• ijrepjournalism@gmail.com
  • contact@ij-reportika.com
Ij reportika Logo

Category: East Asia

Tight jeans, dyed hair forbidden as North Korea cracks down on ‘capitalist’ fashion

Editor07 mins

North Korea is cracking down on citizens who sport so-called “capitalist” fashion and hairstyles to ensure that they conduct themselves according to the ideals of socialism, sources in the country told RFA. Wearing certain items of clothing, such as tight-fitting pants or t-shirts with foreign words, or having hair longer than a certain length, has always been potentially problematic in North Korea. But now the government is redoubling its efforts to make sure that people don’t flaunt styles associated with capitalistic countries. “At the end of last month, the Socialist Patriotic Youth League held an educational session nationwide, where they defined the act of imitating foreign fashion and hairstyles as ‘capitalist flair,’ and examples of ‘anti-socialist practices,’” a resident of the city of Hamhung in the eastern province of South Hamgyong told RFA’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons. The league, formerly known as the Kimilsungist-Kimjongilist Youth League until last year, is modeled after the Soviet Komsomol, a group of teenagers and young adults who spread communist propaganda. “The youth league’s patrols are cracking down on young people who wear long hair down to their waists, and those who dye their hair brown, as well as people who wear clothes with large foreign letters and women who wear tight pants,” the source said. “This time the crackdown mainly targets women in their 20s and 30s. If they are caught, they are made to wait on the side of the road until the patrols can finish their crackdown in that area. Only then will they be taken to the youth league office in the district, where they must write letters confessing their crimes. They must then contact someone at home to bring acceptable clothes for them, and then they are released,” she said. The country has been on a crusade against the infiltration of foreign — especially South Korean —culture. RFA previously reported that authorities ordered members of the country’s main youth organization to turn in the cellphones for inspection, so they could determine who was watching and distributing foreign media or spelling words in the South Korean way or using Southern slang. Patrols in the city of Chongjin, in the province of North Hamgyong, targeted the marketplace where many young people are known to hang out, a resident there told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely. “If they are caught, the company they work for and the Socialist Patriotic Youth League will be notified. They are then subject to criticism and in the most severe cases, the violator’s name, home address and workplace will be revealed publicly on the Third Broadcast,” she said, referring to government-controlled loudspeakers placed throughout most cities and towns to spread messages of propaganda. “Even though they have these kinds of crackdowns all the time, the young people do not stop trying to look and dress like people in foreign films and TV.” Illegal activities The government is also working to suppress what it deems to be illegal capitalistic activities, an official in Chongjin told RFA. “Recent arrests here in Chongjin caught five property brokers who illegally facilitated state-owned housing transactions and collected fees for their services. Meanwhile, six fortune tellers and a fake medicine seller were also arrested. The guy selling fake traditional medicines claimed they could treat diseases,” he said. “Everyone was sentenced five to seven years of hard labor and put in jail,” said the official. Chongjin authorities are also targeting the scalping of rail tickets, bribes given to train crews and rail police by merchants who don’t have the proper government permission for travel, and payments to police to look the other way when they catch someone doing something illegal, he said. In Ryanggang province, west of North Hamgyong, authorities there have been using the Third Broadcast to warn citizens against the evils of drugs, superstitions like fortune telling, and fake medicines, a resident there told RFA. “The people are complaining that the authorities are coming down hard on them again so soon after the April national holidays have ended, under the pretext of eradicating anti-socialist acts,” she said, referring to holidays that commemorated the life of country’s founder Kim Il Sung on April 15 and the formation of the country’s military on the 25th. Translated by Claire Lee and Leejin J. Chung. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

Read More

Russian arms sales to Southeast Asia have tanked, report finds

Editor011 mins

Russia’s arms sales to Southeast Asia have plummeted due to international sanctions imposed since the start of the Ukraine crisis in 2014 and the ongoing war will likely lead to a further decline, creating market opportunities for countries like China, a new report says. An article in the bulletin ISEAS Perspective published by the ISEAS –Yusof Ishak Institute, a Singapore-based research institution, has found that Russia’s defense industry has been hit hard, with export values reduced from $1.2 billion in 2014 to just $89 million in 2021. Cumulatively Russia has been on top of the list of arms suppliers to Southeast Asia over the last two decades but the sales are likely to fall further and regional countries will look to divert their weapons contracts to other countries, the report says. Data provided by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) show that in 2021 alone, Russia has already slipped behind the United States and China. According to the article’s author, academic Ian Storey, the biggest reason behind the fall is sanctions and export controls that the U.S. and Europe imposed on Russia’s defense industry since its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Those restrictions haven’t necessarily prevented Southeast Asian nations from buying Russian arms, but there is less on offer as Russian manufacturers face difficulties in conducting financial transactions and accessing technologies and critical components. It’s also ended defense industry ties between Russia and Ukraine. “The conflict brought to an abrupt end longstanding and extensive cooperation between Ukrainian and Russian defense companies, especially in the production of engines for surface ships, helicopters and aircraft,” Storey said. Military visitors of Vietnam observe a Russian T-90MS tank during the International Military Technical Forum Army-2020 in Alabino, outside Moscow, Russia, Aug. 23, 2020. (AP Photo) Another factor is a pause in the military modernization program in Vietnam, Russia’s biggest customer in Southeast Asia. Hanoi began the program in the late 1990s and in the period 1995-2021, it bought $7.4 billion worth of weapons and military equipment from Russia. That accounted for more than 80 percent of Vietnam’s total arms imports. “Vietnam has put the military modernization program on hold because of concerns over Moscow’s ability to fulfill orders but also due to an anti-corruption drive,” Nguyen The Phuong, lecturer at the Faculty of International Relations, Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics and Finance, wrote in July 2021 research paper. Hanoi will still have to rely on Moscow to maintain and operate its Russian-made arsenal of six Kilo-class submarines, 36 Sukhoi Su-30MK2 aircraft, four Gepard 3.9 class frigates and two Bastion mobile coastal defense missile systems, but experts say it has already been on the look-out for alternative supply sources including Israel, Belarus, the U.S. and the Netherlands. Downward trends In the light of the Ukraine war, the new report says will be difficult for Russia’s defense manufacturers to revive their sales due to “the imposition of tighter sanctions and export controls by a number of countries, the reputational damage caused by the poor performance of Russia’s armed forces in Ukraine, and its need to replenish battlefield losses.” Storey pointed out that the current sanctions on Russian banks, and their exclusion from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) international payment network, “will make it harder for the country’s defense industry to conduct financial transactions with overseas clients.” Export controls imposed on Russia will also restrict Russian manufacturers’ access to advanced technologies critical in modern military hardware and components that Russia doesn’t possess. “As a consequence, foreign buyers may decide to switch to more reliable sources of military hardware.” People walk past the headquarters of Russian Agricultural Bank in downtown Moscow, Russia, on July 30, 2014. It was one of the Russian banks hit by Western sanctions. (AP Photo) Furthermore, losses suffered by Russian forces in Ukraine this year may have seriously damaged Moscow’s reputation as a military equipment powerhouse. “The problems facing Russia’s defense-industrial sector will create market opportunities in Southeast Asia for other countries, including China,” the report says. According to SIPRI data, China’s arms exports to Southeast Asia in 2021 totaled $284 million, up from $53 million in 2020. So far, China has refrained from condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and as the war drags on Moscow’s dependence on Beijing may deepen. In return, “China will seek increased access to Russia’s most sensitive military technology and even pressure Moscow to reduce military sales to Vietnam,” Storey said. A medium range surface-to-air missile weapon system is displayed during the 12th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai city, south China’s Guangdong province, on Nov. 6, 2018. (AP Photo) Ukraine’s arms sales That would be a blow for Russian exporters but also for Vietnam, which has competing claims against China in the South China Sea. The situation in Ukraine also disrupted the Ukrainian arms supply to Hanoi which totaled $200 million during 2000-2021. Ukraine was part of the Soviet and then Russian defense industries even after proclaiming independence. It has been a major supplier of aircraft and spare parts, as well as armored vehicles and munitions. During 2009-2014, up until the annexation of Crimea, Ukraine was among world’s 10 largest arms exporters, according to SIPRI. In 2012, it was in fact the fourth-largest arms exporter. Kyiv sold $1.3 billion worth of conventional arms that year. Ukraine’s state-owned exporter Ukrspecexport had contracts with nearly 80 countries. In its heyday, the company ran 100 arms-producing plants and factories, and employed tens of thousands of workers. Besides Vietnam, in Southeast Asia Thailand and Myanmar were also big customers that spent $479 million and $111 million on Ukrainian weapons respectively during 2000-2021. In 2011, Bangkok ordered 49 T-84 Oplot battle tanks and 236 BTR-3E armored vehicles from Ukraine. However the delayed deliveries of the Oplots due to the Crimea crisis forced Thailand to buy VT-4 main battle tanks from China instead. Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos and Indonesia also bought weapons from Ukraine, though in much lesser quantities. A Bangladesh military officer, Brig (Rtd)…

Read More

Chinese journalist sentenced in Hainan for smearing reputation of CCP heroes

Editor010 mins

Authorities in the southern province of Hainan have jailed a former journalist for “impeaching the reputation of heroes and martyrs” after he commented online about the portrayal of China’s role in the Korean War (1950-1953) in a ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda movie. Luo Changping was sentenced to seven months’ imprisonment by a court in the resort city of Sanya, which found him guilty of the charge in connection with his comments on “The Battle at Lake Changjin.” He was also ordered to make a public apology. Critics of the movie outside China say it never mentions that the Korean War was triggered by the North’s invasion of the South, and make it appear that the landing of U.S. forces at Incheon was an invasion out of the blue. Soldiers in the film are led to believe that they are ultimately fighting to protect China from a U.S. invasion, and Luo made fun of them as “stupid” in a social media post commenting on the movie. Luo was initially detained by police in Sanya in October 2021. The court found that while Luo deleted his post and apologized shortly afterwards, it had already been widely seen by other internet users, and “caused strong public indignation.” “Luo Changping’s remarks negated core socialist values and the spirit of resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea, disrupted social order and harmed the public interest, to a very serious degree,” the judgment said. However, it said the sentencing had been mitigated by Luo’s turning himself in, his guilty plea and acceptance of his punishment, as well as his willingness to pay 80,000 yuan (U.S. $12,000) in compensation to public welfare funds. The trial was reported in state media, but no footage of Luo’s guilty plea was used. Friends of Luo’s told RFA he will likely be released soon, as the sentence was equal to time already served in pretrial detention. But calls to Luo’s cell phone resulted in a shut down signal on Friday, while his accounts on WeChat and Weibo remained suspended. ‘Kill the chickens to frighten the monkeys’ U.S.-based legal scholar Teng Biao said the crime Luo was convicted of is in itself a violation of Chinese citizens’ constitutional right to freedom of expression. “The authorities like to use cases like this to kill the chickens to frighten the monkeys,” Teng told RFA. “The fact that even Luo Changping, who is a relatively well-known journalist, can still get arrested and sentenced to jail will make the deterrent even more effective.” “Even if others say similar things, the government can arrest them too, in their dozens, hundreds or even thousands, and jail them too,” Teng said. “The environment for freedom of speech and expression in China is getting worse and worse.” “The CCP uses … evil laws like ‘impeaching the honor of heroes and martyrs’ to deprive citizens of their basic rights and control them,” he said. A human rights lawyer who gave only the surname He agreed that such laws are problematic. “The whole concept is absurd,” He said. “How do you define a hero and what constitutes an insult?” “If you insulted [World War II hero] Sun Liren and called him a butcher, I think you’d be fine, because he was in the Kuomintang [the CCP’s political rivals],” he said. “But if you speak ill of a certain CCP general during the war against Japan, you could be guilty of this crime.” A fellow rights attorney surnamed Zhang said the CCP’s “defamation” law works similarly, as it has been used to prevent public criticism of officials. A resident looks out through a gap in the barrier at a residential area during a COVID-19 lockdown in Shanghai, China, May 6, 2022. Credit: Reuters Lockdown anthem arrest Meanwhile, authorities in Shanghai have hauled a man in for questioning after he sang the Internationale, an anthem of global communism, from his apartment during lockdown. “Arise, slaves to hunger and cold,” the Chinese version of The Internationale begins. “Arise, all those who suffer around the world.” In a video clip uploaded to social media, four police officers in full PPE are shown at the door of the man’s apartment. “We heard the Internationale. Please cooperate with our investigation,” one of them tells the couple. “We will investigate this and may issue a summons. Please cooperate.” The clip sparked intense discussion on Weibo, with many comments expressing incredulity that a communist anthem is deemed illegal in a communist country, particularly on the birthday of late supreme CCP leader Mao Zedong. “So we can’t even play the Internationale in socialist countries now?” one person commented, while another added: “What’s wrong with playing it on Mao’s birthday?” Veteran Beijing political journalist Gao Yu said the song likely cut too close to the bone for the authorities amid ongoing public anger at CCP leader Xi Jinping’s zero-COVID policy. The people of Shanghai are currently in the same situation as those slaves to hunger and cold in the Internationale, Gao told RFA. “It’s because it has that line about ‘slave to cold and hunger’ in it,” Gao said. “Slaves have no personal freedom, and they’re all in lockdown.” “They are living through cold and hunger right now,” she said. Former 1989 student leader Wu Jianmin said the CCP typically views expressions of public anger as an attempt to cause trouble for the regime. “The police didn’t just issue a reprimand; no, they will charge you with a crime straight away if you oppose Chinese government policy, Xi Jinping or the CCP, so many people don’t dare to oppose them openly,” Wu told RFA. “But they still need to vent their feelings, and they have found something to express their mood in the lyrics of The Internationale,” he said. “That’s why they won’t let people sing it during lockdown, because they think they are disrupting public order.” Gao said the CCP usually sings the anthem during its five-yearly national party congresses, the next of which is slated for later this…

Read More

Xinjiang officials said to pay Uyghurs to perform dance at Kashgar mosque

Editor09 mins

Authorities in Kashgar allegedly paid Muslim Uyghur men to dance outside the most famous mosque in northwestern China’s Xinjiang region to celebrate the end of Ramadan, a performance that was filmed and released by state media ahead of an anticipated visit by the United Nations human rights chief later this month. Kashgar locals told RFA that people were not allowed to pray at Id Kah Mosque but instead were organized to dance on Eid al-Fitr on May 3, as shown in a YouTube video posted by China News Service (Zhongxinwang) on Tuesday. Chinese tourists can been seen observing the dancing and taking photos in the square. A police officer from the city’s Kumdarwaza police station told RFA that prayers have not been allowed at the Id Kah Mosque since 2016. The dance was organized by residential committees, Chinese Communist Party organizations that oversee neighborhood units in cities and towns across China, he said. “Several of our colleagues went to the square and met residential committee officials, and they told them that they had brought people to perform Sama,” the officer, who did not provide his name, said. The Muztagh and Donghu residential committees sent about 500-600 people to perform the Sama, the officer added. “Several weeks before the festival, the residential committees created a list with the names of those who would attend the Sama,” he said. “On one list, I saw there were four to five people I knew on one floor of our building.” The U.S. and other countries have accused China of waging a campaign of genocide against the Uyghurs and other Turkic communities in Xinjiang through draconian policies designed to wipe away native cultures and traditions in the region, allegations the Chinese government has angrily disputed. The filmed dance may be the country’s latest effort to show all is well ahead of the visit from U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet. Uyghur rights groups have pressed Bachelet to visit the region and release an overdue report on well-documented allegations of torture, forced labor and other severe rights abuses against the local population. The Donghu residential committee paid 120-150 yuan (U.S. $18-23) to those who went to Kashgar to perform the dance because it would take them at least half a day, the police officer said. A typical worker in Kashgar earns about 250-300 yuan a day. The Muztagh residential committee did not pay the Uyghurs, who comprise 90% of the residents in the community, to dance, he said. “No one can reject the demands of the residential committees, especially in the communities where Uyghurs live,” the officer said “I watched the video, and I guess some people missed the Sama dance because they haven’t danced it for six years,” he said. “Some people try to show themselves as being alive and happy — that’s what the residential committees want. “Moreover, after 2017, people became worried about approaching the mosque,” he added. “There is no such thing as running to Sama now. That’s why they paid them.” ‘Forced to attend’ In 2017, Chinese officials ratcheted up a crackdown on Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities, detaining hundreds of thousands in a network of government-run detention camps that China says are vocational training centers meant to prevent religious extremism and terrorism. Zumrat Dawut, a former Uyghur internment camp detainee who has said she was forcibly sterilized by government officials, said that if residential committee members sent notices to people via phone to appear at a particular place, they had to go to the site within 20 minutes. “There is sometimes a payment for those who participate in organized activities when investigators arrive,” said Dawut, who now lives in the U.S. “For example, when my father went to the mosque, he was paid 100 yuan for a day’s stay in the mosque.” Mamattohti Emin, a Uyghur who lives overseas, said he learned from acquaintances in Xinjiang that some of the Uyghurs who performed the Sama were paid by residential committees. “Some of them were family members of Uyghurs in captivity,” he said. “They were forced to attend and warned that otherwise they would no longer be able to see their relatives onscreen.” Ilshat Hassan Kokbore, a Uyghur political observer who lives in the U.S., posted a video clip of mostly men dancing in the square outside the historic mosque. A few women who appear to be Chinese tourists also are dancing. “Carefully observe a group of young people in uniform French style in front of the camera, not only do they not know how to dance Sama, but they also look around, obviously they are arranged actors!” Kokbore tweeted in Chinese. “The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has not yet set foot on the land of East Turkestan, the performance of ‘Made in China’ has begun!” the tweet says. “If the High Commissioner for Human Rights can finally make the trip, they will see a group of Uyghurs dancing with the wind, with tears of happiness, drinking the northwest wind, singing praises, and thanking the party-state!” Kokbore tweeted. In May 2021, the Xinjiang regional government invited foreign diplomats from more than 15 countries to observe live-streamed Eid al-Fitr festivities at several mosques in Xinjiang, including the Id Kah Mosque, the state-run Global Times reported. “This is the first time that the Xinjiang regional government held such a reception for Eid al-Fitr and invited foreign diplomats to observe — a move, officials and observers said, that showed the region’s sincerity and openness amid outside slander, as Xinjiang has nothing to hide,” the report said. Translated by Mamatjan Juma for RFA’s Uyghur Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

Read More

North Koreans roll their eyes during May Day lectures about socialism’s superiority

Editor05 mins

Workers in North Korea ridiculed their government’s May Day propaganda which touted the superiority of socialism at a time when most of the people are struggling to put enough food on the table, sources in the country told RFA. May Day, or International Workers’ Day, is an annual celebration of the fight for labor rights and an important holiday in communist countries. The North Korean government held special lectures for factory workers ahead of the holiday, where they emphasized the evils of capitalism to show why North Korean socialism is better. At one such lecture at the Chongjin Steel Factory in the northeastern province of North Hamgyong, workers were not buying the party official’s argument. “They gathered workers into conference rooms, pointing out the problems of capitalism for a whole hour, and then rambled on and on about socialism and how it is superior,” a source working in the factory told RFA’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “The workers scoffed at the message, saying that nothing could be further from the truth,” he said. They even openly objected while the lecturer was speaking. “When he said that all the workers under the socialist system live happily and receive many benefits from their government, the workers cried out, ‘How can he tell such a lie with a straight face, knowing all the hardships we are facing right now?’” the worker said. “This kind of propaganda that reinforces the superiority of socialism is offending the workers, and we can remain silent no more,” he said. In the northern province of Ryanggang, the subject of the lecture was how workers’ independence has been trampled in capitalist countries and they are not treated like people, a worker at a factory there told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely. “Most of the workers are well aware that the lecture was unrealistic,” he said. “These days, we all know about how the capitalist countries are the richest, and we know about the rights that workers have from foreign and South Korean movies and TV shows, and from overseas radio broadcasts,” the second source said. The workers therefore ignored the lecture completely. “The reality is that no matter how much the speaker stresses that workers are exploited, pressured, subjugated and repressed under the capitalist system, his words are not being heard,” the second source said. “In the past, during these kinds of lectures, there would be many who actually agree, but these days we just don’t respond to these empty words that declare this as the ideal society in which our independent rights are guaranteed and we are all equal under the socialist system. “Most workers feel like they are at a dead end in terms of their livelihoods, and they express their dissatisfaction by agreeing just for appearances sake.” Translated by Claire Lee and Leejin J. Chung. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

Read More

Tibetan political prisoner in poor health said to be released from jail

Editor03 mins

Chinese authorities have released Tibetan political prisoner Norzin Wangmo, who was arrested in 2020 and sentenced to three years in prison for sharing information about Tibetans who self-immolated in protest of China’s repressive policies, a Tibetan living in exile told RFA on Thursday. “Norzin Wangmo was unexpectedly released on May 2 from a prison in Kyegudo, where she was serving a three-year term,” said the Tibetan, who declined to be identified for safety reasons. “Because of severe torture and ill treatment in prison, she can barely stand up on her feet. “She is currently being treated at her home because she is not allowed to visit hospitals for treatment,” said the source. “She is still closely monitored by the Chinese government.” Wangmo from Kham Kyegudo in Yushul (in Chinese, Yushu) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai province was accused of sharing information about Tenzin Sherab who self-immolated in the prefecture’s Chumarleb, (Qumalai) county in May 2013. The woman, who is married and has young three children, was sentenced in May 2020 after a secret trial. Her family was not allowed to visit her while she was in prison despite frequent requests to do so. Due to strict restrictions and harsh policies in Tibet imposed by Chinese government, Wangmo’s case did not reach the Tibetan exile community until 20 months after her arrest. “Before her arrest, she had been interrogated for about 20 hours by local police,” said another Tibetan who lives in exile and has knowledge of the matter. “Her hands and feet were both shackled, and her family was allowed to see her only for a few minutes before she was taken into the prison,” the source said. “The clothes and other goods that her family brought for her were also returned.” Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

Read More

Interview: ‘There was no overall logic to anything’

Editor010 mins

A Belgian national of Taiwanese descent has described living through the bureaucratic hell of the Shanghai lockdown, which left the city’s 26 million people confined to homes or makeshift hospitals for weeks on end with scant access to food, basic supplies and live-saving medical treatment for some. The woman, who gave only the surname Chang, told RFA her experiences after arriving back in the city where she currently works just as the lockdowns under the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s zero-COVID policy were beginning: “The Shanghai I was seeing on [Chinese state] TV was quiet, with large numbers of volunteers, no shortage of supplies. The weather was good and everyone was full of confidence. There were no visible problems, so I wondered why my residential community was different from the rest. The Shanghai authorities put out a lot of information. We would check every morning how many people in our compound were infected. The city government would publish figures every few hours, and everyone in our [WeChat] friends circle would also communicate with each other, so we found out what was going on in other districts, too, if they were doing PCR testing. Gradually, we discovered that nobody could find anything to eat. One person said they had a single potato left in their home. Initially, we thought the lockdown would be for four days, so that’s what we had prepared ourselves for, mentally, psychologically. That is totally different from being locked down for a month. I really experienced that feeling of the days and nights merging into one. We had no way of knowing that they would keep postponing lifting the lockdown, again and again. We couldn’t trust our leaders … and we had no idea when it would end. My father is in hospital right now in Taiwan. If he had been in Shanghai, he wouldn’t have been able to go to hospital at all. Because to get into a Shanghai hospital, regardless of how seriously ill you are, no matter if it’s an emergency, you have to get a negative PCR test first. There are so many PCR tests getting done in Shanghai right now that you need to wait 12-48 hours for the result to come back. All I can say is, I’m glad my family wasn’t in Shanghai too. [Errors with names and results of PCR tests] were also happening to people around me. Someone would get their PCR test result on their mobile phone, then somebody would call them up and tell them that the result was wrong. So if you had gotten a negative result, you could be told by your neighborhood committee that it was actually positive, and that they had decided to haul you off to a makeshift hospital [for isolation]. Some people were hauled off to makeshift hospitals after waiting so long for a test result that they were already negative again. Just imagine what that’s like if there’s an error with your test result. You don’t know whom to turn to, to sort it out. Nobody knew what would happen from one day to the next. The people in charge didn’t know either. It felt like PCR testing was the only thing confirming my existing. And yet, I didn’t see the CDC taking any other [anti-COVID] measures apart from testing. Everyone was telling each other not to go get a PCR test if they had tested positive on a rapid antigen test [at home]. People were willing to cooperate. If they didn’t test, then they’d be recorded as not having it. The more people they tested, the more people would be found to have it. And all the time we were forced to buy [food and supplies] in groups, or putting pressure on the delivery guys [to bring food]. They had to cheat the system too, because they had to have a negative PCR to be allowed to work. The absurdities of that kind were unbelievable. I really don’t understand a country that can advance and progress so fast in space, military, weapons, and various areas of scientific research … and yet, two years in, in April 2022, they still don’t seem to have any understanding of this virus, and they don’t seem to have any vaccines against it. [The official rhetoric was all about] keeping their eyes on the prize of zero-COVID, tackling important nodes, taking faster and more effective action and measures, and winning the air-defense war against the pandemic as soon as possible. But they could have been talking about the war on pornography or corruption. There wasn’t much in [the Shanghai disease control and prevention] report about the actual virus. This was the official guidance. On April 26, it was all about keeping up the spirit of zero-COVID, on April 27, it was about fully implementing CCP general secretary Xi Jinping’s instructions. I couldn’t see any difference between the statements … they could equally well have been about fighting pornography or corruption. They were all the same. [Even after lockdown lifted, I heard about someone who] tried to leave the residential compound, where they checked all his papers, and he had everything, so he got as far as the highway, where there was a police roadblock, and the highway police wouldn’t let him through. They said he didn’t have a pass. He said he did, with his name on it. They said it should have his license plate on it, too, and that he should go back to his residential committee to ask for it. So he got off the highway, by which time all the roads back to his residential compound were blocked, and he couldn’t get back there. It took him five minutes to get to the highway, but an hour or two to get back to his compound. When he got there, the police in the compound told him they were only allowed to let people leave, but they weren’t allowed to let anyone back in again. It was the same everywhere. Everyone was…

Read More

High cost likely to derail Taiwan purchase of US helicopters

Editor05 mins

Days after Taiwan confirmed its plan to acquire American-made howitzers has been delayed because of the war in Ukraine, the island’s military is facing another snag in acquiring the U.S. defense equipment – this time because of cost. Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng told a legislative session on Thursday that the asking price for the procurement of anti-submarine helicopters from the United States was “too high and beyond our capability,” local media reported. The Taiwanese Navy originally set aside a budget of U.S. $1.15 billion to purchase 12 MH-60R Seahawk anti-submarine warfare helicopters made by the aerospace giant Lockheed Martin but the choppers’ price is understood to have increased. Chiu did not indicate how much more expensive it became but a U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency’s statement on March 15 said Spain had been cleared to purchase eight MH-60R Seahawk helicopters, plus support and related equipment, for an estimated U.S. $950 million. That means 12 choppers would come with a price tag of at least U.S. $1.425 billion. Lockheed Martin said the MH-60R is “the most capable naval helicopter available today designed to operate from frigates, destroyers, cruisers and aircraft carriers.” There are currently more than 300 units in operation worldwide. Missiles delivery’s possible delay On Monday, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry confirmed that the first batch of U.S.-made M109A6 “Paladin” self-propelled howitzers will not be delivered in 2023 as planned as the production capacity of the U.S. arms industry has been affected by the ongoing Ukrainian war. Taiwan reached a deal last August to buy 40 M109A6 howitzers and related equipment at an estimated cost of U.S. $750 million. On Tuesday, the ministry said another procurement contract of U.S.- made portable Stinger missile launchers may also be delayed. Taiwan ordered 250 Stingers, made by Raytheon Technologies, with deliveries to be completed by the end of March 2026 but since Stingers and other hand-held missile systems are now in demand by the Ukrainian military, the completion date seems unlikely. Although Washington and Taipei do not have formal diplomatic ties, the U.S. is committed by law to help provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. Those arms sales have long been an irritant in relations between Washington and Beijing which regards the island as part of China, although Taiwan governs itself. A file photo of a Y-8 Chinese military plane flying IN airspace between Okinawa prefecture’s main island and the smaller Miyako island in southern Japan, taken Oct. 27, 2013, by the Japan Air Self-Defence Force. This week, Taiwan said that Chinese Y-8 anti-submarine warfare aircraft have been put back on maritime patrol near island after one airplane reportedly crashed two months ago in the South China Sea. The Taiwanese Defense Ministry said in a statement that on Tuesday, a Y-8 entered Taiwan’s southwest air defense identification zone (ADIZ). An ADIZ is an area where foreign aircraft are tracked and identified before further entering into a country’s airspace. In March, the island’s intelligence agency said a Y-8 military aircraft crashed in the Gulf of Tonkin, prompting the People’s Liberation Army to set up a navigation exclusion zone in the adjacent waters to carry out search-and-rescue, and also military training. The alleged crash has not been confirmed by China.

Read More

Hong Kong pollster ‘had no choice’ but to leave city amid crackdown on dissent

Editor011 mins

An outspoken public opinion researcher who recently left Hong Kong for the U.K. did so after being questioned under the national security law, which has sparked a city-wide crackdown on public dissent and political opposition to the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Chung Kim-wah, deputy chief executive of Hong Kong’s Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI), announced he had left the city on April 24, to “live for a while in the U.K.,” he said in a Facebook post at the time. He told the Ming Pao newspaper at the time that he had been “invited for a chat” by the authorities in connection with a draconian national security law imposed on Hong Kong by the CCP from July 1, 2020. “It wasn’t just one time, either,” he told the paper. “People were telling me that I was in a lot of danger, if they were even going after Allan Au.” Au, a former TVB News producer and former RTHK radio show host who also wrote columns in Stand News and the Ming Pao, was taken away from his home in Kwai Chung on April 11 on suspicion of “sedition” under colonial-era laws. Au’s arrest for “conspiring to publish seditious material” came after his sacking from RTHK in June 2021 as the government moved to exert editorial control over the broadcaster. In a Facebook post announcing his departure, Chung said he didn’t want to “desert” his home city, but “had no other option.” Sources told RFA that Chung was initially interviewed by the authorities early in December 2021, as the authorities geared up to run the first-ever elections for the Legislative Council (LegCo) to exclude pro-democracy candidates in a system that ensures only “patriots” loyal to Beijing can stand. Followed at the airport Chung’s questioning came after he was criticized by pro-CCP figures for including a question about whether voters intended to cast blank ballots in the election, which they said could amount to “incitement” to subvert the voting system under the national security law. Simon Peh, commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), said at the time that the agency was “looking into” whether or not HKPORI had broken the law. Chung later said he suspected he was being followed at the airport as he boarded a plane to leave the city. “There was a guy sitting in the corner the whole time who I had also seen at the front of the main entrance hall … and there were people [by the boarding gate] who weren’t passengers checking their phones and sending messages,” Chung wrote on his Facebook page after arriving in the U.K. “It was clear that they were all from the same troop … I don’t know who they were, maybe scouts or spies,” he wrote. “Members of the same species were all over the place.” Chung described a near-deserted airport full of empty waiting rooms, with only around 10 out of around 80 boarding gates in Terminals 1 and 2 in visible use. The CCP-backed Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po news site described Chung’s departure in an April 25 report as “fleeing Hong Kong for fear of his crimes.” It once more referred to PORI’s question about blank ballots, as well as the fact that Chung was questioned by police in connection with a 2020 democratic primary that later resulted in the arrests of 47 former lawmakers and pro-democracy activists for “subversion.” The Hong Kong police responded that they didn’t comment on individual cases when contacted by RFA last week, but that action would be taken “in accordance with the law.” Questions remain over the fate of PORI in Chung’s absence. ‘Only lies are permitted’ Chung served as assistant professor in the Department of Applied Social Sciences at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University for more than 10 years, retiring in 2020 to devote himself to public opinion research work at PORI. He has always been an outspoken commentator on current affairs, social and public policy. “In Hong Kong today, there is no room for sincere speech. Only lies are permitted,” he wrote after his departure on Facebook. “Hong Kong may no longer be free from intimidation for [some of us], no longer a place where we can live a normal life.” Chung also expresses anger “at the constant intimidation and oppression of many of my elders and peers” and sadness over “so many younger people going to jail for daring to resist” during the 2019 protest movement and in protests over the national security law. He vowed to keep working on behalf of Hong Kong, and said the ultimate goal is to “find a way to go back home.” Since Chung left, former pro-democracy lawmaker and veteran social welfare activist Fernando Cheung has migrated with his family to Canada, according to media reports and Chung’s Facebook page. “I wish my esteemed friend Fernando Cheung and his family a happy life in Canada,” Chung wrote on his Facebook page on May 4. According to the South China Morning Post newspaper, Cheung responded by saying he needed to focus on taking care of his disabled daughter. “I am not yet in a stable situation now, but at least it is safe, and my basic freedoms no longer need to be granted by those in power,” it quoted Cheung as saying. Former pro-democracy lawmaker Bottle Shiu also confirmed Cheung’s departure, the paper said. “This was what I told him when he boarded the plane: Thank you for fighting for Hong Kong until the last moment. Stay safe and take care of yourself. Fer, with countless vivid memories – in the classroom, on the streets, in Legco, courtroom and prison – goodbye to you,” it quoted Shiu as saying. Cheung, 65, was born in Macau and moved to Hong Kong at the age of seven, where he later graduated with a social work degree from Hong Kong Baptist University. His grown daughter suffers from a rare disease, and Cheung has been a staunch advocate for the…

Read More

Myanmar Bank missive suggests junta seeks more than financial ties with Russia

Editor010 mins

Recent moves by the Central Bank of Myanmar to promote cooperation between military-owned lenders and their Russian counterparts suggest the junta is seeking more than financial ties to the Kremlin and may be brokering a back channel for arms deals, analysts said Wednesday. In an April 25 letter, the Central Bank of Myanmar told the Myanmar Banking Association that five Russian banks will hold talks this month with local lenders, including the military backed Innwa and Myawaddy banks. The letter, which did not say which banks would be involved in the talks, may signal that the two junta-linked lenders plan to act as conduits for military purchases of Russian weaponry, economic and political analysts said. A Myanmar-based economist, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing security concerns, told RFA’s Myanmar Service the junta’s plan to link with Russian banks was part of a bid to show that its ties to Russia run “beyond economic ones.” He said establishing political and military ties to other larger nations is key to the junta’s survival at a time when the military leadership is being ostracized by the international community over its Feb. 1, 2021, coup and subsequent violent repression of opponents to its rule. According to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, security forces have killed at least 1,821 civilians and arrested 10,526 more in the 15 months since the military seized power from the democratically elected National League for Democracy government, mostly during peaceful anti-coup protests. An arrangement to procure arms via the two banks stands to benefit both Russia, which has been increasingly cut off from the global financial system in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine, and the junta, whose arms suppliers have faced criticism for providing the regime with weaponry used to repress opponents to its rule. In March, the rights group Justice For Myanmar said in a statement that as a major supplier of arms and dual use goods to Myanmar’s military, Russia is “aiding and abetting the military’s genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity,” and called for international action to stop the trade. It called for sanctions against 19 companies that it said have supplied Myanmar since 2018, including multiple subsidiaries of the Russian state-owned arms giant, Rostec, as well as manufacturers of missile systems, radar and police equipment. The group said many of the companies it identified have exported to Myanmar since the coup. A branch of the Myawaddy Bank in Yangon’s Yanken township, in a file photo. Credit: RFA ‘Boosting trade’ When asked for comment, junta deputy minister of information, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, told RFA that last week’s letter to the Myanmar Banking Association was related to boosting trade between Russia and Myanmar and had “nothing to do with arms.” “Russia wants to increase links in the trade and energy sectors, and [cooperation in] other sectors will follow,” he said. “[Myanmar’s] banking sector must be upgraded so businesses can grow. Foreign currency is not based on U.S. dollars alone.” Zaw Min Tun noted that recent inter-governmental initiatives between Beijing and Naypyidaw had established a system for trade through the direct exchange of Chinese yuan for Myanmar kyats. He said the junta is working to create a comparable system for trade with Myanmar’s neighbors Thailand and India. “Similarly, we are now working to facilitate trade between [Russia and Myanmar] with a direct exchange of the ruble and the kyat,” he said. The minister said that all purchases of arms are made on a government-to-government basis, adding that the need to establish banking links stems from junta plans to purchase energy from Russia, as well as import fertilizer from and export agricultural products to its Republic of Tatarstan. An official with a private bank in Myanmar, who declined to be named, told RFA that the Central Bank’s letter could indicate a strategy shift in line with Zaw Min Tun’s stated goals for the junta. “Before this Russian issue, there was the China Initiative … and you can now transfer money to China by going to the nearest Myanmar bank,” they said. “Now they are planning the same thing with Russia for a direct exchange between kyats and rubles. … So, there will be more countries that can use rubles as well as Myanmar’s currency. There will be more channels for all countries close to China and Russia to make their monetary system easier.” In October 2021, a delegation of the Russia-Myanmar Friendship and Cooperation Association visited Myanmar and met with Than Nyein, the governor of the Central Bank of Myanmar. Observers have said that the meeting could set the stage for linking the two countries’ banking systems as part of a bid by the junta to improve Myanmar’s banking sector. Ties beyond banking However, another official with a private lender in Myanmar, who also spoke anonymously, said that the junta is better off looking for other countries to work with, both because of Russia’s relatively poor economy and the stigma associated with its invasion of Ukraine. “I don’t think any private banks will get involved in this [initiative]. Myawaddy and Innwa are half-owned by the government, so I think only those banks will be involved,” they said. “Linking with these Russian banks is not going to bring much benefit. Other countries would have already done so if that was the case.” Myanmar-based businessman Nay Lin Zin told RFA that, despite Zaw Min Tun’s comments, he believes the Central Bank’s letter is about more than building links between banking systems. “I don’t think Innwa and Myawaddy Banks can accomplish much just by opening an account in Russia, but it might benefit them if they could open branch offices there or the Russians opened a branch office here,” he said. “There may be other purposes at play. Of course, it is better to have more channels to choose from than to rely on [the U.S. dollar] alone. But we can’t just ignore the dollar, which is accepted all over the world. We can’t demote…

Read More

Investigative Journalism Reportika © March 2022 by Ij-Reportika is licensed under CC BY 4.0