creating troubles at sea,” saying “China has made serious démarches [diplomatic protests] to the Philippines on multiple occasions.” The ministry was responding to a statement by the Philippines on Saturday that China’s “unfounded” claims in the South China Sea and Beijing’s actions there are “irresponsible.” ‘Stirring up trouble’ The latest incident marks a further deterioration in the relationship between the two neighbors. A Beijing-based think tank, the South China Sea Probing Initiative (SCSPI), accused the Philippines of “stirring up” the situation in the sea. This week, U.S. and Philippine warships are conducting a bilateral training exercise called Samasama (Together) 2023 in the waters off the Philippines. The exercise, joined by several other U.S. allies, is being seen as a testament of the strong bond between the two militaries. “Currently, the Philippines is at the vanguard of challenging China at sea, much more aggressive than any other party including the United States,” SCSPI said in a post on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter. “Wait and see,” it added in a thinly veiled threat, “The Scarborough Shoal Incident in 2012 is a wake-up call for both China and the Philippines.” The 2012 standoff began on April 8, 2012, after the Philippine Navy attempted to arrest Chinese fishermen who it accused of illegal fishing in the waters near Scarborough Shoal but the attempt was blocked by Chinese maritime surveillance ships. Naval vessels from both sides were deployed in the standoff that lasted more than two months. The Philippines pulled its two vessels out on June 15, 2012, but China kept its ships at the shoal. Scarborough Shoal has since become a hot spot and a trigger point between China and the Philippines in the contested South China Sea. Most recently, in late September, the Philippines said China had installed a 300-meter (984-foot) floating barrier to block Philippine fishermen from accessing the waters around the shoal. The Philippine coast guard carried out a “special operation” to cut the barrier and remove its anchor. An aerial view shows the BRP Sierra Madre on the contested Second Thomas Shoal, locally known as Ayungin, in the South China Sea, March 9, 2023. Credit: Reuters The risk of confrontation has also risen in recent days over another disputed atoll in the South China Sea, internationally known as the Second Thomas Shoal. The Philippines calls it Ayungin Shoal, where it maintains an outpost with less than a dozen marines, stationed on a rusty WWII landing craft, the BRP Sierra Madre. Manila accuses China of regularly blocking its resupply missions to the troops on the Sierra Madre. It said on Aug. 6, 2023, Chinese Coast Guard ships fired a water cannon at one of the Philippine ships resupplying the outpost. China calls it Ren’ai Jiao and maintains that the atoll lies within its jurisdiction. Six parties – China, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Taiwan – claim parts of the resource-rich South China Sea together with the islands inside but Beijing’s claim is by far the most extensive, occupying nearly 90% of the sea. An international tribunal in 2016 ruled that China’s claims in the South China Sea were illegal and invalid, but Beijing refused to accept the ruling. Edited by Mike Firn and Elaine Chan. BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization. Updated to include comment from Philippine military commander Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr.
A tamer tomorrow
Legendary Hong Kong movie star Chow Yun-fat told a film festival in South Korea that the Chinese city’s once vibrant cinema has lost its freedom under Beijing’s tightened controls on free speech and expression. Chow, named Asian Filmmaker of the Year at the Busan International Film Festival, is the first prominent figure in the industry to publicly discuss how China’s strict movie censorship requirements have crimped freedom and creativity in the former British colony.
‘Eliticide’ as China jails Uyghur intellectuals to erase culture
Over a fortnight, a Uyghur folklorist missing since 2017 was revealed to be serving a life prison for “separatism,” while another Uyghur scholar who had vanished into Chinese custody years earlier appeared on shortlists and oddsmakers picks for the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize. The cases of ethnographer Rahile Dawut, whose life conviction in December 2018 was uncovered by a U.S. NGO only last month, and economist Ilham Tohti, put away for life on similar charges in 2014, share key similarities that highlight the personal and family tragedies behind China’s relentless assimilation policies in the northwestern Xinjiang region. Both Dawut, who was born in 1966, and the 53-year-old Tohti built their academic careers inside the Chinese system, teaching at prestigious universities and releasing their work through major state publishing houses. The two scholars collaborated with and were respected as authorities by their Chinese and international peers. Uyghur professor Rahile Dawut talks with a man in northwestern China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in an undated photo. Photo courtesy of Akide Polat/Freemymom.org Dawut created and directed the Xinjiang University ‘s Minorities Folklore Research Center and wrote dozens of articles in international journals and a number of books on the region and its culture. An economist at the Central University for Nationalities in Beijing, Tohti ran the Uyghur Online website, set up in 2006, which drew attention to the discrimination facing Uyghurs under Beijing’s rule over Xinjiang and its increasingly restrictive religious and language policies. The families of Dawut and Tohti share the common fate of not having heard anything from their jailed loved once since 2017, the year that China’s harsh crackdown in Xinjiang went into overdrive, with the establishment of a network of internment camps for Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other Turkic minorities. “My first reaction was that I couldn’t believe it, I couldn’t believe it at all,” Dawut’s U.S.-based daughter, Akide Polat, told Radio Free Asia last month. “None of my mother’s work, nor the way she went about it, nor anything in her personal life had anything to do with ‘endangering state security,’” she said of the charges on which her mother was convicted. ‘No intellectual resistance’ The Dui Hua Foundation, which revealed Dawut’s life sentence, noted estimates of as many as several hundred Uyghur intellectuals who have been detained, arrested, and imprisoned since 2016. RFA Uyghur has documented scores of disappearances and detentions of Uyghur writers, academics, artists and musicians in recent years. “What we’ve seen inside the Uyghur region of China is what is often termed ‘eliticide,’” said Sean Roberts, a Central Asia expert at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs in Washington, D.C. “There’s a particular focus on the intellectual elites, many of whom were working at state institutions, have been loyal to the state, did not did not present any sort of real resistance. Their only crime was basically maintaining the idea of a Uyghur nation and identity,” he told RFA Uyghur. Akida Polat holds a photo of her mother, imprisoned Uyghur folklore expert Rahile Duwat. Credit: X/@Kuzzat_Altay Roberts said eliticide “is often identified as occurring at the beginning of a genocide, where there’s an attempt to get rid of the entire political, economic and intellectual elite to ensure that there is no intellectual resistance to the erasure of a people and their identity.” In early 2021, after years of cumulative reports on the internment camp system in Xinjiang, the United Nations, the United States, and the legislatures of several European countries, officially branded the treatment of Uyghurs as genocide or crimes against humanity. China has angrily rejected the genocide charges, arguing that the “reeducation camps” were a necessary tool to fight religious extremism and terrorism, in reaction to sporadic terrorist attacks that Uyghurs say are fueled by years of government oppression. Beijing has also waged an information counterattack, with a global media influence campaign that spreads Chinese state media content to countries in Asia and beyond, invites diplomats and journalists from China-friendly countries on staged tours of Xinjiang and promotes pro-China social media influencers. Awareness-raising on genocide Last month, the pushback saw Chinese diplomats pressuring fellow United Nations member states not to attend a panel on human rights abuses in Xinjiang sponsored by a think tank and two rights groups on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Tohti, who has been nominated for the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s Peace Prize since 2020, was listed by the U.S. news outlet Time as one of top three favorites to win the medal this year, following Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Tohti was given higher odds on many of London’s famed betting sites of winning the prize than the recipient, jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi. “There are many human rights issues around the world that are equally as important as the suffering that the Uyghurs are going through, but the international status and power of the perpetrators of these human rights abuses aren’t considered equal,” said Jewher Ilham, Tohti’s daughter. “The Chinese government is known to have a much more powerful political and economic influence than the Iranian government in the western world,” she told RFA Uyghur. Jewher Ilham holds a photo of her father, Ilham Tohti, during the Sakharov Prize ceremony at the European Parliament, in Strasbourg, France, Dec. 18, 2019. Credit: AP Photo It is not clear that that China would be moved by a Nobel Prize to release Tohti or moderate policies in Xinjiang, where Communist Party chief Xi Jinping appears to be doubling down on draconian security measures and policies to suppress Uyghur culture. Beijing lashed out at the Nobel Committee and imposed trade sanctions on Norway after the Nobel 2010 went to Chinese dissident writer Liu Xiaobo. With Liu in jail, the Chinese capital Beijing won the right in 2015 to host the Winter Olympics, and Beijing largely shrugged off the global outcry when in 2017, Liu became the first Nobel laureate to die in jail since German journalist and Nazi opponent…
‘Lying flat’: Song about being young and poor goes viral in China
As China copes with widespread youth unemployment and a flagging economy, a song about lying down, dropping out and burning incense in the hope of magically getting rich has become a viral sensation on social media. The jaunty pop hit by singer Li Ermeng titled, “I can’t afford to worship in the Temple of Wealth,” has been dubbed the “lying flat” song in a reference to a passive attitude reportedly adopted by Generation Z in China in the face of an increasingly harsh economic climate. “Lying flat,” also translated as “lying down,” is a buzzword that concerns the ruling Chinese Communist Party, which has targeted online content linked to the idea and played down dire youth unemployment figures, insisting that young people get less picky about the jobs they will do and show a more positive attitude. “They’d understand what I’m suffering in the temple,” the song begins after a shrill alarm clock sound effect. “I’d rather rely on Buddha than on hard work.” “I burned three yuan worth of incense today and wished for 3 hundred million,” Li sings. “The rest, I’ll leave up to fate.” “From here on out, I’ll play the lottery instead of going to the temple,” run the lyrics to the song, which had spawned hundreds of copy-cat cover versions on Douyin, China’s version of Tik Tok, complete with its own hand-gesture dance, according to a keyword search on Tuesday. “By day I draw career plans, by night I dream of marriage,” the song goes on. “My boss counts his money while I get to eat different flavors of instant ramen,” it says, adding: “Not having love is OK, but not having no money really doesn’t work.” Rejecting traditional milestones Social media comments linked the song to the current economic climate, which means hard times for China’s young people, who have coined the term “political depression” to refer to their sense of hopelessness, and who are increasingly rejecting traditional milestones like finding a job, marriage and children. “Times are getting harder every year, it’s harder and harder to make money, and prices just get higher and higher,” wrote Zhihu user @too_late. “People living at the bottom [of the economic ladder] are finding it harder every day.” According to X user @powershitly, “lying flat is a form of nonviolent resistance among young people in China.” “There’s no crime in being a Buddhist, and it’s rational to lie flat!” the user wrote on a post about the song. X user @Sofigoodboy agreed, adding: “This is the sad reality of the younger generation.” People offer prayers at Yonghe Temple, popularly known as Lama Temple, in Beijing in 2022. Credit: Noel Celis/AFP Social media influencer Chia-Paō Lee, who grew up in China but is now based in Taiwan, said students in China are taught that they will get a good job after graduation if they study hard, and yet jobs are now very hard to come by at all. “One very important reason for the prevalence of lying flat culture is that no matter how hard you work, you can’t live a good life,” Lee told Radio Free Asia. The last official youth unemployment rate released in July showed that around one in five young people in China is struggling to find a job. And that figure – last reported at 21.3% – may just be the tip of the iceberg. The hidden employed Associate professor Zhang Dandan of Peking University says the true figure could be as high as 46.5%, if young people currently not looking for work and living in their parental home are taken into account. According to a blog post by “Internet Diver” on Sina.com, many more young people are hidden from statistical indicators of unemployment because they have signed up for graduate degrees, or are taking time out to prepare for civil service examinations. A young man and woman talk to a recruiter as they seek employment at a job fair on June 9, 2023 in Beijing, Credit: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images Chien-chung Wu, associate professor in general education at the Taipei University of Maritime Technology, said the ruling Chinese Communist Party has yet to come up with an effective economic policy to stimulate growth. “Young people can’t see a future, and they can’t see any hope,” Wu said. “The so-called magic weapon has had no effect in boosting the economy, regardless of how many shots in the arm they give.” Meanwhile, the government keeps up its “positive” propaganda about young people, quoting President Xi Jinping as saying that young people should “shoulder important responsibilities in the new era.” “The majority of young people are meeting the needs of their country by shouldering their responsibilities and have courage to forge ahead, using hard work as their momentum for innovation,” state broadcaster CCTV said in a report aired on Oct. 2. “[They are] singing the song of the youth in the New Era,” the report said, alongside footage of Xi visiting the elite Harbin Engineering University in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang in September, and featuring students from Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s school of oceanography carrying out research in the Arctic. “On an expedition for glory and dreams, Chinese youth in the New Era are running hard along the track of youth, using the power and creativity of youth to stir up a surge of national rejuvenation, and using the wisdom and sweat of youth to build a better China!” the report said. Translated with additional reporting by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
Myanmar company director and regional officials ‘arrested in China’
Eleven businessmen from Myanmar’s Shan state were reportedly arrested while visiting China’s Yunnan province over the weekend, according to traders based on the border. Among them are local officials from the Kokang Self-Administered Zone. Liu Zhengxiang, the director of the Laukkaing-based Fully Light Group, was also arrested. Along with Liu’s connections to the Kokang Border Guard Force, the director is also allegedly involved in online gambling across the country. Fully Light Group, a multi-sector conglomerate working in jewels, tourism, and rubber, is the largest business in Laukkaing. On Sept. 30, about 30 businessmen from Kokang, Laukkaing and Chinshwehaw cities attended a Chinese trade fair in the Lincang district of Yunnan province. The police arrived at the hotel where they were staying and targeted the most well-known businessmen, said a border-based merchant, asking to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals. “Nothing happened on the first day of the trade fair on September 30. They were arrested in their hotel where they were staying on the second day,” the man told Radio Free Asia. “Big businessmen from Laukkaing, in other words the wealthy businessmen, were taken.” Laukkaing junta spokesperson and economic minister Khun Thein Maung told RFA he did not know the specifics of the most recent arrests in Yunnan province. RFA contacted the Chinese Embassy in Yangon and the Myanmar Consulate in Kunming via email, but received no response at the time of publication. Arrests of Chinese nationals living in Myanmar increased sharply last month. An official from the Kokang Self-Administered Zone confirmed on Sept. 28 that authorities detained 377 Chinese nationals who were living illegally in Laukkaing city. The area is a well-known hotspot for fraudulent online businesses, human trafficking and casinos. The official told RFA those arrested last month are being interrogated in relation to online money laundering in Laukkaing. The United Wa State Army also arrested more than 1,300 Chinese nationals in relation to online money laundering schemes last month and handed them over to Chinese authorities at the border. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.
Conflict in Myanmar’s Shan state drives 1,000 civilians into China
Fighting between junta troops and the ethnic Ta’ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA, has driven more than 1,000 people from northeast Myanmar’s Shan state across the border with China to seek shelter, according to residents. The group is the latest example of civilians displaced by conflict in Myanmar, where the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that tens of thousands have fled into neighboring countries to avoid conflict since the military’s February 2021 coup. More than 1.6 million people have been internally displaced by fighting since the takeover, according to the U.N. Fighting between the military and the TNLA in Shan’s Muse and Kutkai townships broke out on July 23, when the latter’s forces attacked a pro-junta militia convoy near Sei Lant village on the Muse-Namhkan highway. Since then, more than 1,000 residents of seven villages – including the border tracts of Nam Kat and Sei Lant – have fled into China, said a resident of Nam Kat who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke to RFA Burmese on condition of anonymity, citing security concerns. “We have been fleeing from our homes for two months now,” said the resident. “We can’t make a living and the children’s education has also been impacted.” The resident said that few people felt the need to flee the fighting initially, even when the military began firing artillery in the area. “But one evening recently, lots of people from Namhkan fled after being attacked because the military used a jet fighter and the attack was at night,” he said. There are more than 100 internally displaced persons, or IDPs, sheltering in Namhkan’s Kawng Tat village and more than 300 IDPs sheltering in Muse’s Nam Hsant village, the resident said, while at least 1,000 people have fled to Ruili and Jie Gao in southwest China’s Yunnan province. The number of people who have fled elsewhere was not immediately clear, he added. Caught between two factions Residents of Sei Lant told RFA that while some villagers had fled to Muse, most are “living in fear” in their homes. One resident named Aik Sai said that although fighting has stopped in recent days, “they are worried that it will resume” due to the presence of troops from both sides stationed near the village. “Both sides are staying [near] the village and we can’t drive them out,” he said, urging the troops to “fight in the jungle, if possible … [because] it isn’t good for both sides to use locals as shields.” Aik Sai said life in the village had ground to a halt amid the fighting and that “we can’t earn a living.” “We’re worried about residents being shot in the village,” he added. TNLA spokesman Lt-Col. Mai Aik Kyaw confirmed the military’s recent use of air power in the area. He said that on Sept. 25 at around 10:00 p.m., the military dropped six bombs, including two 500-pound bombs with an impact radius of up to 30 meters (100 feet), in the jungle near a TNLA camp along the Muse-Namhkan highway, around 16 kilometers (10 miles) from the Chinese border. “We don’t know why they came and attacked,” he said, adding that the TNLA has “only engaged in self-defense.” “Since Sept. 22, there has been no retaliatory attack from our side,” Mai Aik Kyaw said. “On their side, they are constantly firing from the air and artillery every day. In the last three or four days, there have been drone attacks.” A Myanmar junta jet dropped 500 lb. bombs on a TNLA base on Loi Mauk Mountain, Sept. 26, 2023. Credit: News & Information Department A resident of Kutkai’s Ngawt Ngar village also confirmed the military’s use of aircraft, saying that two fighter jets fired on the tract on the afternoon of Sept. 26. That same evening, he said, junta troops in nearby Nam Hpat Kar lobbed artillery at Ngawt Ngar, damaging a home. The resident said that the incidents were enough to cause many villagers to flee and others to go into hiding nearby. “There are only a few people left [in the village],” he said. “Some ran away to the jungle, since people don’t dare to stay in the village anymore.” Control of border town Attempts by RFA to reach the junta’s economic minister and Shan state spokesman Khun Thein Maung went unanswered. Similarly, RFA contacted the Chinese Embassy in Yangon via email regarding the issue of Myanmar nationals fleeing into China due to fighting near the border, but received no response. Than Soe Naing, a Myanmar political commentator, said he believes that the junta has been stepping up attacks in the area because it “cannot tolerate” TNLA control of Muse, a town of economic importance due to its proximity to the border. “That’s why the junta is putting pressure on the TNLA, and the fighting has become intense,” he said. According to the TNLA, the two sides fought nearly 50 battles between July 23 and Sept. 26. RFA reporting found that a total of nine civilians – including a child – were killed and 13 civilians were injured in Mogoke, Muse and Kutkai townships over the same period. Translated by Htin Aung Kyaw. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.
Myanmar guerrilla group says it shot junta conspirator in Yangon
A man accused of working with Myanmar’s ruling junta has been shot in the head in central Yangon, a local guerilla group said. The Urban Owls released a statement shortly after Monday’s shooting claiming responsibility for the attack, saying that businessman Nyan Lwin Aung was targeted for his close relationships with military leaders. They said the man accompanied junta leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing on his trip to Russia last year and met with Russian Defense Ministry officials. Nyan Lwin Aung also bought weapons for the junta, the group claimed. He was shot in the head at an intersection in Latha township, residents told Radio Free Asia on Tuesday. “It happened at around 10 p.m. last night,” said one local, asking to be kept anonymous for fear of reprisals. “He was sent to the Yangon General Hospital. A large number of junta troops arrived with military vans and investigated 17th to 19th Street after the shooting incident.” Police and soldiers began searching civilians along the busy Shwedagon Pagoda Road after the shooting, the local said. Another Latha resident said Nyan Lwin Aung was shot at close range in his left temple and was sent to Yangon General Hospital. The hospital’s emergency department confirmed to RFA Burmese that Nyan Lwin Aung arrived at the hospital Monday night with a serious wound. One surgeon said he was in a critical condition and being treated in the intensive care unit. Yangon division’s junta spokesperson and regional attorney general Htay Aung had not responded to RFA at the time of publication. Monday’s statement by the Urban Owls added that Nyan Lwin Aung had also worked for the Ministry of the Interior, installing CCTV facial recognition cameras. It said he had a company in Myanmar with business subsidiaries in Thailand, Russia, China, and the United Arab Emirates under the name North Gate Engineering and Technology. RFA has yet to confirm the group’s claims. When a reporter called North Gate’s Yangon office an employee said he was not authorized to comment. The guerilla group has carried out a number of killings, claiming responsibility for the death of Ye Khine, security chief of the Yangon International Airport, as well as Minn Tayzar Nyunt Tin, a junta-affiliated lawyer accused of money laundering. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.
Myanmar junta seeks to wipe out headquarters of Kachin rebel group
The Myanmar junta is going all out with its air and ground forces to wipe out the headquarters of ethnic Kachin rebels in northern Kachin state, eliminating a lifeline of support for anti-regime militias in neighboring Sagaing region, political and military analysts said. A fierce battle broke out between military troops and Kachin Independence Army forces on Monday near the Lai Lum Awng Jar base camp in Kachin’s Momauk township, said Col. Naw Bu, the group’s information officer. Between 50 and 100 junta soldiers have been trapped by KIA forces inside the camp for more than two months, he said. The junta launched three air strikes while some of its troops who tried to rescue them were intercepted by the KIA along the route. Fierce fighting between junta troops and joint KIA and local People’s Defense Forces – ordinary citizens who have taken up arms against the junta – in the upper townships of adjacent Sagaing region earlier this year began moving in July towards the KIA’s headquarters in Laiza, a remote mountainous town in Kachin state that lies on the border with China, area residents and KIA members said. Since then, the junta’s 1,000-strong force has been attacking Nam Sam Yang village in Waingmaw township near Laiza, while the KIA and some soldiers from the Arakan Army, another ethnic armed group, have jointly defended it, they said. There also has been three months of intense and continuous fighting along the Myitkyina-Bhamo road as the junta tried to gain control of the major cities of Hpakant, Bhamo and Myitkyina in Kachin state, Naw Bu said. “The junta even launched air strikes,” he said. “That’s how intense the military situation is.” “They have reinforced their troops to try to control Hpakant, Myitkyina and Bhamo cities,” he added. “That’s why their troops have reduced strength in Sagaing region, and fighting there has decreased as well.” Hotbed of resistance Up to now, areas of northern Sagaing bordering Kachin have been a hotbed of armed resistance since the military seized power from the democratically elected government in a February 2021 coup. Nine military junta warships loaded with weapons and food supplies, which sailed up from Mandalay along the Ayeyarwady River, arrived in Bhamo on Aug. 19 to reinforce the military base along the Myitkyina-Bhamo road near Laiza, according to local and KIA sources who declined to be named for safety reasons. When the junta columns could not move forward after intercepting KIA forces burned their vehicles and destroyed their supplies, the junta launched air strikes, they said. More than 1,000 residents displaced by the fighting have taken refuge in monasteries and Christian churches in Momauk and Bhamo, said a Bhamo local. Kachin Independence Army recruits undergo training at a military camp near Laiza in northern Myanmar’s Kachin state, Feb. 13, 2012. Credit: Vincent Yu/AP Over 80 battles have occurred in the vicinity of Bhamo, Hpakant, Tanai, Shwegu, Momauk, Waingmaw and at the KIA’s Laiza headquarters between July 23 to Sept. 11, during which junta forces conducted more than 20 air strikes, Naw Bu said. During these battles, 51 junta soldiers were killed and 106 were injured, he said, though he did not disclose the number of KIA casualties. Win Ye Tun, the junta’s social affairs minister and Kachin state spokesman, said he did not know details about the fighting. Junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun could not be reached for comment. ‘Cut it from the roots’ Thein Tun Oo, executive director of the pro-military Thayninga Institute for Strategic Studies, said the military is targeting KIA headquarters in Laiza because it wants to eliminate the supply source for armed opposition in the region. “As long as you cannot control the sources of supply for your enemies, you won’t be able to control what is happening on the front,” he said. “This means that if you only cut the branches without cutting the root sources, it will not be enough to kill a tree. To cut down a tree, you need to cut it from the roots.” “Because Laiza is a major source of supplies for the resistance groups, the military’s major aim is to wipe it out so that at least its supply lines of personnel and weapons can be eradicated,” he said. The military junta is trying to wipe out Laiza, so it can control the upper part of Sagaing region, said a political and military analyst on condition of anonymity so he could speak freely. “Since the junta has suffered the loss of many territories especially in Sagaing region, it is attacking Laiza in Kachin state to strategically control and cut the source of supplies for the revolutionary forces becoming stronger in Sagaing region.” Junta troops have been attacking the Laiza headquarters with a much larger force than before, while the KIA is strongly resisting them to prevent the regime from achieving its goal, he added. With junta soldiers stepping up fighting in Kachin state, the number of attacks in the upper Sagaing region, such as Indaw, Tigyaing, Katha and Banmauk townships, has decreased, local defense forces said. The junta’s Light Infantry Battalions 416, 309, 301 and 416 used to be stationed in Indaw township and would raid villages, but now only the 77th battalion is there, said the information officer of Indaw Revolution, a defense team in Sagaing region, as troops appear to be headed to Hpakant for reinforcement. More than 80 battles have been fought in Indaw township, and more than 20 civilians have been killed by junta soldiers since the 2021 coup, said the information officer, who declined to identify himself by name for safety reasons. Similarly, KIA-PDF joint forces have fought more than 100 battles with junta troops in Katha township, resulting in the deaths of over 80 civilians and the burning of more than 900 houses, according to an official of the Katha township People’s Defense Force. RFA could not independently confirm the death toll figures. More than 24,000 civilians have fled to safety due to…
Chinese police harass family of Washington DC student activist
An international student in the U.S. capital has been harassed by China’s state security police for pro-democracy activism on American soil, with his loved ones back in China hauled in by police for questioning and told to get him in line, Radio Free Asia has learned. Zhang Jinrui, a law student at Washington’s Georgetown University, said his family in China received an unexpected visit in June from state security police, who interrogated his father about Zhang’s level of patriotism and questioned him about his activities in the United States. “The state security police knocked on our door and took my father away for lengthy questioning,” Zhang told Radio Free Asia in a recent interview. “[They asked him] ‘Does this child of yours take part in pro-democracy activities? Do they usually love their country and the [ruling Chinese Communist] Party?’” “If not, you have to teach him to love his country and the party better,” the police said. “It’s not OK that he’s doing this, and it won’t do any good.” Zhang’s experience comes amid growing concern over Beijing’s “long-arm” law enforcement targeting overseas activists and students, who had expected to enjoy greater freedom of speech and association while living or studying in a democratic country. Zhang said the questioning of his father came after he took part in protests in support of the “white paper” protest movement in November 2022, and against Beijing’s hosting of the Winter Olympics in February. There are growing concerns over Beijing’s “long-arm” law enforcement targeting overseas activists and students. Here, “Viola,” a New York University graduate student, delivers a speech during a gathering to mark the third anniversary of the death of Chinese whistleblower Li Wenliang in New York on Feb. 5, 2023. Credit: Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA Yet he wasn’t contacted at the time by police, who sometimes contact overseas Chinese nationals via social media platforms to get their message across. “On the evening of June 29, I suddenly received a WeChat message from my sister saying ‘Contact me urgently, something happened,’” Zhang said. “The people from the police station had called my sister and asked about her [relative] in Washington, wanting to know if they took part in the Torch on the Potomac group, saying I was a key member.” Fear and self-censorship Torch on the Potomac was set up by students at the George Washington University in April, to provide a safe space for dissident activities by Chinese students. But Zhang was nonplussed by the accusation, saying that the group has yet to organize any activities, and that police have also been harassing the families of Chinese students who haven’t taken part in any activism at all. Calls to the Wusan police station, which is close to Zhang’s family home in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang, rang unanswered during office hours on Sept. 19. Several other Chinese students declined to be interviewed when contacted by Radio Free Asia. Sarah McLaughlin, senior scholar at The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, said speaking to the foreign media could bring down further trouble on the heads of students who may already have seen their families hauled in for questioning. “I know that that’s something that international students have run into before,” she said. “They’ve gotten in trouble when they returned home for things they’ve said online while in the United States.” McLaughlin said the harassment of their families in China will have a chilling effect on students’ speech, even overseas. “There are definitely some real fears among these students, and there’s definitely self censorship,” she said. Classroom informants And the police aren’t the only source of such anxiety – there is also the risk of being reported by fellow students from China, who are encouraged via the Chinese Students and Scholars Associations to keep an eye on each other. A Georgetown University faculty member who asked to remain anonymous said the problem is becoming more and more serious, with Chinese students feeling unable to speak freely in class, for fear of being informed on by their Chinese classmates. Georgetown University student Zhang Jinrui says he was harassed by members of the Georgetown branch of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association as he was distributing flyers. Credit: Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA Last year, when students at George Washington University put up posters on campus opposing China’s hosting of the 2023 Winter Olympics, the Chinese Embassy sent members of the campus branch of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association to tear them down again and put up posters denouncing their actions. “They even got in touch with the school, saying that the Chinese students who support democracy and oppose zero-COVID are racist,” Zhang said. “That’s why they set up the Torch on the Potomac, because a lot of their activities weren’t getting the support of the school.” George Washington University President Mark Wrighton admitted in a Feb. 8 statement that the removal of the posters was a mistake, and the university administration should have waited until they better understood the situation before acting. “We began to receive a number of concerns through official university reporting channels that cited bias and racism against the Chinese community,” Wrighton said. “I also received an email directly from a student who expressed concerns.” “I have since learned from our university’s scholars that the posters were designed by a Chinese-Australian artist, Badiucao, and they are a critique of China’s policies,” he said. “Upon full understanding, I do not view these posters as racist; they are political statements.” Neither Georgetown University nor George Washington University had responded to requests for comment on the renewed harassment of Chinese students in the United States by Sept. 19. A wall with posters at Georgetown University in Washington. Torch on the Potomac was set up by students at the George Washington University in April, to provide a safe space for dissident activities by Chinese students. Credit: Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA Close contact with embassies Zhang said he has also been personally harassed by members of the Georgetown branch of the…
Zoned out: China-Myanmar Economic Corridor still going nowhere
As Myanmar’s economy continues to skid, with soaring inflation, a depreciating kyat, and flat revenue, junta leader Min Aung Hlaing seems to be looking for a few Chinese-backed marquee projects to kickstart growth, and ensure Beijing’s long-term commitment to the State Administrative Council, as the regime is formally known. In August Min Aung Hlaing called for the completion of the Kyaukphyu special economic zone (SEZ) and container port, while engineering work is starting on the 810-km railway connecting Kyaukphyu with Muse, a city on the Myanmar-China border. The project in western Myanmar has evolved and absorbed different components since a 2011 memorandum of understanding for the Kunming-Kyaukphyu railway led eventually to a set of projects under China’s ambitious $1 trillion Belt and Road Initiative. But as the BRI prepares to celebrate its tenth anniversary at a summit in Beijing in October, China, unhappy with the slow pace of CMEC implementation, looks unlikely to extend an invitation to Min Aung Hlaing, denying him the recognition that he covets. Oil tanks seen on Maday island outside Kyaukphyu, Myanmar, are seen May 17, 2017. Credit: Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters Chinese projects in Myanmar were facing trouble before Min Aung Hlaing overthrew the country’s elected government on Feb. 1, 2021. Now they are beset by unrest, power shortages and transport woes. Kyaukphyu began as a small port for offshore and imported oil, as well as being the land terminus for the Shwe gas field. The 51-49 joint venture between China National Petroleum Company and the Ministry of Oil and Gas Enterprises constructed a pier and 12 tanks, which commenced operations in 2013. The US$2.5 billion 750 km oil pipeline and 770 km gas pipeline to Kunming became fully operational in 2017. That year, PetroChina opened up a refinery in Kunming that was able to handle 7% of China’s total refining needs. These pipelines were China’s strategic priority, but Beijing had other goals for linking landlocked southwestern China to the Indian Ocean. China saw the project as a way to address what then Chinese President Hu Jintao described in 2003 as the “Malacca dilemma” of vulnerability to a naval blockade of the Southeast Asian waterway which carries two-thirds of China’s energy imports and trade flows. In 2018, the two sides established the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) to jumpstart the projects as part of the BRI, the signature project of Hu’s successor Xi Jinping. Beijing also saw as supporting Myanmar’s National Ceasefire Agreement signed by some ethnic armies in 2015 to end years of hostilities with the government. All existing Myanmar projects were folded into the CMEC, and still there was little movement. Two of the first MOUs were a feasibility study for the first phase of the railway project and an environmental and sustainability impact study of Kyaukphyu. Ambitious projections A December 2015 tender between the government of reformist military leader Thein Sein and a consortium of Chinese corporations led by the state controlled investment company, CITIC, established the Kyaukphyu SEZ and deepwater port. The $7.3 billion project was 85% owned by the Chinese consortium. The phased project included the 1,736 hectare Kyaukphyu SEZ followed by two deep water container ports on Maday and Ramree islands. At capacity, 270 and 237 hectares ports would be able to berth 10 ships at once and handle 4.9 million containers annually. There were wild promises by CITIC, including projections of adding $10 billion to GDP annually and the creation of 100,000 new jobs. But little happened. And there was already pushback from the elected National League of Democracy government led by Aung San Suu Kyi . Fearful of a scenario that played out when Sri Lanka became heavily indebted to China, in 2018, the Suu kyi administration renegotiated the agreement, lowering China’s stake to 70% as well as decreasing the overall debt for the project. But the ethnic cleansing and violence in Rakhine state, the location of the port facility, kept everything at a standstill. Xi Jinping’s January 2020 visit to Myanmar took advantage of Aung San Suu Kyi’s diplomatic isolation following the forced expulsion of Rohingya Muslims in 2017 that led to UN genocide charges. More than 30 agreements were signed, many of which related to Kyaukphyu and its rail links. Days before the February 2021 coup, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Suu Kyi to push for the quick implementation of CMEC projects, including Kyaukphyu. Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi meets with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Naypyidaw, Jan. 11, 2021. Credit: Thar Byaw/Myanmar State Counsellor Office/AFP Seven months after the military seized power, site work began on the 1,740 hectare site. But there were immediate protests from the 20,000 people who were being displaced and harbored mistrust over promised compensation. Unrest was also fueled by civil disobedience against the coup, and junta crackdowns and arrests of local officials and activists. Another impediment for the project is the regional shortage of electricity. In 2019, a Hong Kong based firm, VPower, which is partially owned by CITIC, won an emergency tender to provide electricity in Myanmar. By 2021, it had nine different power projects around the country, including three in Kyaukphyu. Yet, the firm shut down the 200mw Kyaukphyu II project in mid-2021, despite it being a 60-month contract. By 2022, VPower had shut down the Kyaukphyu I plant. Both were dismantled. The firm cited a number of factors in the closing of the plants, including irregular supply of LNG, currency controls and other issues related to the post-coup investment climate. Left unsaid was the government’s inability to pay for the amount of electricity that it contracted for and to pay the sum in U.S. dollars. That left only one power plant in Kyaukphyu, a 135mw gas-fired plant, a 2020 joint venture between VPower, CNTIC, and Myanmar’s Supreme Group. It was still in operation in early 2023, though there are reports that it has recently closed. Underwriting the junta Without power, little is progressing. In March 2023, a Chinese company signed a MOU…
