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Category: East Asia
Chinese aircraft carrier returns to South China Sea
China’s aircraft carrier the Shandong left the Western Pacific and returned to its usual operational area, the South China Sea, the Japanese Ministry of Defense has said. Ten days before this, the Chinese carrier was operating just less than 400 miles from the U.S.’s Guam island. The Japan Joint Staff said in a statement that the Shandong carrier group of seven vessels was spotted on Monday evening about 360 kilometers (224 miles) south of Yonaguni Island in Okinawa Prefecture. Yonaguni is Japan’s southernmost island, only 110 kilometers (68 miles) from Taiwan. The group was then sailing towards the South China Sea, the statement said, adding that at the same time, a carrier-based fighter J-15 jet and a Z-18J helicopter were seen practicing landings and take-offs. Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense also confirmed that the Shandong and its accompanying ships were passing through waters southeast of the island into the South China Sea. Aircraft carrier the Shandong spotted southeast of Taiwan on April 24, 2023. Credit: Taiwan Ministry of National Defense The group consists of the aircraft carrier, one Type 055 large destroyer, two Type 052D destroyers, two Type 054A frigates, and a Type 901 comprehensive replenishment ship. The Japanese defense ministry said it has been tracking the Shandong’s movements since April 7 when the Chinese carrier began conducting exercises in the Western Pacific. During a period of 18 days until April 25, carrier-borne aircraft performed about 620 sorties. To compare, another Chinese aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, hosted about 320 sorties in 15 days last time it was operating in the same area. ‘Joint Sword’ Over the weekend, the Chinese military also sent four H-6K/J bombers from the East China Sea through the Miyako Strait to the West Pacific to conduct joint exercise with the Shandong carrier group. Before that, the Shandong, China’s second aircraft carrier, took part in combat patrols and the ‘Joint Sword’ military drills in the waters east of Taiwan from April 7-12. The drills were held by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command in response to Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s transits in the United States and her meeting on April 5 with the U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California. Tsai’s trip and the meeting angered Beijing which threatened “resolute measures” against what it called “separatist” efforts by the Taiwanese leader and her party. The Chinese newspaper Global Times reported that the Shandong carrier group conducted “intensive drills” near the U.S. island territory of Guam on April 13-16, reaching about 600 kilometers (372 miles) to 700 kilometers (434 miles) to the west of Guam. The Global Times said Guam, a militarized island, is considered by the U.S. “a key node in the second island chain.” China refers to the chain of main archipelagos surrounding the East Asian continental mainland, as well as Japan and Taiwan, as the first island chain; while the second island chain includes Guam and other U.S. island territories in the Marianas in the Western Pacific. The Guam-based Pacific Daily News last week quoted a U.S. Navy spokesperson as saying that the Navy “is aware of and monitoring the situation, and is in continuous communication” with the authorities. Lt. Cmdr. Katie Koenig from the Joint Region Marianas was quoted as saying that “the military here remains keenly postured to defend United States equities and interests in this region from any adversary that may threaten national and international norms and rules-based order.” The Chinese newspaper China Daily reported on Friday that the Liaoning, has also “recently carried out multiple exercises in the Western Pacific.” That led to the assumption that the two Chinese carriers — Liaoning and Shandong — were operating together in the Pacific. Edited by Mike Firn.
Philippines raises concerns with China about spiraling Taiwan tensions
The Philippines on Saturday raised concerns with China about soaring tensions related to neighbor Taiwan when the two countries’ top diplomats met in Manila. The meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo came amid heightened rhetoric over the Philippines recently granting the United States access to four additional military bases, two of them fronting Taiwan, which Beijing considers a renegade province. “Manalo reaffirmed the Philippines’ adherence to the One China Policy, while at the same time expressing concern over the escalating tensions across the Taiwan Strait,” said a statement by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) after a meeting of the two officials. Manalo also told his Chinese counterpart that the Philippines continues to pursue “an independent foreign policy, which seeks to ensure stability and prosperity in the region,” according to a report by BenarNews, an affiliate of Radio Free Asia. For his part, China’s Qin reminded Manalo of the “promises” the two nations have made to each other, in what appeared to be an oblique reference to the One China policy, which Beijing’s envoy to the Philippines brought up last week in not so delicate a fashion. Qin called the situation “‘fluid’ and turbulent,” without elaborating. “[A] healthy and stable China-Philippines relationship is not only meeting the aspirations of our two peoples, but also in line with the common aspirations of regional countries,” he said. “We need to work together to continue our tradition of friendship, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, and properly resolve our differences in the spirit of credibility, consultation, and dialogue, and keep our promises to each other so as to bring more benefits to our two countries and people and inject greater positive energy to the peace and stability of this region and the whole world,” Qin added. Analysts had called expanded access to Philippine military bases “central” to Washington’s aim to deter any plan by Beijing to attack Taiwan. China has said it amounted to interference. But the latest controversy involving China was the warning of its envoy here to the Philippines. Ambassador Huang Xilian had strongly advised Manila to “unequivocally oppose” Taiwan’s independence rather than fan the flames of conflict by offering the U.S. military additional access to bases. He also commented on the safety of 150,000 Filipino workers in Taiwan. Protesters hold signs demanding the expulsion of Huang Xilian, the Chinese envoy to the Philippines, outside the Chinese Consulate in Makati City, the Philippines, April 21, 2023. [Gerard Carreon/BenarNews] The Philippine government and opposition slammed the Chinese envoy for his statements on Manila’s policy on Taiwan and its workers on the neighboring island, saying they will not brook any attempts at intimidation by Beijing. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. later downplayed the Chinese envoy’s comments noting the latter’s speech released in English may have been “lost in translation.” On Saturday Marcos met with China’s Qin and called the meeting “useful.” “Some of the pronouncements that have been made recently by our two countries and many other countries might be misinterpreted,” according to a statement released by Marcos’ office. “So today it was really useful that we were able to speak with Minister Qin Gang, the Foreign Minister of China, so we can talk directly to one another and iron things out.” South China Sea issue Qin’s visit came even as the Philippines is hosting more than 12,000 American soldiers for the largest-ever joint exercises between the two long-time allies. The exercises were for “maritime defense, territorial defense, [and] coastal defense,” a Filipino military official said last month, amid seemingly hostile actions by Beijing in the South China Sea, parts of which both countries claim. During the meeting Saturday with the top Chinese diplomat, his Philippine counterpart Manalo raised the issue of the disputed waterway. “Our leaders have agreed that our differences in the West Philippine Sea are not the sum total of our relations,” he said, referring to the part of the South China Sea that lies within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines. “These differences should not prevent us from seeking ways of managing them effectively, especially with respect to the enjoyment of rights of Filipinos, especially our fisherfolk.” Manila has said that China has ramped up its presence in the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone in the disputed sea and increased harassment of Filipino fishermen in recent years. At a high-level foreign department consultation last month on the sea dispute, the government reminded China that intimidation and coercion have no place in solving the issue. While there have been significant developments already after the bilateral consultative meeting, Manalo noted that much still needed to be done. Philippine President Marcos on Saturday referred to the dispute saying more communication would help. “As to the conflicts, we agreed to establish more lines of communications so that any event that occurs in the West Philippine Sea that involves China and the Philippines can immediately be resolved,” he said. “So we are currently working on that and are awaiting the Chinese response and we are confident that these issues would be worked out that would be mutually beneficial for both our nations.” Manila had recently lodged a complaint about the swarming of more than 40 Chinese fishing boats, which were escorted by a Chinese Coast Guard ship and a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy ship near Pag-asa (Thitu), one of the Philippine-occupied islands in the disputed waters. In February, a CCG ship allegedly pointed a laser towards a Philippine Coast Guard vessel in Ayungin Shoal (Second Thomas Shoal). Still, as the Philippines’ Foreign Secretary Manalo noted, China has remained the country’s top trading partner over the past few years, even amid the COVID-19 pandemic. And when Marcos visited Beijing in January, he took home investment pledges worth about U.S. $22.8 billion. Meanwhile, Marcos is scheduled to make his second visit within a year to the U.S. on May 1, when he is set to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden in the White House. The two leaders are expected to discuss…
China’s new rural land transfer scheme sparks fears over heavy-handed enforcement
New rules governing the transfer of rural land in China have sparked concerns that the ruling Communist Party may be gearing up for the mass confiscation and reallocation of farmland in the name of “stabilizing the grain supply,” Radio Free Asia has learned. The Ministry of Agriculture announced this week it will roll out a pilot scheme to “standardize” the transfer of rural property rights, as well as “strengthening supervision and management” over the use of rural land in China, which is typically leased to farmers on 30-year “household responsibility” contracts, with the ownership remaining with the government. The move comes after the administration of supreme party leader Xi Jinping made it easier in 2016 for farmers to be bought out of household responsibility leases, to encourage farmers to relocate to urban areas to reduce rural poverty. China declared in November 2020 that it had eliminated extreme poverty, with analysts attributing the change in statistics to the mass relocation of younger migrant workers to cities, under strong official encouragement. Under the new land rules, officials are expected to “give full play to government leadership” via controversial “agricultural management” enforcement officials, who critics fear will send the country back to Mao-era collective farming and micromanagement of people’s daily lives. Analysts and farmers said that the main point of the additional controls is the tightening of state control over the supply of grain and to facilitate the transfer of rural land away from farmers if needed. Food security The move comes amid an ongoing government campaign to “stabilize the grain supply” and other moves to ensure food security, including revamping moribund Mao-era food co-ops and ordering the construction of state-run canteens. The rules insist on “disciplined transactions” including supervision of contract-signing and “certification,” and could pave the way for the mass reallocation of farmland in future, analysts said. A rural resident of the eastern province of Shandong who gave only the surname Zhang for fear of reprisals said he had recently found that farmers in his hometown now need a permit to farm land already leased to them. “I went back home and the neighbors told me that you now need a permit to till the land,” Zhang said. He blamed the “national food crisis” for the move, saying it effectively means that rural residents can no longer have friends and neighbors take care of their land when they migrate into the cities to look for work. A farmer collects corn in Gaocheng, Hebei province, China. Analysts and farmers say a key goal of the new land rules is to tighten state control over the supply of grain. Credit: Reuters file photo “When my relatives and friends would go to look for work, they would have others till their land for them, with no need for any kind of contract,” Zhang said. “Then, they could just pick it up again immediately if their work ended and they went back to live in the countryside.” “That’s no longer possible due to the serious nature of the national food crisis,” he said. Another major land reform Financial commentator Cai Shenkun said the scope of the pilot scheme is unprecedented. “This is another major land reform [following on from 2016], and it’s worth observing whether the next step will be to roll it out to all rural land governed by household responsibility contracts,” Cai said. “Given the involvement of the agricultural management officials who are now empowered to enforce the law, I think it has something to do with the next step, which will be the confiscation and reallocation of land,” he said. Agricultural management officials are among a slew of local officials empowered in a July 2021 directive to enforce laws and regulations without the involvement of the police. There are growing signs of unease around the new breed of rural “enforcer.” Netease and Sina Weibo’s news channels reported on Wednesday that a team of agricultural management officials seized two truck-loads of live pigs and sent the animals for slaughter on the grounds that quarantine regulations hadn’t been followed. After that, the farmers complained that they had received no money for the carcases, and that the trucks hadn’t been returned to them. Photos of the equipment issued to the “enforcers” showed first-aid kits, mobile phone signal jammers and stab-proof vests. ‘A new devil’ The reports prompted comments complaining of intrusive management of farmers’ lives, and asking if the agricultural enforcers were “a new devil for the New Era,” in a satirical reference to one of supreme leader Xi Jinping’s ideological buzzwords. A farmer from the southwestern province of Sichuan who gave only the surname Sen said the enforcers were also active in his part of the country. “They are bringing in this policy now, which is evil,” Sen said. “The agricultural management teams have so much power.” “They are descending on the countryside and making life hell for ordinary people with all this rectification.” Cai’s perception of the new rural management teams was similar to Sen’s and to comments seen online by Radio Free Asia, and he likened them to the widely hated urban management enforcement teams, or chengguan, who are often filmed beating up street vendors in the name of civic pride. “Now they are sending these so-called agricultural management teams into countless households, and into the fields,” he said. “They came into being, like the urban management officials before them, because when farmers aren’t cooperating, local township and village officials don’t want to show their faces, or get involved in beating people up or demolishing stuff,” he said. Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
Tibetans abroad rally in support of Dalai Lama following outrage over video
Tibetan demonstrators held rallies in Europe, the United States, India and Australia this week to protest negative media coverage of a video of the Dalai Lama asking an Indian boy to suck his tongue in what Tibetans say was a misinterpretation of an innocent, playful act. A video of the Tibetan Buddhists’ spiritual leader hugging and kissing the young boy on the lips at a student event in northern India on Feb. 28 went viral on social media and sparked online criticism and accusations of pedophilia. The Dalai Lama, 87, later apologized to the boy’s family, and Tibetans quickly came to his defense, explaining that sticking out one’s tongue is a greeting or a sign of respect in their culture. More than 2,000 Tibetans and their supporters rallied in Switzerland, demanding that local media apologize to the Dalai Lama for misinterpreting the video. Activists approached one news organization that agreed to look into the matter. “I have never seen Tibetans gathered in such a huge number in a long time, and it is very important that we organize these rallies against those who defamed His Holiness the Dalai Lama,” said Tenzin Wangdue, vice president of the Tibetan Association of Liechtenstein, More than 300 Tibetans and Indian supporters gathered in Bangalore, India, to demand apologies from news organizations. About 15,000 people gathered on April 15 in Ladakh, a region administered by India as part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China for decades. “We the faithful followers of His Holiness The 145th Dalai Lama are deeply saddened and shocked by the deliberate attempt of many news/media portals, circulating a tailored propaganda video clip to defame and malign the impeccable character and stature of His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama,” said a statement issued on April 14 by the Ladakh Buddhist Association’s Youth Wing in Kargil to show its solidarity with the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader. When the Dalai Lama meets with people, “he speaks with them freely, without any reserve or cautiousness, as if they were long-time friends, and treats them lovingly,” said Ogyen Thinley Dorje, the Karmapa, or spiritual leader and head of the Karma Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, one of the four major lineages of Tibet. “Sometimes he does playfully tug someone’s beard, or tickle them, or pat them gently on the cheek or nose,” he said in a statement issued on April 12. “This is just how he normally is, and it shows no more than his genuine delight and love for others. Tibetans living in western China’s Tibet Autonomous Region and Tibetan-populated areas of Chinese provinces as well as those who live abroad believe the Chinese have used the video to cast a dark shadow on the Dalai Lama. “Tibetans inside Tibet have seen and heard about the video clips on various social media,” said one Tibetan from inside the region, who declined to be identified for safety reasons. “It is so pleasant to be able to see pictures of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, but at the same time it is heartbreaking to see how the Chinese government is taking advantage of this and manipulating the playful video interaction between the Dalai Lama and the young Indian boy,” the source said. Many Tibetans inside Tibet have not publicly commented on the video, knowing that it would be dangerous to do so because of China’s heavy surveillance and repression in the region, said another Tibetan who declined to be named for the same reason. “The Chinese government would track down the individuals and punish them and they would be sentenced to three to four years [in prison],” the source said. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA Tibetan. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.
Video of dancer in mosque inflames Uyghur anxieties about China’s attacks on religion
A Chinese tourism advertisement portraying a medieval Buddhist fantasy, shot in the prayer hall of Xinjiang’s second-largest mosque, has alarmed diaspora Uyghurs, who call it a desecration. They say it is particularly incensing during Ramadan, a time when mosques should host prayer and evening fast-breaking. The promotional video, put out by a local propaganda office, features a bare-armed Uyghur woman as a dancer from “Women’s Kingdom,” a fictional polity whose queen sought to marry the Chinese protagonist of the classic Ming Dynasty novel Journey to the West. She twirls in the otherwise empty Kuchar Grand Mosque. The video, which circulated on Douyin, the Chinese version of Tiktok, emerged amid a tourism campaign to draw Han Chinese to the far-western region of Xinjiang, home to the mostly Muslim Uyghur and other Turkic peoples now that COVID-19 travel restrictions have been lifted. There were 35.2 million individual visits to Xinjiang between January and March of this year, resulting in 2.5 billion yuan in tourism revenue, an increase of 36% on the same period last year, according to state media. But Uyghurs say such videos are both offensive and part of a wider attempt to diminish or erase their religion and culture. The video was shared to Facebook by Uyghur activist and reeducation camp survivor Zumret Dawut. It has since been taken down from Douyin. Radio Free Asia could not identify or contact its creators. “The message [of the video] to the Uyghurs is that we can suppress and even destroy you by assaulting and breaking your dignity through humiliation – we can do anything we want to do,” said Ilshat Hassan, Deputy Executive Chairman of the World Uyghur Congress. Spurious claim The video begins with a Chinese narrator walking up the steps to the mosque. “[When you] open the heavy door of Kuchar Grand Mosque, a beautiful Qiuci woman, concealed by a veil, steps forward, and shares memories of the Woman’s Kingdom with you,” the video’s narrator relates as the woman dances. Qiuci is the Chinese name for the medieval Buddhist kingdom of Kusen, near the present site of Kuchar. The Chinese words used in the video for Grand Mosque, Da Si, are also used to refer to large Buddhist temples. Nowhere does the film indicate that the setting is a gathering place for Muslims. The mosque, first built in the 16th century and reconstructed after a fire in the 1930s, has never been a site of Buddhist worship. The Chinese Communist Party ties the legitimacy of its rule in the Uyghur region to the spurious claim that Xinjiang has always been a part of China. To bolster this claim, it has etched episodes from Chinese fiction and historical annals onto Xinjiang’s landscape by altering the presentation of Uyghur sacred spaces. The Uyghur region’s most prominent shrine is the mausoleum of Afaq Khoja, a 17th century religious and political leader in Kashgar. It has long been marketed to Chinese tourists as the tomb of the “Fragrant Concubine,” who, according to Chinese legend, was Afaq Khoja’s granddaughter, sent as tribute to the Qianlong Emperor. The transformation of the Uyghur region’s most prominent religious sites into tourist attractions, demolition of other mosques and shrines, criminalization of public expressions of Islamic piety, and pervasive surveillance have left Uyghurs with nowhere to observe Ramadan but home. Non-event A Chinese travel agent in Urumchi contacted by RFA and asked about visiting Xinjiang mosques during Ramadan depicted Islam’s most sacred month as a non-event. There are no religious events bringing Muslims together to break the daytime fast, for instance. “Normally there won’t be these kinds of collective activities at mosques,” she said. “Many people in Xinjiang are Sinicized, so there aren’t situations like in the Arab world where lots of people gather in one place and make religious observances together. I’ve lived in Xinjiang for many years, and I’ve never seen minority nationalities engaging in those kinds of collective activities,” she said. Meanwhile, tourists wishing to visit mosques like Kashgar’s Id Kah and Kuchar’s Grand Mosque during Ramadan could freely do so, outside of the calls to prayer, the travel agent said. “People who want to fast must do it at home,” the travel agent said. Asked whether it was possible to visit mosques in Urumchi, the travel agent had a firm response. “It isn’t possible to visit those places. Because they’re locked. The mosques near the Grand Bazaar are locked too,” she said. “There’s no requirement to pray at mosques, right? People can pray at home, right? Ask questions like this to the relevant government official.” Edited by Malcolm Foster.
Albert del Rosario, who led the Philippines in landmark case vs China, dies
Albert del Rosario, the Philippines’ former top diplomat who successfully led the country in its international arbitration case over a territorial dispute with China in the South China Sea, died on Tuesday, his family said. He was 83. The Philippine case was considered groundbreaking because it marked the first time that any country had challenged China in a world court over its territorial claims in the waterway. His daughter, Dr. Inge del Rosario, confirmed the news to reporters, but did not disclose the cause of death. Other sources close to the family said the ex-foreign secretary died while on a flight to San Francisco. “The family of Ambassador Albert Ferreros del Rosario is deeply saddened to announce his passing today, April 18, 2023. The family requests privacy during this difficult time,” his daughter said. Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo confirmed the news. He called del Rosario “an advocate of protecting and advancing national security and promoting the rights and welfare of Filipinos both in the Philippines and abroad.” “You will be missed, Mr. Secretary,” he said. Born in Manila on Nov. 14, 1939, del Rosario, a critic of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s foreign policies – particularly in dealing with China – served as the Philippine foreign affairs chief under late President Benigno Aquino III, from 2011 until 2016. While heading the Department of Foreign Affairs, del Rosario spearheaded the Philippines’ legal battle against China before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands over a territorial dispute in the West Philippine Sea. The Philippines brought the case before the court in 2012. In July 2016, the arbitration court ruled in favor of the Philippines, and threw out China’s expansive claims in the sea, including in waters that reach its neighbors’ shores. The Philippines calls the part of the South China Sea that is within its territory the West Philippine Sea. Activists who traveled to the contested Scarborough Shoal and were blocked by the Chinese coast, react after a ruling on the South China Sea by an arbitration court in The Hague in favor of the Philippines, at a restaurant in Manila, July 12, 2016. Credit: Erik De Castro/Reuters The Chinese, however, ignored the landmark ruling, even as most countries in the West, led by the United States, hailed the award in the Philippines’ favor. Since then, China has carried on with its military expansionism in the strategic waterway, including building artificial islands. But President Duterte, who took office within a month before the historic ruling, played it down and chose instead to build up warm bilateral relations with China. Late into his presidency, however, he told the United Nations General Assembly that the arbitration court’s ruling was “beyond compromise” and part of international law. The Philippines not only lost a patriot “but an esteemed diplomat who represented our country with utmost grace, honor, and dignity,” Sen. Risa Hontiveros said in paying tribute to del Rosario. His “leadership inspired in us the courage and the creativity to fight for our national interest using lawful and diplomatic means. Defending and protecting our rights in the WPS is an intergenerational battle, one we can win because of the work Sec. del Rosario started,” Hontiveros said in a statement, referring to the West Philippine Sea. Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, who spearheaded the filing of a complaint against China, attends a hearing regarding the Philippines and China on the South China Sea, at the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, the Netherlands, Nov. 24, 2015. Credit: Permanent Court of Arbitration via AP Jose Antonio Custodio, a military historian at the Institute of Policy, Strategy and Development Studies, a Philippine think-tank, described Del Rosario as “a brave man” who had endured public insults from Duterte. “He was a hero of the republic for successfully fighting against China’s illegal claims in our maritime entitlements. May his memory be a blessing,” Custodio said. The think-tank Stratbase ADR Institute, where del Rosario served as chairperson, said the former foreign affairs chief championed “democratic values and rules-based international order.” “He has fought for an independent foreign policy that prioritizes the interests of the country and of the Filipino people. He believed that diplomacy is a great equalizer in international affairs and that each state had an equal voice in the global community regardless of their political, economic, or military capabilities,” the institute said. Jeoffrey Maitem and Jojo Riñoza contributed to this report from Manila. BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news organization.
Two arrested on charges relating to Chinese police station in New York
Two individuals were arrested in New York on Monday on federal charges that they operated a police station in lower Manhattan for the Chinese government, prosecutors said. “Harry” Lu Jianwang, 61, of the Bronx, and Chen Jinping, 59, of Manhattan, both U.S. citizens, worked together to create an overseas branch of the Chinese government’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS), federal officials said. They opened the station in an office building in Chinatown, a neighborhood in Manhattan. The station was closed last year, according to the prosecutors. Federal officials also filed complaints against more than three dozen officers with the MPS, accusing them of harassing Chinese nationals living in New York and other parts of the United States. The officers, who remain at large in China, targeted individuals in the United States who expressed views contrary to the position of the Chinese government, according to the federal officials. The Chinese Embassy in Washington has not replied to queries about the announcement regarding the arrests of Lu Jianwang and Chen Jinping. It isn’t clear if the two have lawyers. A Justice Department official said that the police station was part of an effort by the Chinese government to spy on and frighten individuals who live in the United States. “The PRC, through its repressive security apparatus, established a secret physical presence in New York City to monitor and intimidate dissidents and those critical of its government,” said Matthew G. Olsen, an assistant attorney general with the Justice Department’s National Security Division, referring to the acronym for the People’s Republic of China. A six story glass facade building, second from left, is believed to have been the site of a foreign police outpost for China in New York’s Chinatown, Monday, April 17, 2023. Credit: Associated Press Lu Jianwang and Chen Jinping were charged with conspiring to act as agents of the Chinese government and of obstructing justice through the destruction of evidence of their communications with a Chinese ministry official, according to a complaint filed in a federal court in Brooklyn. They allegedly destroyed emails that they had exchanged with an official at the MPS, according to federal officials. Lu had been responsible for assisting the Chinese security ministry in various ways, according to the federal officials. They said that Lu had helped apply pressure on an individual to return to China and assisted in efforts to track down a “pro-democracy activist” also living in the United States. The existence of a police station in Chinatown came to light last year. According to federal officials, Chinese security officials ran the outpost, as well as dozens of other stations in cities and towns around the world. The FBI’s arrest of individuals in connection to the Chinatown police station is the latest effort by U.S. officials to curtail what they describe as the Chinese government’s activities in the United States. The arrest of the two individuals in New York is also a reminder of the tense relationship between the two countries. Lately, U.S. officials have highlighted the Chinese government’s influence operations and attempts to sway people’s opinions so that they view Chinese government policies in a more favorable light. “We’ve been hearing a lot about China’s influence campaigns – the idea that China is on the move in the United States,” said Robert Daly, the director of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Wilson Center in Washington. “But this potentially puts Chinese agents right in downtown Manhattan.”
EU lodges protest over China’s detention of rights lawyer and activist wife
The European Union has lodged a protest with China after police detained veteran rights lawyer Yu Wensheng and his activist wife Xu Yan ahead of a meeting with its diplomats during a scheduled EU-China human rights dialogue on April 13. “We have already been taken away,” Yu tweeted shortly before falling silent on April 13, while the EU delegation to China tweeted on April 14: “@yuwensheng9 and @xuyan709 detained by CN authorities on their way to EU Delegation.” “We demand their immediate, unconditional release. We have lodged a protest with MFA against this unacceptable treatment,” the tweet from the EU’s embassy in China said, referring to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell had been scheduled to travel to China from April 13-15 for the annual EU-China strategic dialogue with Foreign Minister Qin Gang, and to meet with China’s foreign policy chief Wang Yi, as well as the new Defense Minister Li Shangfu. The visit, during which Yu and Xu had an invitation to go to the German Embassy for the afternoon of April 13, was to have followed last week’s trip by European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron. But Borrell postponed the visit after testing positive for COVID-19, according to his Twitter account. Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang, who is also said to have been detained recently, is seen on a laptop screen in Beijing as he speaks via video link from his home in Jinan, in China’s eastern Shandong province, April 23, 2020. Credit: AFP The EU Delegation said rights attorneys Wang Quanzhang, Wang Yu and Bao Longjun have also been placed under house arrest, but gave no further details. Police officers read out a notice of detention to Xu and Yu’s 18-year-old son on Saturday night, giving the formal date of criminal detention as April 14, but didn’t leave any documentation with him or allow him to take photos of the notice, Wang Yu told Radio Free Asia on Monday. Catch-all charge Citing fellow rights attorneys Song Yusheng and Peng Jian, who visited the family home on Sunday, Wang said: “[The son] said that his parents were detained on the charge of picking quarrels and stirring up trouble” – a catch-all charge used to target critics of the Communist Party. “The police showed his son the notice of criminal detention, but he was not allowed to take pictures, and they didn’t leave the notice for him. He was only shown it,” Wang Yu said. “They carried out a search of their home.” Around seven officers searched the family home and took away a number of personal belongings without showing a warrant or issuing receipts, according to the rights website Weiquanwang. Wang Yu, who received a call from the couple’s son on April 16, said the young man is now also under surveillance. “The authorities sent people to stand guard over Yu Wensheng’s son, both inside and outside their home,” Wang said. Defense lawyers blocked She said police had prevented lawyers Song and Peng from representing the couple as defense attorneys. “Song Yusheng and Peng Jian went to Yu Wensheng’s house and took his son to dinner,” she said. “They wanted his son to sign a letter instructing them as attorneys, but Peng Jian told me that the police refused to sign off on it.” “Yu Wensheng’s brother told me that the police told him that Xu Yan has already hired a lawyer,” she said. “This is the same as the way they handled the July 2015 crackdown, preventing family members from instructing lawyers, and stopping the lawyers from defending [detainees].” Since a nationwide crackdown on hundreds of rights attorneys and law firms in 2015, police have begun to put pressure on the families of those detained for political dissent to fire their lawyers and allow the government to appoint a lawyer on their behalf, in the hope of a more lenient sentence. Wang Yu said the charges against the couple were trumped up. “Criminal detention is legally equivalent to being suspected of a crime,” she said. “But according to the information we have from family members and online, there is no evidence that Yu Wensheng or Xu Yan engaged in any illegal activities.” Wang Qiaoling, wife of rights lawyer Li Heping, said her family is currently also under surveillance. “When we were taking our kids to class on Sunday morning, we saw that there were cars following us, and they followed us onto the expressway,” she said Monday. “It was the same today.” “They always place us under surveillance whenever a foreign leader visits China, but we don’t understand why they are doing it now, when the [scheduled] visit is over,” she said. The Spain-based rights group Safeguard Defenders said the couple’s disappearance should be a matter for EU-China relations, noting the use of “residential surveillance” to prevent fellow rights lawyers from defending the couple. “[Residential surveillance] is growing in use and new legal teeth have made it a far harsher experience,” the group said via its Twitter account. Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
G7 talks tough on Ukraine, Taiwan and Korea during Blinken’s Asia trip
UPDATED AT 07:34 a.m. ET on 2023-04-17. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Japan where he, together with other foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) nations, discussed a common approach to the war in Ukraine Monday, confirming “that they remain committed to intensifying, fully coordinating and enforcing sanctions against Russia, as well as to continuing strong support for Ukraine,” according to a Japanese Foreign Affairs Ministry statement. The statement was in line with the goals of the Biden administration, which are to shore up support for Ukraine and to ensure the continued provision of military assistance to Kyiv, as well as to ramp up punishment against Russia through economic and financial sanctions, a senior official from Blinken’s delegation told the Associated Press ahead of the meeting. Earlier G7 ministers vowed to take a tougher stance on China’s threats to Taiwan, and North Korea’s missile tests. Meanwhile, Britain’s Financial Times reported that China was refusing to let Blinken visit Beijing over concerns that the FBI will release the results of an investigation into the suspected Chinese spy balloon downed in February. The FT quoted four people familiar with the matter as saying that “China had told the U.S. it was not prepared to reschedule a trip that Blinken cancelled in February while it remains unclear what the administration of President Joe Biden will do with the report.” It is unclear when the trip would be rescheduled. The U.S. military shot the Chinese balloon down over concerns that it was spying on U.S. military installations but China insisted that it was a weather balloon blown off course due to “force majeure.” The incident led to Blinken abruptly canceling his ties-mending trip to Beijing, during which he was expected to call on Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The relationship between Washington and Beijing has been strained in the last few years over issues such as China’s threats to Taiwan and security concerns in the Indo-Pacific. Upgrading U.S.-Vietnam partnership Antony Blinken arrived at Karuizawa in Nagano prefecture in central Japan on Sunday after a visit to Vietnam to promote strategic ties with the communist country. This was Blinken’s first visit to Hanoi as U.S. Secretary of State. The U.S. is building a U.S.$1.2 billion compound in Hanoi, one of its largest and most expensive embassies in the world. During his visit, Blinken met with Vietnam’s most senior officials, including the General Secretary of the Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong, to discuss “the great possibilities that lie ahead in the U.S.-Vietnam partnership,” the secretary of state wrote on Twitter. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) meets with Vietnam’s Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong at the Communist Party of Vietnam Headquarters in Hanoi, Vietnam, April 15, 2023. Credit: Andrew Harnik/Pool via Reuters Two weeks before Blinken’s visit, Trong and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden had a phone conversation during which the two leaders agreed to “promote and deepen bilateral ties,” according to Vietnamese media. Former enemies Hanoi and Washington normalized their diplomatic relationship in 1995 and in 2013 established a so-called Comprehensive Partnership to promote cooperation in all sectors including the economy, culture exchange and security. Vietnam’s foreign relations are benchmarked by three levels of partnerships: Comprehensive, Strategic and Comprehensive Strategic. Only four countries in the world belong to the top tier of Comprehensive Strategic Partners: China, Russia, India and South Korea. Vietnam has Strategic Partnerships with 16 nations including some U.S. allies such as Japan, Singapore and Australia. U.S. officials have been hinting at upgrading the ties to the next level Strategic Partnership which offers deeper cooperation, especially in security and defense, amid new geopolitical challenges posed by an increasingly assertive China. Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh told the U.S. Secretary of State on Saturday in Hanoi that the consensus reached amongst the Vietnamese leadership is to “further elevate the bilateral partnership to a new height” adding that “relevant government agencies have been tasked with looking into the process.” Vietnam analysts such as Carl Thayer from the University of New South Wales in Australia said that an upgrade of Vietnam-U.S. relationship to Strategic Partnership within this year is possible, despite concerns that it would antagonize Beijing. The U.S. is currently the largest export market and the second-largest commercial partner for Vietnam. Hanoi aims to benefit across the board from U.S. assistance, especially in trade, science and technology, Thayer told Radio Free Asia. Vietnam as one of the South China Sea claimants has been embroiled in territorial disputes with China and could benefit from greater cooperation in maritime security. In exchange, “the U.S. would benefit indirectly by assisting Vietnam in capacity-building to address maritime security issues in the South China Sea to strengthen a free and open Indo-Pacific,” said Thayer. “The U.S. is trying to mobilize and sustain an international coalition to oppose Russia’s war in Ukraine and to deter China from using force against Taiwan and intimidation of South China Sea littoral states,” the Canberra-based political analyst said. Hanoi’s priority Some other analysts, such as Bill Hayton from the British think tank Chatham House, said that there might have been a miscalculation on the U.S.’s part. “Washington is now taking itself for a massive ride in its misunderstanding of what Vietnam wants from the bilateral relationship,” Hayton said. “All the Communist Party of Vietnam wants is regime security. It has no interest in confronting China,” the author of “A brief history of Vietnam” said. Blogger Nguyen Lan Thang was sentenced to six years in prison for ‘spreading anti-state propaganda’ on April 12, 2023. Credit: Facebook: Nguyen Lan Thang Just before Blinken landed in Hanoi, a dissident blogger was sentenced to six years in prison for “spreading anti-state propaganda.” Nguyen Lan Thang was also a contributor to Radio Free Asia. The U.S. State Department condemned the sentence and urged the Vietnamese government to “immediately release and drop all charges against Nguyen Lan Thang and other individuals who remain in detention for peacefully exercising and promoting human rights.” “Vietnam is an…
Bear more children – they’re like consumer durables, Chinese economist urges
Have more children – it’s your patriotic duty. They are like durable consumer goods that you pay off over the long haul, but bring far more benefits. That was the message from a prominent Chinese economist at a government-backed think tank, and the most recent effort by the Communist Party’s campaign to boost the country’s flagging birth rate that includes a slew of economic perks for couples – long limited to just one child – to have more children. “Durable consumer goods pay off in the long run, so it’s wrong for young people not to have children – their value exceeds that of the other goods you buy,” said Chen Wenling, chief economist at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges. Chen’s comments sparked an online outcry. Some said that people in China are all regarded as “consumables,” rather than human beings. Others said those who decide not to have children are smart. “Today’s society has driven young people to the point of desperation,” commented one social media user. “I want a place to live, but I can’t afford one. I don’t have time for fun, and I can’t afford to raise a child – this comment from this expert is so arrogant!” Others were more cynical. “People may be consumer goods in other countries, but here, we’re either inferior, hostages or ***holes,” commented @psychotic_relapse from Shandong on Weibo. “It’s poor thinking to treat children as private property,” wrote @Gusu_Bridge from Jiangsu, while @Guangzhou_old_dog said those in power should quit making “tedious and arrogant” comments. “They should come up with some policies and test them out to see if they work in practice,” the user wrote. “Back in the 1950s, they wanted people to have more kids, then it was family planning in the 1980s, and now we’re back to encouraging people to have more kids again,” wrote @My_heart_is_still_4325 from Shandong. “But the reality is that it’s not easy to secure housing, medical care, employment or education,” the user wrote, while @plants_vs_zombies_fan wrote: “Having a child in China is the worst investment.” Can’t find jobs Chen’s comments come at a time when youth unemployment is running at around 20% in China, with around 10 million graduates about to enter the labor market to compete with those who are already unemployed. A current affairs commentator who gave only the surname Chen agreed. “Most people don’t have the money to find a partner right now, because all of that requires money for food, transportation and going out,” Chen said. “Most young people are demotivated by that.” Job seekers visit a booth at a job fair in Beijing, Feb. 16, 2023. Credit: Reuters “It’s not that they don’t want a partner; the economic pressures are just too huge, and far worse than before,” he said. Li Jiabao, who moved from mainland China to live in democratic Taiwan, said there is a huge amount of disillusionment with government policy from the same age group that Beijing is counting on to raise more children. “After three years of violent enforcement of the zero-COVID policy in China, young people see this government as extremely bureaucratic and careless of human life,” Li said. “I think this is the main reason why young people are so disgusted with this expert.” One-child policy In 2016, China abandoned its 35-year “one-child policy,” which penalized parents with more than one child, amid concerns about its birth rate, raising the limit to two. In 2021, that was further loosened to three – and now there are no limits on the number of children a couple can have. Authorities have recognized they need to offer incentives to couples to have more children amid the economic pressures of modern China. “After three years of violent enforcement of the zero-COVID policy in China, young people see this government as extremely bureaucratic and careless of human life,” says Li Jiabao, a mainland Chinese dissident who moved to Taiwan. Credit: RFA A plan announced in August 2022 offers “support policies in finance, tax, housing, employment, education and other fields to create a fertility-friendly society and encourage families to have more children,” promising community nursery services, better infant and child care services at local level, flexible working and family-friendly workplaces, and safeguarding the labor and employment rights of parents. But rights activists said discrimination in the workplace still presents major obstacles to equality for Chinese women, despite protections enshrined in the country’s law. Chinese women still face major barriers to finding work in the graduate labor market and fear getting pregnant if they have a job, out of concern their employer will fire them. And young people in China are increasingly ruling marriage out of their plans for the future, with marriage registrations falling for several years in a row. Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
