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Category: East Asia
China imprisons 2 Tibetan monks for sending donations to Dalai Lama
Chinese authorities in Tibet have sentenced two monks from the Kirti monastery in Sichuan province to prison for sending prayer offerings to the Dalai Lama and the abbot of their monastery, both living in exile in India, Radio Free Asia has learned. The two monks, Rachung Gendun and Sonam Gyatso, had both sent the donations to Tibet’s foremost spiritual leader and Kirti Rinpoche, sources said. In both cases, details surrounding their trials and sentencing are not known in detail, but Chinese authorities consider it illegal for Tibetans to contact exiles. They are particularly sensitive about contacts made with the Dalai Lama, who fled to India 70 years ago and has been living there ever since. Sources said Rachung Gendun was sentenced to three years in prison, and Sonam Gyatso to two years. They are both currently detained at Menyang prison (in Chinese Mianyang) near the city of Chengdu in Sichuan province. Rachung Gendun had been strongly opposed to the Chinese government’s “patriotic education” campaign, a Tibetan source inside Tibet said. Beijing has run the high-profile campaign among Tibetans since unrest spread across Tibetan regions from Lhasa in March 2008, requiring local people to denounce the Dalai Lama, whom the government rejects as a “splittist.” Rachung Gendun voiced his opposition to the program, and was interrogated and detained for a few months. Chinese authorities also raided his quarters and confiscated photos of the Dalai Lama and several other times. A Tibetan living in exile said Rachung Gendun had been arrested on April 1, 2021, from his quarters at the monastery, and his family did not know where he was until three months later. “Later, after his arrest was known, his family members hoped for his release, but for the past year or so his family have not been able to see him even once,” the exile source said. Sonam Gyatso in an undated photo. Credit: citizen journalist Sonam Gyatso A few days later, authorities arrested Sonam Gyatso, on April 3, 2021, in Chengdu while he was vacationing there, a source inside Tibet told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely. “Since then, he has been under constant interrogation from the police at a detention center near Barkham [Maerkang] and they didn’t reach a verdict for more than a year,” the source said. “We have learned that he is sentenced to two years in prison but we don’t know about his current health condition or any other related information,” said the source. Sonam Gyatso became a monk at a very young age and studied Buddhism at the Kirti Monastery, obtaining the Geshe degree, a higher academic degree in Buddhist philosophy, according to the source. Afterwards, he worked in the monastic department and became a mentor at the monastery. While working there, he encountered many problems with the local Chinese authorities, the source said. “Geshe Sonam’s older sister, Tsering Lhamo, was also detained by the Chinese authorities a year ago for an unknown reason. She worked at a bank in Ngaba [Aba] county,” a Tibetan living in exile told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely. No further information on Tsering Lhamo’s current status is known, the source said. The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists around the world, and is a global representative advocating for the protection of Tibetan culture, language and history. He fled Tibet into exile in India in the midst of a failed 1959 Tibetan national uprising against China, which sent troops into the formerly independent Himalayan country in 1950. Displays by Tibetans of the Dalai Lama’s photo, public celebrations of his birthday, and the sharing of his teachings on mobile phones or other social media are often harshly punished. Chinese authorities maintain a tight grip on Tibet and on Tibetan-populated regions of western China, restricting Tibetans’ political activities and peaceful expression of cultural and religious identity, and subjecting Tibetans to imprisonment, torture and extrajudicial killings. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Xinjiang party secretary visits areas where COVID lockdown protests occurred
Xinjiang’s Communist Party secretary on Monday visited districts in the capital Urumqi in northwestern China where rare protests against severe coronavirus lockdown measures occurred last week. Local police officers confirmed the demonstrations and authorities punished three Han Chinese men for spreading rumors about the highly contagious respiratory infection. Ma Xingrui visited districts and counties in Urumqi (in Chinese, Wulumuqi) hit by the recent wave of COVID-19 that struck Xinjiang in early August and impacted by the protests His visit included the Tianshan, Shayibak, Shuimogou, High-tech Zone, and Midong districts of Urumqi, following last week’s protest, to inspect and investigate epidemic prevention and control measures, community management services, and hospitals, according to a Monday report by state-controlled Xinjiang Daily. He also went to the Xinjiang Medical University next to the Liyushan Road where one protest took place. Ma emphasized the need to resolutely implement the decisions of the Communist Party Central Committee and the State Council, and to adhere to the overall strategy for epidemic prevention and control. The article did not mention the protests, though the article mentioned that Ma stressed “strengthen[ing] the management and control of online public opinion” concerning the epidemic and “crack[ing] down on fabrication and spreading rumors in accordance with the law. Meanwhile, two new videos of public protests appeared on social media over the weekend, though RFA could not independently verify them. In the videos, the protesters are speaking Mandarin Chinese, not the language spoken by Xinjiang’s indigenous Uyghurs, who face persecution from Chinese authorities in the region. “Don’t be afraid! You’re right! Today we must lift the lockdown!” the protesters can be heard saying on one of the videos. Police cite ‘state secrets’ Officers at two Urumqi police stations confirmed to RFA Uyghur that the protest occurred. Two others declined to answer on national security grounds. Some police officers in Urumqi contacted by RFA declined to provide information due to heightened alert and the sensitivity of the protest, while others cited national security grounds, and two confirmed that the protest occurred. A police officer at the Urumqi Midong South Road Police Station said the protest didn’t take place in his district. “It took place at Xinshiqu [New Town] district,” he told RFA. Another officer at the Urumqi Hetan Road Police Station said he didn’t know how many people attended the protest in his area. “Too many,” he said, adding that the protesters were demonstrating against the COVID-19 lockdown. When asked about their demands, he said that the police officers would have a meeting soon to learn about the details. The officer went on to say that he didn’t know how many people were detained for participating in this protest, but that it was illegal. “Any act that’s against the lockdown is illegal,” he said. When RFA asked a police officer at the Urumqi Yinchuan Road Police Station if the protest on the Liyushan Road was still happening, he refused to provide information “This is information on state secrets. We cannot tell you anything,” he said. Another policeman at the Urumqi Hangzhou Road Police Station also said he could not provide any information on the protest without the approval of the Urumqi Public Security Bureau. “This is confidential information belonging to state secrets,” he said. Authorities detain three men On Nov. 3, the Urumqi Public Security Bureau announced the detainment of the three Chinese for encouraging the public to protest against the COVID lockdown. Urumqi’s Public Security Bureau issued a notice on Nov. 3 that it has handled many cases of citizens violating epidemic prevention and control regulations, such as the spreading of “rumors” about COVID. “Those who violate the relevant regulations on epidemic prevention and control will be seriously investigated and dealt with by the public security organs,” the announcement said. Authorities cited the case of Mou Mouhong, 33, of Tianshan district, who received a 10-day administrative detention penalty for posting comments on a WeChat group on Nov. 1 that incited people to protest, causing a risk of the spread of the virus. Another Han Chinese, Wang Moubiao, 32 who lives in the city’s Economic and Technological Development Zone, was detained for five days for posting “inflammatory remarks related to the epidemic” on WeChat on Nov. 1. Authorities also detained Ming Mouqin, 46, who resides in Urumqi’s High-tech Zone, for five days for inciting residents to protest via a WeChat group. Chinese officials imposed strict lockdowns in Xinjiang in August and September that resulted in some deaths of Uyghurs from starvation and a lack of medicine or medical care. Authorities detained 600 Uyghurs from a village in Ghulja (Yining) in the northern part of Xinjiang after they protested the lockdown. Prior to the protest, state-run Xinjiang TV had warned residents that they would be arrested for separatism, a charge often used to detain Uyghurs, if they “spread rumors” about a COVID outbreak in the area. Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in the region also have been subjected to severe human rights violations during a years-long crackdown that Beijing has said is part of a broad “anti-terrorism” campaign. A report issued in late August by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights found that “the scale of the arbitrary and discriminatory detention of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities in Xinjiang ‘may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.” China denounced the report, which it said was the result of pressure from western governments. Translated by Alim Seytoff and Shahrezad Ghayrat for RFA Uyghur. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Cambodia’s publicity shy king forced into center of political fracas
As he approaches two decades on a powerless throne, Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni has found himself caught in a political fight between the country’s long-time strongman and a former opposition leader forced into exile. The dispute, which began with a public mudslinging between Prime Minister Hun Sen and his political nemesis, Sam Rainsy, over who had betrayed the nation, has put a spotlight on the European-educated former dance instructor, who as king has preferred to remain in the shadows. “I believe that King Norodom Sihamoni did not want the honor or fame as his predecessors. He did not have such ambition or greed,” Oum Daravuth, who is one of Norodom Sihamoni’s advisers, told RFA. “The king does not want his name to be as famous as others. He just wants to live in hiding; he does not want anything else.” But the fight between Hun Sen and Sam Rainsy has broader implications than who wins a war of words. Hun Sen has threatened to dissolve the little that remains of his political opposition, which traces its roots to Rainsy, less than a year out from a national election. It has also revived a debate over the 69-year-old’s rightful role as the constitutional monarch of a fractured parliamentary system that has been slowly deconstructed under Hun Sen’s rule. While the king is legally required to reign as national figurehead and leave governing to the National Assembly and the prime minister’s Council of Ministers, some in the opposition have called upon Sihamoni over the years to challenge Hun Sen’s repression of their ranks. But the king has rarely even responded to such requests, instead mostly remaining inside the royal palace, quiet and out of view. Upon taking the throne in 2004, the king had pledged to remain close to the people of Cambodia and serve out his days promoting national unity. “I will never live apart from the beloved people,” Sihamoni said. “The Royal Palace will remain a transparent house and, for me, there will never be an ivory tower. Every week, I will devote several days to visiting our towns, our countryside and our provinces, and to serving you.” Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni greets Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen during the annual Water Festival on the Tonle Sap river in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Nov. 10, 2019. Credit: Reuters The quiet king Sihamoni comes from a family that claims lineage back to the “god kings” of Angkor, when the Khmer Empire ruled much of Southeast Asia before being forced under Siamese, Vietnamese and eventually French rule. His father, the late King Norodom Sihanouk, was also known as the “father of independence” for overseeing Cambodia’s 1953 breakaway from French colonial rule. Sihanouk later led the 1980s shadow government that opposed the Vietnamese occupation, after its army had driven the Khmer Rouge from power, and fought a civil war against Hun Sen’s government before the 1991 U.N.-brokered peace restored elections. Sihanouk abdicated in 2004 to ensure he had a say in choosing his successor. Prince Norodom Ranariddh, whose party won the U.N.-run 1993 elections but was forced into a coalition with Hun Sen, reportedly wanted the throne, but Hun Sen preferred Sihamoni. Lesser known than his politician half-brother at the time, Sihamoni, who was born in May 1953, had previously served as Cambodia’s UNESCO ambassador and lived in France, where he taught classical dance. As a young boy, he had been sent to study music and dance in Prague, and earned a master’s degree from the city’s Musical Art Academy. In 1975, the year the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia, Sihamoni went to North Korea to study filmmaking. But he soon returned to Phnom Penh, where he was kept prisoner in the royal palace with his father and Queen Mother Norodom Monineath until Pol Pot’s regime fell in 1979. Since assuming the throne, the son has embodied the principle enshrined in the 1993 Constitution that the king “shall reign but shall not rule.” Cambodia’s unequivocal ruler has been Hun Sen for more than three decades, and he has recently announced plans to keep that power in the family, pushing his son Hun Manet as successor after 2028. Self-exiled Cambodian opposition party founder Sam Rainsy speaks during an interview at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Nov. 10, 2019. Credit: Reuters The ‘t’ word The recent trouble started when Rainsy said on RFA’s Oct. 25 nightly program that the king’s acquiescence to Hun Sen’s rule — and, in particular, decisions made in 2005 and 2019 to cede territory claimed by some Cambodians to neighboring Vietnam — made him an accomplice to “treason.” “What Hun Sen uses as a ploy is to force the king to support his treason. If the king yields to Hun Sen’s intimidation, and turns to support Hun Sen’s treason, the king must be responsible,” he said. “If it was me, I would have abdicated, because I must not be intimidated by Hun Sen.” Rainsy, who in 2015 fled Cambodia to his home in Paris after the government reignited a 2011 defamation conviction against him, said on RFA that Sihamoni’s faintheartedness would be long remembered. “It is dangerous for our nation that you turned out to be a rubber stamp for the traitor,” Rainsy said. “It means you contributed to committing treason, for which you must be responsible before the Khmer nation and history.” In response, Hun Sen called for Cambodians to “stand up to oppose this traitor and any party that dares to connect with this traitor,” alluding to the Candlelight Party, which was once named the Sam Rainsy Party. The prime minister has since called on members of the party to denounce their former leader, or risk their party being banned from politics. “We must do so in order to defend the monarchy,” he said. Prince Sisowath Thomico [right], a member of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, speaks to supporters during a demonstration at the Freedom Park in Phnom Penh on April 24, 2013. Credit: AFP Border disputes Large…
German leader broaches human rights in China, but activists wish he went further
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz briefly addressed human rights while in Beijing on Friday for a meeting with Chinese leaders, but Uyghur and other rights groups said he didn’t go far enough. Meeting with Communist Party leader after Xi Jinping, who last month began his third five-year term in office, Scholz urged China to stand up for the international order and put pressure on Russia to end its war against Ukraine, according to a report by Politico Europe. At a joint press conference Friday with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Scholz told reporters that he was concerned about China closing off sectors of its international economy to foreign competition and not respecting intellectual property, the report said. Scholz also called on China to respect human rights, saying Beijing could not escape the international ramifications of its treatment of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang by calling it an internal matter. “Human rights are interference in international affairs,” he said, according to Germany’s Suddeutsche Zeitung. Later Friday, the Group of Seven foreign ministers, which includes Germany and the United States, issued a statement in Münster, Germany, that touched on China’s human rights record. “We will continue to raise our concerns with China on its reported human rights violations and abuses, including in Xinjiang and Tibet,” the statement said. “We reiterate our concerns over the continued erosion of Hong Kong’s rights, freedoms and autonomy, and call on China to act in accordance with its international commitments and legal obligations.” Dolkun Isa, president of the World Uyghur Congress, expressed dismay that Scholz touched only briefly on the topic of human rights, and that his accompanying delegation included only business representatives and no human rights experts. “It is extremely disappointing to state that the genocide of the Uyghurs is due to a different understanding of human rights,” Isa said in the statement. “Germany must now act together with its international partners to hold the Chinese government accountable.” The World Uyghur Congress as well as Tibet Initiative Germany, Freiheit für Hongkong e.V. and the Society for Threatened Peoples criticized Scholz’s entire trip to China, saying that reporters at the news conference were not given an opportunity to ask questions. Earlier this week, 70 human rights organizations issued an open letter urging Scholz to reconsider his trip to China amid growing human rights concerns. They noted that an accompanying delegation of several top German executives implied that Berlin was increasing its economic dependence on an authoritarian government at the expense of democratic principles, including upholding human rights. “The invitation of a German trade delegation to join your visit will be viewed as an indication that Germany is ready to deepen trade and economic links, at the cost of human rights and international law,” they wrote in the memo, published by Germany-based World Uyghur Congress. In calling for Scholz to reconsider his visit, the groups said: “This would send the clearest signal that Germany, as one of the leading members of the European Union, will not offer its tacit endorsement to the ongoing oppression of Uyghurs, Hong Kongers, Tibetans, and other groups within and outside the PRC’s borders,” using the initials for the People’s Republic of China, the country’s formal name. The United States and several Western parliaments have said China’s mistreatment of the Uyghurs, including mass arbitrary detentions, torture and forced labor, amounts to genocide and crimes against humanity. A damning report issued by the U.N.’s human rights chief in late August documented widespread rights abuses in Xinjiang and said the repression “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.” Later on Monday, when a reporter at a regular news conference asked Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian if the two leaders discussed issues related to human rights and the rights of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, he said China had issued a readout about the meeting. But the document made no mention of the Uyghurs, Xinjiang or human rights.
Laos rescues 11 Indian nationals trafficked to work as phone scammers
Authorities in Laos have rescued 11 Indian nationals who were lured to the Chinese-run Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone in the north of the country and put to work as phone scammers, according to the Indian Embassy. The operation shines a light on the murky enclave in Bokeo province – home to the Kings Roman Casino resort – where many foreigners who were promised lucrative jobs end up held against their will by trafficking rings that exploit them under threat of violence. The Golden Triangle economic zone is a gambling and tourism hub catering to Chinese citizens situated along the Mekong River where Laos, Myanmar and Thailand meet. In 2018, the U.S. government sanctioned the Chinese tycoon who is said to run the SEZ as head of a trafficking network. Last week, Lao authorities acted on a tip from the Indian Embassy to rescue 11 Indians who had been held for more than a month by traffickers in the zone. They were recruited by unscrupulous middlemen to work as IT specialists in Dubai, Singapore and Thailand with offers of well-paying jobs and pre-arranged flights, visas and passports, according to Indian Embassy sources who discussed the situation off the record because they were unauthorized to speak to the press. Instead, they wound up in northern Laos, where they were forced to work in call centers largely unmonitored by authorities, calling people to solicit money for fraudulent investment schemes or engage in cryptocurrency scams. Rights groups estimate that at least 1,000 people from South and East Asia have been lured to work as scammers at the Golden Triangle zone, many of whom continue to be held against their will there. Extricated by Lao officials last week, the 11 workers were brought to the Lao border with Thailand and handed over to a team from the Indian Consulate in Chiang Mai, before being repatriated to India over the weekend via Bangkok, the Indian Embassy in Laos said in an announcement posted to its Facebook page. RFA Lao was unable to reach Lao authorities operating in the Golden Triangle economic zone or officials in the Indian Embassy in the Lao capital Vientiane for comment on the rescue operation. Conditions at scam centers A Lao national who previously worked as a scammer in the zone told RFA on condition of anonymity that trafficking is rife there and said several foreign nationals were being held against their will at the call center where he was located. “There were three or four Indians and as many as 20 Thais working as scammers [when I was there],” he said, adding that most foreign nationals being held at the zone at the time were Thai, Chinese and Vietnamese, although he also met Indonesians and Malaysians. The former scam center worker from Laos told RFA that if they follow orders, trafficked workers could earn U.S. $450-725 per month, depending on the number of people they scammed, while those who could speak Thai, Chinese, or Vietnamese could earn even more. But rules were strict and anyone who left the call center without informing members of the trafficking ring or escaped and was caught “would face a serious punishment,” he said. Despite the restrictions and the threat of punishment, the Lao national said that he planned to return to the zone again because “I know how to do the work and they will hire me right away.” In addition to luring unsuspecting foreign nationals through middlemen, scam centers also “recruit” workers through other means, the Lao national told RFA. During an outbreak of COVID-19 in August and September 2021, authorities in Bokeo province temporarily closed the Golden Triangle economic zone to force employers based there to allow their workers to return home and renegotiate hiring contracts, due to the slowdown of the economy. Instead of allowing them to return, he said, many of the centers simply “sold” their workers to trafficking rings who forced them to do the same work stipulated in their existing contracts, threatening them with beatings and imprisonment if they refused. Meanwhile, the worker said, Lao authorities cannot easily enter the Chinese-run zone, which operates largely beyond the reach of the Lao government, and are often unable to arrest ring leaders because the victims of the scams rarely report their losses to police. “Nobody takes them to court because there’s no proof,” he said. “Those who lose money dare not tell the police or take legal action.” Foreigners targeted Chinese-run enclaves in Southeast Asia have come under heavy scrutiny in recent months after hundreds of Taiwanese nationals were rescued after being lured into human trafficking and abusive jobs scams in Cambodia, with many victims taken to work in Chinese-owned casinos in the coastal city of Sihanoukville. The government has so far registered 1,267 workers in the Golden Triangle zone, only a fraction of the total, although the exact number employed there is unknown, according to Lao officials. Efforts to register workers to protect them from human trafficking and other abuses have met with limited success because workers balk at paying the fees and fear that signing up will get them sent home, sources have told RFA. In addition to the 11 Indian workers rescued last week, authorities freed 44 Pakistanis from the zone on Oct. 20 and seven Malaysians on Oct. 6. Malaysian authorities have said there are 50-100 Malaysians still being held by traffickers in the zone. Translated by Sidney Khotpanya. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
Uyghur doctor jailed for treating a ‘terrorist’ dies after release from prison
A Uyghur doctor sentenced to eight years in prison in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region for removing a bullet from the foot of a suspected criminal, died shortly after being released from prison in September, local police and people with knowledge of the situation said. Tudahun Nurehmet, also known by the surname Mahmud, was the former chief of the Achatagh Hospital in Uchturpan (in Chinese, Wushi) county, Aksu (Akesu) prefecture. In 2013, he was sentenced for treating a person Chinese authorities identified as a terrorist who was wounded during a clash in Aksu’s Aykol (Ayikule) township in August of that year. On that day, a brawl between Muslim Uyghurs and police broke out during a security check of a mosque on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr Islamic festival marks the end of the month-long dawn-to-sunset fasting of Ramadan. During the altercation, police fired at unarmed people, killing three Uyghurs and wounding 20 others, RFA reported. Those who were wounded either were taken to the hospital or left the area and sought treatment on their own, according to a policeman who was at the scene. It was at one of these hospitals that Tudahun apparently treated one of the wounded, fulfilling his role as a doctor – which later got him arrested and sentenced to eight years in prison because the patient was identified as a terrorist. Kidney disease in prison Tudahun was released to his family because of his deteriorating health and died of kidney complications on Sept. 18, according to a person named “Nurxenim Uyghur” who posts information about the deaths of Uyghurs in Xinjiang on Facebook. A police officer in the town of Achatagh said Tudahun served his sentence in Urumqi’s No. 6 prison, though he did not have information about the physician’s death. A village policeman from Achatagh said Tudahun, the father of two children, was released one year ago and had a severe kidney problem and could not walk. He was healthy before his arrest and died due to a kidney disease that developed during his prison time, the police officer said. A second village police officer from the area told IJ-Reportika that Tudahun was accused of protecting “a crime suspect” because he treated that person’s wound, but he could not provide the suspect’s name or the place where he received medical care. “They did not tell us whom he treated,” he said. “It was due to an incident that took place on Eid day.“ Tudahun “was taken away on the third day of Eid,” the village policeman said. “I don’t know if the wounded people came to the hospital or if he went to treat them. I heard he treated ‘the terrorists’ and was therefore accused of aiding them.” A village Communist Party secretary in Achatagh said Tudahun was sentenced to eight years for removing a bullet from the foot of a wounded suspect involved in the “August 8th incident” in Aksu, referring to the deadly clashes. “He was arrested because he hid the situation of a person who got shot, and he treated him,” he said. But he said Tudahun was a very skilled physician who treated patients from other towns and villages. The party secretary said Tudahun treated the suspect on the day the incident occurred, and when the suspect was arrested on the second day, he exposed Tudahun, and police subsequently arrested the doctor. “He was taken from his home,” the secretary said. As for the suspect, he left after receiving medical treatment and was later arrested at another location. Another death after release In a similar case of an Uyghur individual dying after being released from prison, 27-year-old Alimjan Abdureshit from the town of Toqquzaq (Tuokezhake) in Kashgar (Kashi) prefecture, died on Oct. 2, about 40 days after his release from a prison or an internment camp, according to the same the Facebook page of “Nurxenim Uyghur.” He was detained for five years for participating in “illegal religious activities.” A staffer at a neighborhood committee in Kashgar Yengisheher (Shule) county told IJ-Reportika that police took away the body of Abdurishit, who died from a combination of illness and starvation during a recent coronavirus lockdown there. IJ-Reportika reported earlier that authorities in Xinjiang have been collecting the bodies of deceased Uyghurs, many of whom died of starvation or lack of medical treatment during lockdowns, without informing their relatives whether their corpses would be handled according to Islamic burial rituals. Abdureshit lived in downtown Toqquzaq when police took the former school security guard to the internment camp in 2017, said an expatriate from the county who has knowledge of the situation. A neighborhood committee staffer in Kashgar Yengisheher said authorities took Abdurishit away to receive so-called “education” while he was working at a middle school. Abdureshit was healthy before his detainment, he said, though he did not know if the young man had been ill when he was released or if he died because of starvation during the lockdown. Translated by RFA Uyghur. Reported in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Netherlands tells China to shut down overseas offices accused of targeting activists
The Dutch government says it has ordered China to shut down its overseas “service centers” that have reportedly been used to target and harass dissidents overseas. “Because no permission has been requested from the Netherlands for this, the ministry has informed the ambassador that the stations must close immediately,” Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said via his Twitter account. “In addition, the Netherlands is also conducting research into the stations in order to find out their precise activities.” Hoekstra’s tweet came after reports by RTL Nieuws and website “Follow The Money” alleged that two Chinese “service centers” had carried out official functions, including remotely renewing Chinese citizens drivers’ licenses without official diplomatic status. Spanish-based rights group Safeguard Defenders reported in September that Chinese police are operating from “service centers” across Europe, targeting exiled dissidents for harassment and putting pressure on them to go back to China. Chinese police are currently running at least 54 “overseas police service centers” in foreign countries, some of which work with law enforcement back home to run operations on foreign soil, the Sept. 13 report found. A growing number of governments including Canada, the United Kingdom and Spain, have said they are investigating the reports, while the Netherlands, Portugal and Ireland have ordered Chinese “service centers” in their respective territory to close. Overseas 110 Safeguard Defenders researcher Chen Yen-ting said the service centers are linked to an overseas police website called Overseas 110, which enables people to report crimes to Chinese law enforcement while located overseas. “Overseas 110 is an online platform set up by the Fuzhou police department that allows people to report crimes from overseas,” Chen said. “They have set up many such service stations overseas, basically combining online and physical sites. These are all in the public domain, and have contact numbers and addresses in the cities listed by [police in] Fuzhou.” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian denied that the centers had any law enforcement functions. “The organizations you mentioned are not police stations or police service centers,” Zhao told a regular briefing in Beijing on Wednesday. “Their activities are to assist local Chinese citizens who need to apply for expired driver’s license renewal online, and activities related to physical examination services by providing the venue.” A number of reports on official news websites in China have also reported on the service centers, with a June 6, 2022, report listing service centers run by police in the southeastern city of Fuzhou as having “police work” within their remit. Chinese national Wang Jingyu, who is seeking asylum in the Netherlands after a harrowing escape from Chinese agents last year that spanned the Middle East and eastern Europe, said he was targeted by calls he believes came from the “service center” in Rotterdam earlier this year. “I hope the Dutch government will sanction, arrest or expel these so-called overseas Chinese police,” Wang told RFA on Wednesday. “The Dutch foreign ministry has also previously said that Dutch police are making plans to protect us.” Wang told RFA last week that he received a call from someone in the Rotterdam service center claiming to be a wealthy overseas Chinese businessman looking to support dissidents. “The Chinese police and overseas Chinese service station in Rotterdam tried to meet with me in February, pretending to be this rich man saying he supports dissidents,” Wang told RFA shortly after the RTL report was published. “He wanted me to meet with him somewhere in Rotterdam, so I ignored him,” he said. “He was so angry that he started repeatedly calling me to harass and abuse me. This harassment continued until March. Tracking “suspects” Chen Yan-ting said Wang’s experience is by no means unique. “These overseas service stations are used to track people designated ‘suspects’ by the Chinese Communist Party, to put pressure on them and to force them to return to China,” Chen said. “We also suspect they may have an intelligence-gathering function, as a way to show Chinese people overseas how powerful their government is, and that they will be forced to return to China to face judicial proceedings and punishment, no matter where in the world they escape to,” Chen said. Netherlands-based China commentator Lin Shengliang said Beijing has been extending unofficial law enforcement activities around the world for some time now. “Regardless of where in the world they seek refuge, Chinese dissidents and rights activists may not be safe,” Lin told RFA. “The Chinese government will do whatever it takes to extend its suppression to every country in the world.” “This is a multi-pronged operation that can be packaged as contact with overseas Chinese associations linked to a person’s hometown, overseas student associations and even some churches, so it’s hard to escape,” Lin said. The Chinese Communist Party’s law enforcement agencies routinely track, harass, threaten and repatriate people who flee the country, many of them Turkic-speaking Uyghurs, under its SkyNet surveillance program that reaches far beyond China’s borders, according to a report from Safeguard Defenders in May 2022. Between the launch of the SkyNet program in 2014 and June 2021, China repatriated nearly 10,000 people from 120 countries and regions, according to Safeguard Defenders. Just 1% of them were brought back to China using judicial procedures; more than 60% were just put on a plane against their will, the group reported in May 2022. Experts said last month that authoritarian regimes including China and Russia are also increasingly making use of regional cooperation organizations like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to bolster each others’ regime security in the name of counter-terrorism. Chinese embassies and consulates have also been implicated in Beijing’s attempts to wield law enforcement power far beyond its borders. Pulling hair China’s Consul General in the northern British city of Manchester admitted on Oct. 20 to assaulting a Hong Kong pro-democracy protester inside the grounds of the diplomatic mission as a peaceful protest gave way to attacks at the weekend. Consul General Zheng Xiyuan told Sky News that he was the gray-haired man in…
Authorities allow Tibetans in Lhasa to travel in region amid COVID wave
Chinese authorities have relaxed severe COVID-19 lockdowns in parts of the far-western Tibet region, allowing Tibetans residing temporarily in the regional capital Lhasa for work or other reasons to return to their hometowns beginning Monday, sources in the region said. A wave of coronavirus infections hit the restive region in August, where China, wary about independence movements, has strengthened its governance in an effort to prevent frequent unrest of the repressed Tibetan minority group. The latest move came days after hundreds of angry demonstrators took to the capital’s streets on Oct. 26-27 to protest harsh “zero COVID” measures, including lockdowns in place for about 80 days. During the lockdown, people complained of food shortages and poor conditions in mass quarantine facilities, RFA reported earlier. Many of the demonstrators were Han Chinese migrant workers demanding permission from authorities to return to their homes in eastern China because they could not earn money amid the lockdown, city sources told RFA. The Chinese migrant protesters dispersed after authorities agreed to process applications for them to leave the Tibet Autonomous Region, while Tibetans from towns outside the capital area had to remain in place. Now authorities are allowing Tibetans living in Lhasa who are natives of the cities and towns of Shigatse, Kongpo, Lhoka, Nagchu, Chamdo and Ngari to return to their homes. But they can do so only after first getting in touch with their respective points of contact as set by regional authorities for “swift processing,” according to an official notice dated Oct. 31. They are prohibited from returning on their own. Authorities will provide Tibetan migrant workers in the Lhasa area with transportation services to return to their hometowns once the regional office makes the contact points public, the notice said, and provided no further details. Despite the relaxation of COVID lockdowns in Lhasa and Shigatse, Tibet’s second-largest city with about 800,000 people, as of Oct. 29, the capital remains under lockdown for three more days, said sources from Tibet, adding that they did not know the reason behind the move which was not publicly announced. Tibetan sources indicated that Chinese government officials treated Tibetans differently when it came to giving them permission to leave Tibet for other places in China, noting that authorities accommodated Chinese migrant workers who agitated against the lockdown. “Tibetans who study in high schools and universities in mainland China were supposedly planning to visit China three months ago under special circumstances, but that didn’t happen,” said the source, who declined to be named for safety reasons. As of Monday, Tibet recorded 18,653 confirmed coronavirus cases in the region of roughly 3.65 million people, according to the latest Chinese government census data. Two new asymptomatic COVID-19 infections have been found in Lhasa in the last 24 hours, and 33 asymptomatic cases have been detected in the northern region of neighboring Qinghai province on Oct. 29, according to an official Chinese announcement. Local authorities in Xining, capital of Qinghai province near the Tibetan Plateau, reported 70 new COVID-19 infections on Oct. 28. Translated by Tashi Wangchuk for RFA Tibetan. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Southeast Asia remains world rice bowl as pockets of region suffer crop disasters
Rice crops in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar have taken a hit from flooding and conflict this year, casting a shadow on a mostly sunny outlook for Southeast Asia’s output of the key grain as the region deals with other potential longer term supply troubles, farm officials and researchers say. Poverty and hunger are stalking some rural communities in peninsular Southeast Asia, also called Indochina, as a result of lost crops, hitting populations still struggling to recover from lost income and other fallout from widespread economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, the poorest Southeast Asian nations, are not major players in rice production in a sector dominated by Thailand and Vietnam, which lead the world in exports of the grain. Southeast Asia accounts for 26 percent of global rice production and 40 percent of exports, supplying populous neighbors Indonesia and the Philippines, as well as Africa and the Middle East, according the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. But their harvest shortfalls have to be made up from other suppliers, and any serious deterioration in rice output could have ripple effects on import-dependent countries in Asia. The challenge is more acute at a time of deepening worries over food security and rising food prices in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has removed those countries’ key grain exports from global supplies. A man transports bags of rice in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Oct. 17, 2019. Credit: AFP Cambodia’s National Committee for Disaster Management reported early this month that floods inundated some 770 villages in 22 provinces, including Banteay Meanchey, Battambang, Pursat, Siem Reap, Kampong Thom and Preah Vihear. More than 150,000 hectares of rice paddies were flooded more than 100,000 families were affected by the floods, a committee official told local media. Banteay Meanchey farmer Voeun Pheap told RFA that floods destroyed more than four hectares of his farm and brought immediate hardship to his family as it wiped out his crop and the hope of paying off what he borrowed to plant. “I couldn’t make much money, I lost my investments, and I am in debt,” he said. In Laos, an agriculture and forestry official in Hua Phanh province told RFA that flooding in two districts had wiped out rice crops and left 200 families with no harvest to eat or sell. “Sand is covering the rice fields all over due to heavy rain, which destroyed both rice paddies and dry rice fields,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for safety reasons. “Families that have been affected will go hungry this year. The damage is so enormous that villagers will have to seek food from the forest or sell other crops that were not affected,” the official added. People reach out to buy subsidized rice from government officials in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, March 27, 2008. Credit: AFP Fear, fighting leave fallow fields More than 18 months after a military coup toppled a popular civilian government and plunged Myanmar into political and military conflict, the country of 54 million faces security threats to its rice supply on top of the environmental and economic problems faced by its neighbors. “I am too afraid to leave my home,” said Myo Thant, a local farmer in the town of Shwebo in the Sagaing region, a farming region in central Myanmar that has been a main theater of fighting between ruling army junta forces and local militias opposed to army rule. “I can’t fertilize the fields and I can’t do irrigation work,” he told RFA “The harvest will be down. We will barely have enough food for ourselves,” added Myo Thant. Farmers groups told RFA that in irrigated paddy farms across Myanmar, planting reduced due to the security challenges as well as to rising prices for fuel, fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Growers are limiting their planting to rain-fed rice fields. “Only 60 percent of (paddy) farms will grow this year, which means that the production will be reduced by about 40 percent,” Zaw Yan of the Myanmar Farmers Representative Network told RFA. Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing, the Myanmar junta chief, told a meeting August that of 33.2 million acres of farmland available for rice cultivation, only 15 million acres of rainy reason rice and 3 million acres of irrigated summer paddy rice are being grown. Brighter regional outlook This year’s flooding has caused crop losses and concern in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, but so far it doesn’t appear to have dented the regional outlook for the grain, thanks to expected big crops and surpluses in powerhouse exporters Thailand and Vietnam. World stocks have been buoyed by India’s emergence as the top rice exporter of the grain. In this June 5, 2015 photo, workers load sacks of imported Vietnam rice onto trucks from a ship docked at a port area in Manila, Philippines.Credit: Reuters Although Myanmar is embroiled in conflict and largely cut off from world commerce, Cambodia exported 2.06 million tons of milled and paddy rice worth nearly $616 million in the first half of 2022, a 10 percent increase over the same period in 2021, the country’s farm ministry said in July. Laos was the world’s 25th largest rice exporter in 2020. A report released this month by U.S. Department of Agriculture saw continued large exports from Thailand and Vietnam likely into 2023, offsetting drops in shipments of the grain from other suppliers. While the USDA has projected that Southeast Asia’s rice surplus will continue, a research team at Nature Food that studied rice output in Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam suggested the region might lose its global Rice Bowl status. The threats include stagnating crop yields, limited new land for agriculture, and climate change. “Over the past decades, through renewed efforts, countries in Southeast Asia were able to increase rice yields, and the region as a whole has continued to produce a large amount of rice that exceeded regional demand, allowing a rice surplus to be exported to other countries,” the study said. “At…
Chinese sportswear brand apologizes after fashion likened to Japanese WWII uniforms
Chinese sportswear brand Li-Ning has apologized after some of its latest fashion clothing sparked public anger in China over a perceived resemblance to Japanese World War II military uniforms. The company, founded by retired Olympic gymnast and billionaire Li Ning, made the statement after being deluged with complaints that its “Chasing Dreams Airport Collection” of down khaki parkas, hats and hoodies looked like vintage Japanese uniforms. Some items from the Sept. 20 fashion shoot were slammed as copies of Japanese war-time clothing, with users posting photos side-by-side for comparison. The company described the collection, which included hats with earflaps commonly associated with Japanese uniforms, as being inspired by “ancient Chinese helmets.” “Li-Ning sincerely apologizes for the perplexity and doubt caused by some of the products in its Chasing Dreams collection, the design and appearance of which have sparked online discussions in recent days,” the company said in a statement on its official Weibo account. “The Chasing Dreams collection took aviation as its theme, finding inspiration in the clothing worn by pilots, to show how humanity continues to search the skies for its dreams,” the statement said. “The inspiration from the pilot hat that sparked the most discussion came from an ancient Chinese helmet,” Li-Ning said. “We will continue to listen carefully to people’s feedback and suggestions.” The statement didn’t appease everyone on Weibo, however. “Shouldn’t the very first words be an apology?” @Big_head_girl_one commented, while @I_met_you_in_my_dream said it was an unacceptable response from a native of Nanjing, whose elderly population still remember the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, in which the International Military Tribunal for the Far East estimated at least 200,000 murders and at least 20,000 cases of rape. “As a native of Nanjing, I can’t accept this … because I keep hearing the older generation talk about their experiences in that year,” the user wrote. “I’m never buying Li-Ning again,” added @warm_winter_sun_cf566, while @small_windy_mud commented: “Speechless.” Trolls at work? Others, however, thought the complaints were far-fetched, and the work of trolls. “It’s like people who can’t tell the difference between a Nazi [swastika] and a Buddhist [manji] criticizing Buddhists for using Nazi symbols,” @Yuanxi_21711 commented, while @half_a_catty_and_eightyli said the clothing looked nothing like Japanese uniforms. “This isn’t a standard Japanese flight suit — the shape and color are different,” the user wrote. “Is Li Ning being trolled by his opponents?” Ho Tsung-hsun, chairman of the Taiwan Citizen Participation Association, said the “fragility” of online comments were linked to Beijing’s authoritarian brand of nationalism. “This isn’t the first time this has happened and it won’t be the last,” Ho told RFA. “If they hadn’t apologized, their business and public image could be affected.” “This is a dictatorship, and its people are so fragile.” Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
