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Category: East Asia
‘Ghost buildings’ show boom times are over for Cambodian resort town
A mass departure of Chinese investors from Cambodia’s Sihanoukville during the coronavirus pandemic left behind more than 1,000 unfinished buildings and an economic headache for the once booming coastal city. Sihanoukville was a popular international and domestic tourist destination in the midst of a building boom as investors in new casinos hoped to cash in on the gambling industry. But once it became clear that tourism was going to be crippled by pandemic restrictions, many investors decided to cut their losses, and the so-called “ghost buildings” remain unfinished, diminishing the beauty of the seaside resort town. Authorities say the problem could lead to more economic decline and even fewer tourists. Mean Samnang, who keeps a shop near one of the city’s Chinese-owned casinos, told RFA’s Khmer Service that the ghost buildings are driving tourists away. “If the authorities would have taken measures to finish up those large-scale construction projects sooner, it would have been better for the people who have to make money for a living,” he said. He said that two years ago business in the shop was much better, and many of his customers were Cambodians who were employed by the casino. Mean Samnang said that he hopes authorities will start restoration on the buildings by opening up a flow of foreign investment, as had been the case in 2019. In the meantime the ghost buildings have been used as hideouts by criminals and gangsters, he said. Long Dimanche, the deputy governor of Sihanoukville province, predicted that Chinese investors may return soon, but he did not deny that the empty buildings could negatively affect the city’s economy long term. “We have not discussed everything yet,” Long Dimanche said. “The other day, we encouraged the Provincial Chamber of Commerce to organize a forum for consultation over the private sector to discuss the issue between landowners as well as foreign investors, who came to invest in construction. In the discussion, there was participation of experts who specialize in solving the stalemate in the real estate sector.” Long Dimanche added that there were more than 1,600 construction projects with an investment of more than U.S. $ 8.4 billion in Sihanoukville between 2017 and November 2021. Of these, there are more than 600 high-rise construction projects, defined as buildings between five and 53 floors, most of which are Chinese invested. One of the many unfinished buildings in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. Credit: RFA The construction slowdown is a direct result of the Cambodian government’s efforts to ban illegal online gambling, as well as the pandemic, Sreng Vanly, the Sihanoukville coordinator for the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights, told RFA. The two events forced Chinese investors to return to China, abandoning their buildings and hurting the economy and livelihoods of local residents, especially the owners of the land underneath the buildings. Many of the owners borrowed money from the bank to buy the land, thinking that the rent revenue from Chinese builders was a safe bet. But now they aren’t collecting anything. Only a few small buildings have resumed construction, Cheap Sotheary of the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association, told RFA. “Right now we aren’t seeing a lot of building demolition or building restructuring yet because the economic downturn has affected everyone regardless of whether they are rich or poor,” she said. “Who does not owe the bank? The banks seize many of [the properties,] but more important is the affordability of renewing construction. The market economy in Sihanoukville is down now,” said Cheap Sotheary. Rents for houses are down from thousands of dollars per month to $200 to $300 per month as the economy remains depressed, she said. Translated by Sok Ry Sum. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
High temperatures bring drought, power shortages to China’s Yangtze River delta
A drought in China’s hydropower-dependent Yangtze River region is fueling growing power shortages, prompting Taiwan-owned Foxconn to suspend production in the southwestern province of Sichuan. The Sichuan provincial government suspended power to industrial customers from Aug. 15 through Aug. 20 amid a prolonged heat wave that has left water levels at their lowest levels in six decades. Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai, said it had suspended production at its Chengdu facility, which makes wearable technology, mobile and smart devices, including iPads for Apple. But the company said the power cuts wouldn’t have a huge impact if they ended as scheduled, Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) reported. The cuts in Sichuan have echoed severe power shortages in the eastern provinces of Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, linked to water levels in the Yangtze river that are the lowest seen since 1961. Water levels in the massive Three Gorges hydropower plant stand at just 135 meters, 40 percent lower than for the same time in the previous four years. Local governments across the region have issued notices warning consumers to practice “orderly consumption” of electricity, with shortages reported in Sichuan at both peak and off-peak times. Authorities in Sichuan have switched to a three-tier alert system to ensure power supply, and strive to protect supplies needed for basic functioning. The Chongqing High-tech Zone issued a notice that it would stagger peak production times to ensure grid security, requiring enterprises to suspend production between the hours of 10:00 am and 2:00 am. Jiangsu-based current affairs commentator Zhang Jianping said the power shortages are directly connected to the ongoing drought. “The Yangtze River delta has never experienced such high temperatures since historical records began, and high temperatures like this are accompanied by drought,” Zhang told RFA. “The summer weather this year has been extreme. It should be the flood season, but there have been no typhoons,” he said. Prioritizing residential supply Zhang said governments appear to be prioritizing residential power supply, in a region that was already known for sweltering summers, and highly dependent on air-conditioning for life to continue as normal. “They are mostly restricting industrial power consumption … because they have to protect people’s quality of life by ensuring residential power supplies,” he said. “I think this is the right thing to do.” Temperatures of around 40C have been recorded across Anhui and Jiangsu, with some places recording much higher temperatures than that. The China meteorological bureau has warned that many cities and provinces in the delta have seen very little rainfall, with rainfall in the area 40 percent lower than in the same period last year. Water resources ministry spokesman Wang Zhangli said the government has set aside 51 major reservoirs in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River as storage areas for drought relief, and to ensure water supplies downstream. According to a report on the Yicai Global news site, the drought has hit 644,667 hectares of farmland in six provinces, including Sichuan, Hubei and Jiangxi, affecting water supply to 830,000 people. Little rain is forecast amid ongoing high temperatures over the next 10 days, according to the national meteorological bureau. “Yicai Global learned that seven rivers and one reservoir in Chongqing had dried up because of the heatwave,” the report said. Meanwhile, the Chishui Danxia Great Waterfall scenic area in the southwestern province of Guizhou has been closed due to lack of water flow, it said. The ministries of finance and water resources set up a 200 million (U.S.$29.5 million) fund for eight provinces and autonomous regions on Aug. 12 to fund water conservancy efforts, drought-relief water transfers, the report said. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
China slaps sanctions on 7 ‘diehard separatist’ Taiwan officials
China announced sanctions against seven Taiwanese officials including Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to the United States Hsiao Bi-khim, labeling them “diehard separatists.” Other Taiwanese political figures on the list are Koo Li-hsiung, Tsai Chi-chang, Ker Chien-ming, Lin Fei-fan, Chen Jiau-hua and Wang Ting-yu, said a spokesperson of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee. All but one are from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party. The sanctioned politicians and their family members are banned from entering China’s mainland, Hong Kong and Macao. Their affiliated institutions and businesses are also prohibited from engaging in activities on the mainland. The named politicians “will be held to lifelong accountability according to law,” with further punitive measures to be decided, according to the announcement. Hsiao Bi-khim, who has been Taiwan’s representative to the U.S. since July 2020, was accused of helping push U.S. arms sales to the island and recently in advancing the visit of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Besides the seven, two other well-known Taiwanese political figures – President of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy Huang Yu-lin and secretary general of the International Cooperation and Development Fund Timothy Hsiang – are also banned from entering the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau. Last November for the first time, China imposed an entry ban on Taiwan’s Prime Minister Su Tseng-chang, Legislative Speaker You Si-kun and Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu, saying they were part of “an extremely small minority of diehard Taiwanese separatists who caused extreme harm … to the fundamental interests of the Chinese race.” Map of Penghu Islands in the Taiwan Strait. Credit: Google Maps Sanctions list As the sanction list expanded to ten names, the Taiwan Office’s spokesperson was quoted by Xinhua as warning that it could grow further and “anyone who deliberately challenges the law will face severe punishment.” It’s unclear how the punitive measures will affect the Taiwanese politicians as they are not known to have traveled nor done business on China’s mainland. On Aug.5, Beijing announced sanctions against Nancy Pelosi and her immediate family in response to her visit to Taiwan which China condemned as an “egregious provocation.” When asked about the decision a few days later, Pelosi reportedly laughed it off saying: “Who cares?” “That is incidental to me, of no relevance whatsoever,” she said, according to Reuters. During Pelosi’s visit to Taipei, China imposed a no-entry ban on executives of four Taiwanese companies which had made donations to two foundations – the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy and the International Cooperation and Development Fund – that Beijing deemed as “aggressively engaging in pro-independence separatist activities.” The four companies are solar producer Speedtech Energy Co., Hyweb Technology Co., medical equipment producer Skyla, and cold chain vehicle fleet management company SkyEyes. They’re also not allowed to do business with any mainland companies. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi meets with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei on Aug. 3, 2022. Credit: Taiwan Presidential Office China’s ‘information warfare’ In another development, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense has rejected claims by the Chinese military that its aircraft had flown over Penghu, one of Taiwan’s most important outlying islands, during a flight operation on Monday. The Eastern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on Monday published a video on WeChat purportedly showing Penghu Islands as seen from a military airplane at a relatively close proximity. Three types of aircraft were seen in the video: a Shaanxi Y-8 maritime patrol aircraft, a SU-30 and a J-16 fighter. Penghu Islands are situated on the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait, only 50 kilometers from Taiwan’s main island. The PLA sent 30 aircraft into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Monday, half of them crossed the median line dividing the Strait, according to the Taiwanese defense ministry. Taiwan’s ministry said only four Chinese J-16 crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait but they did not come close to Penghu Islands. No Shaanxi aircraft was deployed. The video released by the PLA Eastern Theater Command was clearly “Chinese cognitive warfare,” said Maj. Gen. Tung Pei-lun, Taiwan Air Force’s Vice Chief of Staff for Operations. “China used the exaggerated tricks of cognitive warfare to show how close it was to Penghu – which is not true,” Tung told reporters at a briefing in Taipei. Some Taiwanese military experts, such as Shen Ming-Shih, acting deputy chief executive officer at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the PLA probably used a powerful camera lens to film Penghu from a long distance. “Penghu Islands are the most important islands in the Taiwan Strait,” said Shen. “If China managed to occupy Penghu, the PLA could launch an effective military operation against Taiwan.” But the Taiwanese military maintains a large air defense missile battery and a radar system on Penghu, the analyst said, adding that the Taiwanese air force and navy should be able to deter an invading Chinese force. China has recently stepped up its disinformation campaign and cyberattacks as part of cognitive operations to attack public morale and sow confusion in Taiwan.
North Korea lifts COVID restrictions after ‘maximum emergency’ ends
North Korea lifted COVID-19 restrictions at bathhouses and restaurants nationwide after declaring victory over the virus and ending its “maximum emergency” order that had been in place since May. The country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, said last week during a speech at a nationally televised COVID review meeting that the country had stopped the spread of the disease, while adding that it had to maintain a “steel-strong anti-epidemic barrier and intensifying the anti-epidemic work until the end of the global health crisis,” state media reported. At the same meeting, Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, the vice department director in the Central Committee of the ruling Korean Workers’ Party, revealed in her own speech that her brother had contracted the disease. She vowed “deadly retaliation” against South Korea, which she accused of causing the outbreak. The lift on restrictions for restaurants and bathhouses began on Sunday, a resident in South Pyongan province, north of the capital Pyongyang, told RFA’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “Starting today, large and small restaurants … in [the city of] Pyongsong have begun operating normally. This is because the maximum emergency epidemic prevention system has been officially lifted,” the source said. Prior to the pandemic, restaurants were open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., according to the source. The National Emergency Quarantine Command mandated that restaurants close at 6 p.m. in 2020 as a preventative measure against the spread of the virus. North Korea claimed to be virus free throughout all of 2020 and 2021, but finally acknowledged publicly that a major outbreak occurred as the result of a massive military parade in April 2022, and declared the national maximum emergency the following month. During the maximum emergency, restaurants were open only from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. They are now fully open, according to the source. “The authorities ordered each restaurant to dedicate a portion of its profit to the state from the end of this month,” the source said. In nearby Songchon county, bathhouses and swimming pools had all been ordered closed during the emergency, another South Pyongan source told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely. “However, with the end of the maximum emergency epidemic prevention system, the operating restrictions of the public bathhouses and swimming pools were also lifted,” the second source said, adding that a facility affiliated with the provincial government began 24-hour operations. She said that the 24-hour operation is not nationwide, however. But even though restaurants and bathhouses are open again, they will likely see fewer customers because few people can afford the expense due to the country’s poor economy, the second source said. In the city of Sinuiju, across the Yalu River border from China, normal business operations in restaurants resumed, a source there told RFA, but tables had to be 3 meters (9.8 feet) apart, and citizens with a high fever are barred from eating or drinking in restaurants. “In addition, there must be disinfectant liquid at the entrance to the restaurant, and restaurant staff must wear a mask to serve customers. Restaurants caught by the quarantine command for not following quarantine regulations will be fined 100,000 to 300,000 won ($12~36),” the third source said. This picture taken on August 10, 2022 and released from North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on August 14, 2022 shows Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, speaking at the National Emergency Prevention General Meeting in Pyongyang. Credit: KCNA via KNS/AFP Rare glimpses Last week’s national emergency quarantine review meeting was a nationally televised event, and citizens tuned in to catch a rare look at Kim Yo Jong as she accused South Korea of causing the coronavirus to spread in the North, a resident in the northwestern province of North Pyongan told RFA shortly after it was aired. “What matters is the fact that the South Korean puppets are still thrusting leaflets and dirty objects into our territory,” Kim Yo Jong said during her speech, referring to the practice of South Korean activist organizations flying anti-regime leaflets by hot air balloon into North Korean territory. South Korea passed a controversial anti-leaflet law in December 2020 that severely punishes offenders with steep fines and multiyear jail sentences. Even so, one activist group released millions of leaflets as recently as April. Kim implied during her speech that leaflets contaminated with COVID-19 caused the most recent outbreak. “We have already considered various counteraction plans but our countermeasure must be a deadly retaliatory one,” she said. South Korea’s Ministry of Unification dismissed North Korea’s claim that Seoul was the cause of the coronavirus in North Korea. “North Korea is repeating baseless and deterrent claims related to the source of the coronavirus at the national emergency quarantine review meeting. We express our deep regrets at the rude and threatening remarks about South Korea,” a ministry official told reporters last week. The North Pyongan source said people she knew who had watched the speech were disappointed that Kim did not mention any effort to improve the financial condition of North Koreans. “Her speech was full of words that only worsened the situation on the Korean peninsula. … Residents are complaining that if they have declared victory in the fight against the coronavirus, they should now discuss ways to solve the worsening living situation,” the second North Pyongan source said. “They are only concerned with instigating hostility to eradicate the South Korean authorities.” A group of viewers in South Pyongan were unimpressed by Kim Yo Jong, a third source there told RFA. “They were saying that Kim Yo Jong seemed to have low dignity, because she couldn’t take her eyes off of her written speech and read it in a trembling voice like a student.” Translated by Leejin J. Chung. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Hong Kong exodus continues as rights groups pinpoint leaders’ overseas property
Hongkongers are continuing to leave the city in droves amid an ongoing crackdown on dissent under a draconian security law imposed by Beijing. Recent figures from the city’s census and statistics department showed the city’s population has fallen for the third year running, with net departures of permanent residents totaling 113,000 during 2022 alone, and around 121,000 compared with the same time last year. “This is pretty unprecedented,” Chinese University of Hong Kong business school researcher Simon Lee. “[Before this] we saw population growth for a long period.” “Many of these people leaving are young and strong, and it’s too early to tell whether they will come back or not,” Lee said. “This is a blow to our economic recovery in the short term, because fewer people means less economic activity and less consumption.” A social activist who gave only the nickname Peter said it is increasingly difficult for people in Hong Kong to get information about what is happening to those who leave. “There is less news out there, no more Apple Daily, Stand or Citizen News,” Peter said. “In one sense, to a certain extent the government … wants to force people to leave, so they can’t stand together.” Peter said he has started a letter-writing program to allow overseas Hongkongers to support people currently behind bars for their role in the 2019 protest movement or held as part of subsequent political crackdowns. “Everyone has to live their own lives, because it’s hard to even think about the [protest movement] if you don’t do that,” he said. “But while we’re doing that, we can use some of our leftover energy to reconnect [with everyone else].” “Whenever I have time to write a letter, I remind myself why I can’t go back to Hong Kong,” he said. “I can’t go home.” People lie in hospital beds with night-time temperatures falling outside the Caritas Medical Centre in Hong Kong on Feb. 16, 2022, as hospitals become overwhelmed with the city facing its worst COVID-19 wave to date. Credit: AFP Foreign property owners Peter’s initiative has seen letters pour in from the U.K., Norway, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, among other countries, and the democratic island of Taiwan, which has offered immigration options to Hongkongers fleeing the crackdown. The U.K.-based rights group Hong Kong Watch has also called on governments to step up sanctions on the city’s officials, many of whom own property overseas. The group said it had identified property belonging to four Hong Kong officials in the U.K., Canada, and Australia. Health secretary Lo Chung-Mau owns a flat in London, while non-official executive councilors Margaret Leung, Moses Cheng and Eliza Chan own property in Sydney, London and Toronto, the group said. “It beggars belief that Hong Kong officials who denounce Western countries so gleefully are destroying their fellow citizens’ basic freedoms and rights [and] continue to own property in the U.K., Australia, and Canada,” the group’s advocacy director Sam Goodman said. The group called on the governments of the U.K., Canada, and Australia to join the U.S. in introducing Magnitsky-style sanctions targeting the assets of Hong Kong officials who are “complicit in gross human rights violations.” Meanwhile, international arrivals have fallen sharply in Hong Kong amid the city’s COVID-19 quarantine restrictions. Passenger volumes have plummeted, with 18 times fewer passengers arriving in Hong Kong via the airport this summer — just over two million per month in July and August 2022 — compared with pre-pandemic figures. People lie in hospital beds with night-time temperatures falling outside the Caritas Medical Centre in Hong Kong on Feb. 16, 2022, as hospitals become overwhelmed with the city facing its worst COVID-19 wave to date. Credit: AFP Losing to Singapore Lee said the recent easing of quarantine requirements for inbound passengers was unlikely to improve things. “With regard to tourists, people won’t come unless they have to for business, because they have a lot of choices for leisure travel,” he said. “Why would they come to Hong Kong? They would only come if they like Hong Kong a lot.” While the government recently eased restrictions in a bid to kickstart the city’s flagging economy, the number of flights arriving in the city is still far lower than those destined for Singapore, which lifted quarantine requirements for arrivals in April. We counted 61 flights arriving at Hong Kong International Airport on Aug.12, compared with 289 flights arriving at Singapore’s Changi Airport, nearly five times as many. The Singapore Tourism Board estimates between four and six million visitors will arrive in the city this year for tourism purposes, with 543,000 inbound tourists in June compared with 418,000 in May, and the figures have been rising for five months in a row. Lee said Hong Kong’s COVID-19 policy had hit its status as an international aviation hub, and the city would struggle to catch up with its main competitor. “It is a short-term phenomenon, but other places returned to normal six months ago,” Lee said. He said the development would likely mean people get out of the habit of booking flights routed through the city. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Police in China’s Chengdu raid Sunday meeting of banned church members, detain one
Authorities in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan have once more raided a gathering of Early Rain Covenant Church members in the the provincial capital, Chengdu, detaining one of them, RFA has learned. Christian writer and translator Xing Hongwei was detained in Chengdu on Sunday after a teahouse gathering of church members was raided by around 30 uniformed officers and plainclothes state security police, church members said on Monday. The group of more than 50 church members was accused of holding an “illegal gathering” at a teahouse in Chengdu’s Wuhou district, and Xing was detained for allegedly “assaulting a police officer,” and is being held in criminal detention, they said. While the church’s premises were raided and forcible shut down during police raids in December 2018, the authorities have continued to target the church’s members, amid tightened restrictions on religious groups in recent years under ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping. A church member surnamed Wang who was at the teahouse said police surrounded the group and took their personal details including ID card numbers, one by one. “About 50 brothers and sisters attended,” Wang said. “At around 10.30 a.m., about 22 or 23 uniformed police officers and about eight or nine plainclothes police surrounded us.” “They surrounded us in two circles; one circle around our group, and another around the entire [teahouse] courtyard,” he said. A second church member who declined to be named said the raid was led by the state security police chief for Wuhou district, who said the Chengdu police department was taking a “zero tolerance” approach to the gathering. Early Rain Covenant Church pastor Wang Yi and his wife are shown in an undated photo. Credit: Early Rain Covenant Church Violent police response Officers said the church was an “illegal organization,” that had already been banned, the church member said. “Brother Xing’s wife Zhao Qing and their daughter came yesterday, while he waited for them outside [due to ill-health],” the church member said. “The police went out to check his ID card too, and he asked them why he was being pulled into this as he wasn’t even at the meeting.” Xing’s questioning of the police was met with a violent response. “The police hit Xing Hongwei because he was unwilling to cooperate when asked for his personal details, and then there was a physical altercation,” a church member surnamed Li told RFA. “The police pushed Xing Hongwei to the ground saying he had assaulted a police officer and took him away,” Li said. “We later heard that Xing Hongwei had been detained on suspicion of assaulting a police officer.” Xing was taken to a different police station from the local one, and hadn’t emerged by 11.00 p.m. on Sunday. An employee who answered the phone at the Jitou police station in Wuhou district hung up the phone when contacted by RFA on Monday. Bob Fu, president of the U.S.-based Christian rights group ChinaAid, said the police raid had deprived the Early Rain church members of their religious rights. “Chengdu Early Rain Covenant Church was founded by Pastor Wang Yi, who gave a sermon from the pulpit calling on Xi Jinping to stop violating the Chinese constitution with the crackdown on religious freedom,” Fu said. “This raid on the Early Rain Sunday meeting was yet another serious form of persecution,” he said. Dangerous foreign import Wang Yi was jailed on Dec. 30, 2019 by the Chengdu Intermediate People’s Court, which found him guilty of “incitement to subvert state power” and of “running an illegal business” in a secret trial. Wang was detained by police in Sichuan’s provincial capital Chengdu on Dec. 14, 2018, alongside dozens of church members in a raid that prompted an international outcry. Some Early Rain Covenant Church members who were detained in raids on Dec. 9 and 10, 2018, and later released said the police had beaten them, and one detainee described being tied to a chair and deprived of water and food for 24 hours, rights groups reported at the time. The CCP under general secretary Xi regards Christianity as a dangerous foreign import, with party documents warning against the “infiltration of Western hostile forces” in the form of religion. The party, which embraces atheism, exercises tight controls over any form of religious practice among its citizens. State security police and religious affairs bureau officials frequently raid unofficial “house churches” that aren’t members of the CCP-backed Three-Self Patriotic Association, although member churches have also been targeted at times. China is home to an estimated 68 million Protestants, of whom 23 million worship in state-affiliated churches under the aegis of the Three-Self Patriotic Association, and some nine million Catholics, the majority of whom are in state-sponsored organizations. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
U.S. lawmakers visit Taiwan amid renewed Chinese military drills
China conducted a fresh round of military drills around Taiwan on Monday as another U.S. Congressional delegation visited in Taipei and met with President Tsai Ing-wen, just 12 days after the controversial stopover by Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi. When Pelosi, the most senior U.S. official to visit Taiwan in 25 years, arrived in Taipei, Beijing responded by launching an unprecedented week-long military exercise around the island. The Chinese military said Monday’s drills were “a serious deterrent to the continued ‘political tricks’ played by the United States and Taiwan,” Reuters reported. A Chinese state newspaper called the two-day visit by the U.S. delegation led by Democratic Senator Ed Markey “sneaky” and “provoking tensions” in the Taiwan Strait. On Friday, Deputy Assistant to the U.S. President and Coordinator for the Indo-Pacific Kurt Campbell said Beijing used Pelosi’s visit as a “pretext to launch an intensified pressure campaign against Taiwan.” “China has overreacted, and its actions continue to be provocative, destabilizing, and unprecedented,” Campbell told a press briefing in Washington D.C., adding that the U.S. will be “conducting standard air and maritime transits through the Taiwan Strait in the next few weeks.” U.S. support for Taiwan Markey and four other U.S. lawmakers are making the Taiwan visit as part of a “larger visit to the Indo-Pacific region,” the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) – the U.S.’s de facto embassy in Taipei – said in a press release. “The delegation will have a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen and visit the Taiwanese Legislator’s Foreign and National Defense Committee,” it said. The meeting with Tsai has already taken place. “The visit is not a challenge to China but to re-state what Biden administration officials and Biden himself have told their Chinese counterparts: U.S. Congress members have the right to visit Taiwan,” said Norah Huang, associate research fellow at the Prospect Foundation, a Taiwanese think-tank. “The visit is important as to reiterate the U.S. support to Taiwan, that the U.S. is implementing its One China Policy and isn’t intimidated,” Huang told RFA. Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan has been operating in the waters east of Taiwan, likely to offer support to U.S. activities including the Congressional visit. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the carrier and its strike group to “remain on station” in the area to monitor the situation in the wake of Pelosi’s visit. 4,900 sailors aboard the USS Ronald Reagan have been rehearsing to “maintain the ship’s warfighting readiness,” said the U.S. 7th Fleet in a press release. On Sunday, 22 Chinese aircraft entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) with half of them crossing the median line dividing the Taiwan Strait, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense. An ADIZ is an area where foreign aircraft are tracked and identified before further entering into a country’s airspace. Since the latest military drills, Chinese aircraft have crossed the median line, which serves as the de facto boundary between Taiwan and China’s mainland, daily. Taipei calls it an act of “unprovoked intimidation.” ‘Repeated provocations’ Taiwan’s Foreign Ministryុំ in an welcome statement to the U.S. lawmakersុំ said: “As China is continuing to escalate tensions in the region, the U.S. Congress has again organized a heavyweight delegation to visit Taiwan, demonstrating a friendship that is not afraid of China’s threats and intimidation, and the U.S.’s strong support for Taiwan.” Senator Ed Markey currently serves as Chair of the East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “Markey is a seasoned China hawk, who often chides China on human rights issues,” noted China’s mouthpiece Global Times, recalling that in March 2020, the Senator co-introduced a bipartisan resolution calling on the International Olympic Committee to move the 2022 Winter Olympics out of China. Taiwan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Yui (right) greets U.S. Senator Ed Markey at Taoyuan Airport on Aug. 14, 2022. CREDIT: Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs The U.S. Congressional visit “shows that the U.S. has ignored China’s stern warnings and will have to face severe punishment due to its egregious provocations,” Zhang Tengjun, an analyst at the China Institute of International Studies, was quoted as saying. The delegation’s visit, which “was only made public at the last minute when they arrived in a sneaky and stealthy manner, exposed their diffidence in triggering anger from the Chinese mainland,” Zhang told the paper. Markey’s office, meanwhile, said the delegation “will reaffirm the United States’ support for Taiwan as guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, U.S.-China joint communiques, and six assurances, and will encourage stability and peace across the Taiwan Strait.” Before the visit, Biden’s Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell said that the U.S. and Taiwan are “developing an ambitious roadmap for trade negotiations, which we intend to announce in the coming days.” “This is not something super sensitive but a trade agreement is important for Taiwan as it could have a sampling effect for other countries which are interested in negotiating trade deals with Taiwan,” said Norah Huang from the Prospect Foundation.
A riverfront village on Thai-Myanmar border struggles to recover from pandemic
The inhabitants of Mae Sam Lab say life in this Thai village along the frontier with Myanmar used to bustle with tourists and a vibrant cross-border river trade. As the people here struggle to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic violence from attacks by Burmese junta forces nearby have made things worse, they say. “The doldrums started with the COVID-19 pandemic. Tourists – Thai, Chinese, Japanese and Korean – were gone. Boat operators, local guides, souvenir shops have been badly affected,” said Chai Pongpipat, an official with the Tambon Mae Sam Lab administration. In the months since the February 2021 coup in Naypyidaw, troops belonging to the Burmese military regime and Border Guard Force have clashed with ethnic resistance forces including in the Karen State, which lies across the Salween River from Mae Sam Lab. “Over two years of enduring COVID, people seemed to be able to adapt to its effects, but the slight COVID recovery was worsened by the clashes between Myanmar forces and ethnic fighters in the areas. The trade activities have stalled,” Chai told BenarNews. Meanwhile, fishermen say their catches have been falling. They’re afraid to fish when it’s dark on the river, which separates the two countries, because of nighttime clashes on the Myanmar side. “Lately, there have been a handful of small boats from the nearby village coming here to buy stockpiles of food and necessities as the fighting is unpredictable,” Chai said.
Wave of badly written Kindle titles on Pelosi, Taiwan hits Amazon’s Kindle platform
Amazon’s Kindle e-publishing platform has been flooded with poorly written books pushing Beijing’s line on Taiwan, according to a U.K.-based publisher. A wave of e-books using the keywords “Nancy Pelosi” and “China and Taiwan” laying out China’s claim on the democratic island has appeared on Kindle since the start of the month, when U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi first indicated she would visit Taiwan, sparking days of military exercises by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA). “New disinformation push on Amazon?” U.K. independent publisher Michael Cannings tweeted, along with a screenshot of the Kindle titles. “A torrent of new low quality ‘books’ about Taiwan has appeared; a quick Google shows at least some of the content is plagiarized, and the names of the authors appear to be fake. I count 61 of these under one search term alone,” Cannings wrote. He later told RFA it was unclear whether the flood of new titles, many of which contain grammatical errors and consist of scraped content with changed wording to evade anti-plagiarism software, was a state-backed propaganda drive or simply the work of unethical people trying to cash in on global headlines. “The possibilities to use this for disinformation are strong,” Cannings said. “I just can’t be sure whether in this case is really somebody trying to do that, or if it’s just unethical people trying to make money.” “[But] it shows how it could be done by a state operation,” he added. Cannings said the use of keywords and the flood of recent titles means that the books show up at the top of Amazon and Google searches for those keywords. He said most of the titles were likely uploaded to Amazon’s Kindle Desktop Publishing platform, and, apart from automated plagiarism checks, weren’t subject to any editorial quality control. “I think the danger for readers is that you don’t know what’s real and what’s not,” Cannings said. “I mean, some of these books don’t look great, but some of them are quite convincing, so a reader who’s not familiar with the subject might not know that this is not … properly researched.” “The secondary danger is that these books then become cited by people further down the line… so then the disinformation gets into the wider ecosystem,” he said. U.K. independent publisher Michael Cannings called attention to the Kindle titles in a series of tweets on Twitter. Vulnerable to disinformation campaigns RFA was able to roughly replicate Cannings’ search results on Amazon, and found that the ebooks sell for around U.S.$10 or less. Amazon told RFA in an emailed response that the company does have content guidelines for books self-published on the Kindle platform, and will investigate and remove books that don’t comply with them. Daniel Kapellmann Zafra, senior technical analysis manager at the cybersecurity company Mandiant, said that whether or not the flood of books on Taiwan from Beijing’s point of view are actually backed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the platform is vulnerable to disinformation campaigns. “As long as there is a platform for sharing information, it can be leveraged to drive these types of narratives,” Zafra told RFA. “It’s basically a creative avenue that could … enable an actor to share information.” Zafra’s own research for Mandiant has identified an information operations campaign linked to the Chinese public relations firm Shanghai Haixun Technology, with content published to at least 72 suspected inauthentic news sites. “Narratives promoted by the campaign criticize the U.S. and its allies, attempt to reshape the international image of Xinjiang due to mounting international scrutiny, and express support for the reform of Hong Kong’s electoral system—a change which gave [China] more power over vetting local candidates,” the report, coauthored by Zafra, said. Several of the sites published articles critical of Pelosi on Aug. 1, in response to reports ahead of her Aug. 2-3 visit to Taiwan, it said. “The articles assert that Pelosi should ‘stay away from Taiwan’ and highlight perceived tarnished relations between the U.S. and Taiwan.” An article published on several sites, including one purporting to be a Taiwanese news outlet, claimed that former U.S. government official Mike Pompeo’s March 2022 visit to Taiwan was motivated by money and his alleged desire to run for U.S. president in 2024, according to the report. A separate information operation, DRAGONBRIDGE, publishes comments, videos and photos across thousands of social media and forum accounts on authentic platforms, according to the report. Shanghai Haixun uses inauthentic websites to disseminate content, with little obvious overlap between the two, it said. ‘Cognitive operations’ Taiwanese fact-checkers said they detected a 30-40 increase in fake reports online since Pelosi’s visit. Maj. Gen. Chen Yu-lin, deputy director of the Political and War Bureau of Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense told journalists on Aug. 8 that China had begun a wave of “cognitive operations” even before the military exercises were announced. Chen said the hybrid warfare campaign sought to create an atmosphere suggesting China might be invading Taiwan, to attack the public image of the government, and to disrupt civilian and military morale. Hybrid warfare denotes a combination of conventional military action on the ground and hacks or disinformation campaigns designed to attack public morale and sow confusion. National Taiwan University was hacked, with the words “there is only one China in this world” appearing on its official website. Meanwhile, the National Palace Museum issued a statement denying online rumors that the government was preparing to send tens of thousands of rare artifacts overseas for safekeeping. Last week, several convenience store branches and government facilities across Taiwan saw their digital signage hacked with messages slandering Pelosi. Digital signage at a railway station in the southern port city of Kaohsiung and at a government office in Nantou county also displayed a message calling Pelosi “an old witch.” The official website of Tsai’s Presidential Office was taken down for around 20 minutes by a cyberattack, after which full service was restored, while mainland Chinese website Baidu joined in the cognitive warfare, releasing maps of…
Xinjiang residents warned of 3 weeks detention for violating COVID-19 lockdown
Authorities in Xinjiang are threatening those who flout quarantine laws with as many as three weeks of detention amid a new outbreak of COVID-19 in the region that has seen infections rise sharply since the start of the month, sources told RFA Uyghur. The warning comes as the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) capital Lhasa entered a three-day state of de facto lockdown amid a growing number of COVID-19 cases in the city. On Friday, authorities announced that they had documented 410 new asymptomatic COVID-19 infections in Xinjiang, bringing the total to 1,727, as the region continues to grapple with a new outbreak that has led to strict lockdowns. An official in Qorghas (in Chinese, Huocheng) county’s Langar township, who oversees 10 families in Yengiavat village, told RFA that authorities have been conducting street patrols to ensure that nobody is leaving their homes during an ongoing lockdown in the area and informing residents that they would be detained for up to three weeks if they do. “We are informing the residents that those who violate the system, that is, those who go out on the streets, will be punished and sent to 15-20 days of ‘re-education,’” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, using a common euphemism for detention in the region. The leader of the village Women’s Committee, who also declined to be named, told RFA that “medicine is being distributed to residents” by authorities, although she was unsure of what type. “They are cream in color and are said to prevent disease,” she said. Earlier this week, Chinese state media reported that authorities ordered residents to quarantine in the cities of Urumqi (Wulumuqi), Ghulja (Yining), Aksu (Akesu), Kumul (Hami), Chochek (Tacheng), Bortala (Bole), and Kashgar (Kashi). A community official said that the new infections were thought to have been brought by Chinese tourists from Gansu province, and the first viral outbreak in Ghulja was found in Uchon Dungan village. Daily lives impacted On Friday, sources in Xinjiang told RFA that lockdowns in the region had begun to severely impact the daily lives of residents, with farmers unable to attend to their fields and grocery store owners unable to sell perishables or keep them fresh. Videos posted on social media from the region appeared to show rotten produce in markets that had been shuttered as a result of the lockdown, while residents said they were unable to obtain fresh vegetables while confined to their homes. RFA spoke with the security director of Ghulja’s Mazar village, who said that only farmers with “urgent irrigation and harvesting needs” are allowed to leave their homes. “The doors [on village homes] are sealed,” he said. “Farmers with urgent needs are allowed to go out on a rotating basis. The farmers first need to get the approval of the village officials in order to go to the fields.” The security director said those found to have violated the lockdown face at least 24 hours of detention. A government official in Ghulja’s Samyuzi village told RFA that farmers are being allowed to work on their fields “under supervision,” adding that security cameras had been installed throughout the area to monitor whether anyone was leaving their home without permission. “If they want to go out for farming needs, they will be accompanied by village officials to the fields. They can go on a rotating basis,” she said. “We have installed security cameras on every household [to ensure no one ignores the lockdown],” she added. Residents undergo mass testing following a COVID-19 outbreak in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, China, Aug. 9, 2022. Credit: CNS via Reuters De facto lockdown In the TAR, where authorities say they had documented 20 symptomatic and 127 asymptomatic COVID-19 infections as of Friday, officials in the capital Lhasa ordered a citywide “disinfection” operation from Aug. 12-15, during which people are not to leave their homes. Sources in the city said the order amounted to a de facto three-day lockdown, although officials have refrained from using the term. Those who have been confirmed positive are being quarantined and public testing is underway, they said, although authorities have failed to ensure that residents maintain proper distancing when they do so. “Since COVID cases are rising in Lhasa and a few other regions, people who stayed in hotels and lodges in these areas and may have contact with the infected are now quarantining for safety,” a source in Tibet told RFA Tibetan. “People are being subjected to continuous testing, Potala Palace and other religious sites are shut down, schools have postponed their reopening, and people are stocking up on groceries and buying face masks.” Meanwhile, the summer tourism season is in full swing in Lhasa – despite concerns that the outbreak there is linked to visitors to the region – with Chinese travelers arriving in droves by plane, train, and car from other parts of China, the source said. “Tibetan religious pilgrims seeking to visit Lhasa from around the region are having difficulty obtaining travel permits, while Chinese tourists have no issue obtaining passes to visit Tibet,” he added. People line up to undergo nucleic acid tests for COVID-19 on Aug. 9, 2022, in Lhasa, in China’s western Tibet Autonomous Region. Credit: CNS/AFP Airports operational Another source from Lhasa told RFA they are concerned that Tibet’s airports remain open, and could lead to the import of additional cases to the region. “I understand that Lhasa will be under [a form of] lockdown from Aug. 12, but there has been no official notice from the government yet and Gonkar Airport remains open as usual,” the source said. “During earlier COVID-19 surges, the Chinese government did not restrict tourists from entering Tibet, despite the concerns of Tibetans. Now, as we see a growing number of COVID-19 outbreaks and the situation remains uncertain, we are worried about what will happen in the next few days.” According to local regulations, only travelers who are exiting Lhasa through Gonkar Airport must undergo testing for COVID-19 48 hours prior…
