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Vietnam’s communists are constrained domestically in choice between the US and China

Editor015 mins

It wasn’t the Communist Party that lifted the Vietnamese out of poverty; the people did it themselves. The country’s free-market revolution was the result of bottom-up pressure from the masses who broke the command-economy so much that the communist government had to accept a private sphere of business. Their pilfering from state-run companies and trading on the black market, and their ability to own more and more surplus produce after the state took its share, meant the government simply couldn’t handle the collectivized economy that had left Vietnam one of the world’s poorest countries in the 1980s.    When the communist government gave an inch, the people demanded more. “The idea that economic success stems from a strategic shift in Party thinking [in 1986]… is actually a myth,” the economist Adam Fforde wrote. “Success instead drew upon systematic violations of Party ideology dating from the late 1970s, if not earlier.”    The party’s economic reform package of 1986 (doi moi, or “renovation”) is common knowledge. Less so the promises of political renovation. Nguyen Van Linh, the incoming party general secretary that year, told writers and journalists that they should ‘stick to the truth’. One of those who took Linh at his word was Bao Ninh, a young novelist and war veteran from the North. “So much blood, so many lives were sacrificed for what?” he wrote in his 1990 book, The Sorrow of War. The poet and translator Duong Tuong called Bao’s work the “first truthful book about the war.” Truthful because it neither glorified victory against the Americans (“In war, no one wins or loses. There is only destruction”), nor regarded Communist Party leaders as the only heroes. Bao argued most Vietnamese were fighting for national peace, nor for Marxism. Naturally, the book was banned.    Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (R) gestures to U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris in the Government office in Hanoi on August 25, 2021. Credit: Manan Vatsyayana / Pool / AFP The point is that even in a one-party, communist state, ordinary people can exert power. Today, the government still severely represses its citizens. There is no free media. There are no genuine elections. But the Communist Party is genuinely worried about the thoughts of the common man. Those domestic pressures are difficult to assess and frequently in debates on policy, such as about Vietnam hedging between the United States and China, it’s far easier to focus on “externalities”.    The position at one extreme of that foreign policy debate, for instance, argues the Vietnamese government is denied any agency whatsoever because of material conditions: China is Vietnam’s main trading partner and principal aggressor; the United States is Vietnam’s main export partner and security “guarantor.” So by more closely aligning with either, Vietnam risks war or economic ruin. The other extreme says the Communist Party has a good deal of agency, and what shapes foreign policy is a shared ideology that makes it friendly with China, factional struggles within the party, and the whims of certain government officials.    But consider a speech given in 2021 by Nguyen Phu Trong, now three-term Communist Party general secretary. Any nation “has to deal with two basic issues, internal and external,” he stated. “These two issues have an organic, dialectical relationship…[they] support each other like two wings of a bird, create positions and forces for each other, connect and intertwine more and more closely with each other.” Foreign policy today, he added, is a “continuation of domestic policy”. He said a little later: “Foreign affairs must always best serve the domestic cause.” That domestic cause for Trong is the survival and virality of the Communist Party.    Domestic concerns dictate The other importance of The Sorrow of War was as an early sign nationalism was tumbling out of the hands of the Communist Party, which had staked its legitimacy on having led victory over the French, then Americans and then Chinese. But it was starting to lose its grip in the early 1990s when it struck peace with Beijing. Further anger flowed from the public as Chinese capital began flowing into Vietnam. In 2006, national hero General Vo Nguyen Giap (the “Red Napoleon”) accused the regime of selling off Vietnamese land for exploitation by Chinese bauxite speculators. Years-long protests turned “the nationalist tables on the Party by accusing it of caving in to the Chinese at the very time the latter were expanding their territorial claims against Vietnam in the South China Sea”, wrote the historian Christopher Goscha. That process has only expanded over time. One could say that the Communist Party is now scared of nationalism.    Chinese academics seem especially taken with the idea  that all nationalist protests in Vietnam are directed by the Communist Party. That is rarely the case. The party follows events; it seldom leads them. Netizen anger drove the recent cases of the Hollywood film “Barbie” being banned in Vietnam over a crude map that some said showed China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, and threats to boycott concerts by the South Korean K-Pop band BlackPink. During the Vanguard Bank standoff in 2019, when the Chinese military was once again harassing Vietnamese vessels in the South China Sea, officials in Hanoi reportedly discussed whether to allow some limited protests. “But, warned some other officials, demonstrations must be tightly controlled. If not, the protests might be taken over by individuals and groups in Vietnam, specifically democratization advocates”, wrote Ben Kerkvliet in Speaking Out in Vietnam, a study of political activism.  That remains a concern. If the party takes a strong stance against China, that risks setting off nationwide nationalist protests that the party cannot control and which might quickly be whipped up into anti-communist agitation. Between June 9 and 11, 2018, more than 100,000 protesters demonstrated across Vietnam, arguably the largest nationwide protest seen in decades, as the National Assembly debated a bill to create three special economic zones (SEZs) along Vietnam’s coastline. The investment minister said publicly…

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Bangladesh police: Rival Rohingya militant groups in deadly gunfight at refugee camp

Editor09 mins

At least five members of rival Rohingya militant groups were killed in a gunfight Friday at a refugee camp in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district, police and other sources said. Separately, following a four-day visit to refugee camps in that southeastern district, International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan urged the world to provide more humanitarian support because, he said, Rohingya were missing meals after the U.N. World Food Program had cut monthly aid to U.S. $8 from $12 on June 1. The killings in Friday’s shootout before dawn marked the latest bloodshed between the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) and Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO). Up until relatively recently, Bangladesh officials had denied that Rohingya militants had a foothold in the sprawling refugee camps near the Myanmar border, where security has deteriorated sharply. “The gunfight that left five dead this morning was between two Rohingya armed groups, ARSA and RSO,” Md. Farooq Ahmed, an assistant superintendent with the Armed Police Battalion, told BenarNews.   Sheikh Mohammad Ali, officer-in-charge of the Ukhia police station, said law enforcers recovered the corpses of those killed in the gunfight, which took place around 5 a.m. at the Balukhali camp.  Camp resident Nur Hafez said gunshots woke him. “I heard a hue and cry. Rushing to the scene, I found some blood-stained injured people lying on the ground. The police took them away after a while,” he told BenarNews. “Due to contests among different groups inside the camp, the killings are increasing,” Hafez said. Syed Ullah, a Rohingya camp leader, said that the feud between the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army and Rohingya Solidarity Organization had surfaced over efforts to exert dominance in the camps. “The ordinary Rohingya people have been living in a terrified atmosphere,” he said. The population of the densely crowded camps has swollen to about 1 million after about 740,000 Rohingya crossed the border into Bangladesh as they fled a brutal military offensive in their home state of Rakhine in Myanmar. That followed a series of deadly attacks by ARSA forces on Burmese military and police posts in Rakhine in August 2017.  Ullah said uncertainty over efforts to repatriate the Rohingya to Myanmar had caused frustration, leading to an increase in criminal activities at the camps. “We at the camps have faced two-pronged difficulties – our monthly food allocations have been reduced twice and now we face the danger of being killed by the armed groups,” he said. ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan speaks to reporters in Dhaka following his first visit to Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar, Feb. 27, 2022. (BenarNews) Karim Khan, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, visited the camps to interview Rohingya about atrocities they suffered before fleeing to Bangladesh.  He had made a similar visit in February 2022 after the Hague-based ICC authorized the investigation in 2019, but that was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pre-trial chamber concluded at the time that it was reasonable “to believe that since at least 9 October 2016, members of the Tatmadaw [the Myanmar military], jointly with other security forces and with some participation of local civilians, may have committed coercive acts” against the Rohingya people that constitute crimes against humanity, according to a 55-page court document. In a separate investigation, the International Court of Justice allowed a case to proceed that the Gambia had brought against Myanmar’s military regime alleging genocide against Rohingya.  The ICJ in May ruled to allow Myanmar officials until Aug. 24 to present arguments and evidence “necessary to respond to the claims” made against them. Following his four-day visit, Karim Khan expressed concern that Rohingya are going without meals. “[U]p to March, Rohingya men, women and children were given three meals a day, they were given enough money to eat three times a day. And since March, they have (been) eating twice a day, and not even twice,” he told reporters at the Inter-Continental Hotel in Dhaka hours after flying in from Cox’s Bazar. Mohammad Alam, a leader of Leda camp in Teknaf, had told BenarNews that the new monthly allocation translates to about 28 taka (25 cents) per day per person or about nine taka (eight cents) per each of three meals a day. “Is it possible to feed a family with such an allocation,” Alam asked. During his news conference, Karim Khan, who said he discussed the issue with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, expressed similar concerns. “What could you do with nine taka – I was told one egg is 12 taka,” he said, pointing out that some meals are skipped. He said children would ask their parents, “‘Where is lunch?’” “The heart should note that this is an area where the world should give support,” Karim Khan said while urging the World Food Program and other United Nations agencies to step up. “[I]t is a symptom of a malaise in which we have to show that every human life matters, that we give resources fairly and adequately wherever possible, that we realize 1.1 million people in a camp, the government of Bangladesh also needs support,” he said. “If people are hungry and there is no hope, it will lead to tension and difficulties.”  BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.

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Hong Kong warrants spark fears of widening ‘long-arm’ political enforcement by China

Editor014 mins

Concerns are growing that China could start using the Interpol “red notice” arrest warrant system to target anyone overseas, of any nationality, who says or does something the ruling Communist Party doesn’t like, using Hong Kong’s three-year-old national security law. Dozens of rights groups on Tuesday called on governments to suspend any remaining extradition treaties with China and Hong Kong after the city’s government issued arrest warrants and bounties for eight prominent figures in the overseas democracy movement on Monday, vowing to pursue them for the rest of their lives. “We urge governments to suspend the remaining extradition treaties that exist between democracies and the Hong Kong and Chinese governments and work towards coordinating an Interpol early warning system to protect Hong Kongers and other dissidents abroad,” an open letter dated July 4 and signed by more than 50 Hong Kong-linked civil society groups around the world said. “Hong Kong activists in exile must be protected in their peaceful fight for basic human rights, freedoms and democracy,” said the letter, which was signed by dozens of local Hong Kong exile groups from around the world, as well as by Human Rights in China and the World Uyghur Congress. Hong Kong’s national security law, according to its own Article 38, applies anywhere in the world, to people of all nationalities. The warrants came days after the Beijing-backed Ta Kung Pao newspaper said Interpol red notices could be used to pursue people “who do not have permanent resident status of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and commit crimes against Hong Kong outside Hong Kong.”  “If the Hong Kong [government] wants to extradite foreign criminals back to Hong Kong for trial, [it] must formally notify the relevant countries and request that local law enforcement agencies arrest the fugitives and send them back to Hong Kong for trial,” the paper said. While Interpol’s red notice system isn’t designed for political arrests, China has built close ties and influence with the international body in recent years, with its former security minister Meng Hongwei rising to become president prior to his sudden arrest and prosecution in 2019, and another former top Chinese cop elected to the board in 2021. And there are signs that Hong Kong’s national security police are already starting to target overseas citizens carrying out activities seen as hostile to China on foreign soil. Hong Kong police in March wrote to the London-based rights group Hong Kong Watch ordering it to take down its website. And people of Chinese descent who are citizens of other countries have already been targeted by Beijing for “national security” related charges. Call to ignore To address a growing sense of insecurity among overseas rights advocates concerned with Hong Kong, the letter called on authorities in the United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Europe to reiterate that the Hong Kong National Security Law does not apply in their jurisdictions, and to reaffirm that the Hong Kong arrest warrants won’t be recognized. The New York-based Human Rights Watch said the “unlawful activities” the eight are accused of should all be protected under human rights guarantees in Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law. Hong Kong police on Monday, July 3, 2023, issued arrest warrants and offered bounties for eight activists and former lawmakers who have fled the city. They are [clockwise from top left] Kevin Yam, Elmer Yuen, Anna Kwok, Dennis Kwok, Nathan Law, Finn Lau, Mung Siu-tat and Ted Hui. Credit: Screenshot from Reuters video “In recent years, the Chinese government has expanded efforts to control information and intimidate activists around the world by manipulation of bodies such as Interpol,” it said in a statement, adding that more than 100,000 Hong Kongers have fled the city since the crackdown on dissent began. “The Hong Kong government’s charges and bounties against eight Hong Kong people in exile reflects the growing importance of the diaspora’s political activism,” Maya Wang, associate director in the group’s Asia division, said in a statement. “Foreign governments should not only publicly reject cooperating with National Security Law cases, but should take concrete actions to hold top Beijing and Hong Kong officials accountable,” she said. Hong Kong’s Chief Executive John Lee told reporters on Tuesday that the only way for the activists to “end their destiny of being an abscondee who will be pursued for life is to surrender” and urged them “to give themselves up as soon as possible”. The Communist Party-backed Wen Wei Po newspaper cited Yiu Chi Shing, who represents Hong Kong on the standing committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, as saying that those who have fled overseas will continue to oppose the government from wherever they are. “Anyone who crosses the red lines in the national security law will be punished, no matter how far away,” Yiu told the paper. The rights groups warned that Monday’s arrest warrants represent a significant escalation in “long-arm” law enforcement by authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong. Extradition While the U.S., U.K. and several other countries suspended their extradition agreements with Hong Kong after the national security law criminalized public dissent and criticism of the authorities from July 1, 2020, several countries still have extradition arrangements in force, including the Philippines, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa and Sri Lanka. South Korea, Malaysia, India and Indonesia could also still allow extradition to Hong Kong, according to a Wikipedia article on the topic. Meanwhile, several European countries have extradition agreements in place with China, including Belgium, Italy and France, while others have sent fugitives to China at the request of its police. However, a landmark ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in October 2022 could mean an end to extraditions to China among 46 signatories to the European Convention on Human Rights. “The eight [on the wanted list] should be safe for now, but if they were to travel overseas and arrive in a country that has an extradition agreement with either mainland China or Hong Kong, then…

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Japan’s plan to discharge Fukushima radioactive water safe, atomic watchdog says

Editor09 mins

Japan’s plans to discharge treated nuclear wastewater stored at the Fukushima Daiichi power station into the Pacific Ocean are consistent with relevant international safety standards, the safety review by the U.N.’s atomic watchdog has concluded.  The discharges of the treated water would have a negligible radiological impact on people and the environment, said the report formally presented by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on Tuesday. “Japan will continue to provide explanations to the Japanese people and to the international community in a sincere manner based on scientific evidence and with a high level of transparency,” Kishida said as he met with Grossi. TEPCO, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, which operates the Fukushima nuclear power plant located on Hakura Beach in Japan, is set to initiate the release of approximately 400,000 cubic meters of treated wastewater from the plant into the Pacific this summer. Over 1.3 million cubic meters of wastewater – enough to fill more than 500 Olympic-size swimming pools – is currently contained in numerous water storage tanks at the facility. It was used to cool the nuclear reactors damaged in a 2011 earthquake and tsunami.  This Sept. 18, 2010 aerial photo shows the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex in Okumamachi, northern Japan the year before it was hit by a massive tsunami. Credit: Yomiuri Shimbun, via AP TEPCO says that the controlled discharge of the treated wastewater adheres to a meticulous nuclear purification process utilizing a pumping and filtration system called ALPS (Advanced Liquid Processing System), designed according to the safety standards prescribed by the IAEA. In the report’s foreword, Grossi said that the “controlled, gradual discharges of the treated water to the sea, as currently planned and assessed by TEPCO, would have a negligible radiological impact on people and the environment.” China strongly objects The plan, conceived in 2021, has been a source of concern about possible environmental and health risks for nearby countries such as South Korea, China and Pacific Island nations. Local Japanese fishing unions have also opposed it. The Chinese Embassy in Japan said Tuesday the IAEA’s report could not be a pass for the nuclear-contaminated water to be released. It called on Japan to immediately suspend the plan, seriously negotiate with the international community, and jointly explore scientific, safe, transparent and acceptable handling methods. In a press conference, Ambassador Wu Jianghao claimed that there was no precedent for discharging such water produced by nuclear accidents into the sea. He said it was different from other countries discharging wastewater because “what they are discharging is cooling water, not polluted water that has been in contact with the molten core of the accident.” Fukushima’s nuclear-polluted water contains more than 60 types of radionuclides, many of which have no effective treatment technology at this stage, Wu said, claiming the effectiveness and sustainability of the Japanese processing system lacks sufficient authoritative verification. However, IAEA and Japanese officials have said that ALPS will reduce 62 of the 63 radioactive substances currently in the wastewater to amounts that will have a negligible environmental impact.  Wu said that Japan does not respect science because it announced in 2021 that it would start releasing the wastewater, “long before the IAEA completed its assessment and released its final report.”  He also said IAEA is “not an appropriate agency to assess the long-term impact of nuclear-contaminated water on the marine environment and biological health.” IAEA will monitor the discharge The decision has also divided the scientific community. However, the IAEA’s report aligns with many international independent scientists who say the worries are based on misinformation.  The wastewater release will take between 30 and 40 years to complete. The IAEA said it would continue its safety review during the discharge phase, with a continuous on-site presence and live online monitoring from the facility. The agency said the stored water has been treated through ALPS to remove almost all radioactivity, aside from tritium, which will be diluted with the water to bring it below regulatory standards before the release. A Buddhist monk protests against the Japanese government’s decision to release treated radioactive wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant, near a building which houses the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, July 4, 2023. Credit: AP “The IAEA will continue to provide transparency to the international community, making it possible for all stakeholders to rely on verified fact and science to inform their understanding of this matter throughout the process,” Grossi said. He plans to arrive at the Fukushima plant on Wednesday. The following day he heads to South Korea to explain the report’s findings. He is also expected to visit some Pacific Island countries to ease their concerns over the plan. The report represents the culmination of nearly two years of effort by a specialized task force comprising leading experts from the agency, guided by internationally acclaimed nuclear safety advisors from eleven nations.  The experts assessed Japan’s proposals in light of the IAEA Safety Standards, which are recognized as the benchmark for safeguarding individuals and the environment and promoting a consistent and elevated level of safety globally. Edited by Mike Firn.

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Banned by Beijing, Badiucao opens London show

Editor08 mins

In the brick-walled crypt of a church in central London hangs a painting of a many-armed, black-clad figure wearing an elastomeric mask and a yellow construction hat, evoking a figure that was once a familiar sight during the 2019 protest movement in Hong Kong. One of its many pairs of hands – protesters were referred to in Cantonese at the time as the “hands and feet” of the movement – is clasped in apparent prayer, with other pairs clutching water bottles and a retractable baton for fending off charging cops. In the goggles of the figure – a composite of the front-line protesters who used Molotov cocktails, bricks, bows and arrows and street barricades to engage in pitched street battles with riot police during the 2019 Hong Kong protests – is reflected the black bauhinia, symbol of the protest movement. Other works depict a shower-head washing an exposed brain, a reference to attempts by the ruling Chinese Communist Party to brainwash its citizen, and a portrait of jailed pro-democracy Joshua Wong behind bars formed of black umbrellas, bringing to mind the 2014 “umbrella movement,” when protesters used umbrellas to protect against pepper spray. Badiucao expresses solidarity with Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong. Credit: Stone They are all works of art by Badiucao, whose latest exhibit showcases political and protest art that is deemed so incendiary by Beijing that it has made repeated attempts to have his exhibits shut down in other countries. Transnational repression Its theme is transnational repression. Overseas dissidents are increasingly finding that even if they leave China and settle in a democratic country, they are still targeted by agents and supporters of the Chinese state in their new home. Chinese Communist Party agents and supporters have carried out physical attacks and smear attempts on dissidents far beyond its borders, kidnapped them and forced them to return home to face punishment using threats against their loved ones, according to rights groups and personal stories shared with Radio Free Asia. Badiucao depicts jailed Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai in “Apple Man.” Credit: Stone Badiucao has remained undeterred by Beijing’s attempts to censor him overseas, however. The walls of the exhibit are packed with political punches – a portrait of jailed pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai has pride of place, while another work shows students at the Chinese University of Hong Kong engulfed in flames while defending their campus against a determined assault by riot police, who fired thousands of rounds of tear gas during the attack. One image shows Chinese President Xi Jinping wearing a pair of TikTok logos for glasses, with the warning “Xi is Watching You,” highlighting privacy concerns around the Chinese-owned social media platform. Such images would quickly run afoul of a strict national security law in Hong Kong, where depictions of scenes “glorifying” the protests are banned from public display. Some have already been shown in Poland, where the organizers kept the exhibit open despite strong displeasure from Chinese officials. ‘Threats to my family and safety’ Many were inspired by the response of Hong Kong protesters, who used his artwork in response to the banning of his planned 2018 exhibit in the city, just a day before it opened. “The Chinese Communist Party doesn’t just come up with ways to get my exhibits canceled — it also threatens me with threats to my personal safety,” Badiucao told Radio Free Asia as the exhibit opened. “It also threatens the safety of the people I work with, and my family back in China,” he said. Also on display in the “Banned by Beijing” exhibition are works by Vawongsir, a former visual arts teacher in Hong Kong, such as this piece on the “Pillar of Shame.” Credit: Stone The Hong Kong theme of the exhibit is aimed at speaking out on behalf of people who haven’t been allowed to speak for themselves since Beijing imposed a draconian security law on the city three years ago, criminalizing public criticism of the government. Hong Kong artist Kacey Wong, who now lives in Taiwan, said he has faced similar attempts at censorship outside China, adding that the national security law has stifled freedom of expression both in his home city, and even far beyond China’s borders. “Don’t think you’ll be fine once you have left Hong Kong,” Wong warned. “Last year I took part in a small exhibition in the United Kingdom, and the Hong Kong party newspapers sent their people to carry out a smear campaign.” “This is long-arm control … you’re not safe in Europe, because they’re not very vigilant there about preventing censorship by the Chinese Communist Party,” he said. “However, it’s safer in Taiwan.” For Badiucao, a Hong Kong democracy movement that carries on in exile is still valid. “I don’t think it means that Hong Kong has fallen,” he said. “You can take your home with you anywhere.” “All of those Hong Kongers now in exile have taken the spirit, culture and identity of Hong Kong with them,” he said. “Wherever you have Hong Kongers still drawing breath, there is still hope,” he said. Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

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Around 6,000 villagers forced to flee township in Myanmar’s Sagaing region

Editor04 mins

Myanmar’s military is carrying on its campaign to seize control of townships in northern Sagaing region, torching buildings and forcing around 6,000 locals to flee Khin-U, residents told RFA on Monday. An official of Khin-U township’s Right Information Group told RFA that a total of 15 villages in the township were raided by two military columns. The man, who requested anonymity for security reasons, said nearly 3,500 residents in the northeastern part and 2,500 in the southwestern part of Khin-U township abandoned their homes ahead of the military raids. A resident of Khin-U’s Ah Lel Sho village told RFA troops killed livestock and captured locals. “Four cows and two pigs were slaughtered, and five people were arrested. I think they have to carry the packs. Three people were in their 20s and two in their 60s,” said the local who declined to be named for fear of reprisals. “Now, the junta troops are burning down Yauk Thwar Aing village to the south of Ah Lel Sho. I can see the smoke in the distance but I can’t get close because of the troops.” Residents of Chan Thar Kone village said a 60-year-old man, Than Win, was shot and injured while he bumped into a military junta column on July 1. Meanwhile, residents of neighboring Shwebo township said troops shot dead two local men. They said the bodies were discovered after a column of around 40 troops withdrew on Saturday. “Two people were shot dead near a rest tent in Kawt village in the eastern part of Shwebo. That was the route the junta took when it carried out its offensive,” said a local who didn’t want to be named for security reasons, “It’s not yet known who they were or where they were from. The bodies were still there on Monday morning.” RFA called the junta spokesperson for Sagaing region, Saw Naing, on Sunday and Monday regarding the arson attacks and killings, but he did not answer. More than 1.5 million civilians have fled their homes since the Feb. 1, 2021 coup, according to the United Nation Office  for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), It said around 765,200 were from Sagaing region. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

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China to reach renewable power goal 5 years early, report says

Editor09 mins

The boom in renewable power projects in China will likely help the country reach its 2030 target five years early, boosting the effort to limit global carbon emissions far faster than expected, a new study said. China is on track to double its solar and wind power capacity and shatter Beijing’s ambitious 2030 target of 1,200 gigawatts (GW) five years ahead of schedule if all prospective projects are successfully built and commissioned, said the Global Energy Monitor (GEM) report, released on Thursday. Solar panel installations alone are growing at a pace that would increase global capacity by 85% and wind power by nearly 50% by 2025, said GEM, a San Francisco-based non-governmental organization that tracks energy projects worldwide.  China has approximately 379 GW of large utility-scale solar and 371 GW of wind capacity projects that have been announced or are in the pre-construction and construction phases. They will likely be finished by 2025, adding roughly the same amount of currently installed operating capacity.  The report projected that China would likely achieve the provincial targets of approximately 1,371 GW for wind and solar, which is higher than the 1,200 GW President Xi Jinping announced his government would install by 2030.  A solar panel installation is seen in Ruicheng County in central China’s Shanxi Province, Nov. 27, 2019. Credit: AP “This new data provides unrivaled granularity about China’s jaw-dropping surge in solar and wind capacity,” said Dorothy Mei, project manager at Global Energy Monitor.  “As we closely monitor the implementation of prospective projects, this detailed information becomes indispensable in navigating the country’s energy landscape.” Half global renewable capacity in China China has emerged as the frontrunner in global renewable energy, leveraging a blend of incentives and regulatory policies to host approximately 50% of the world’s operational wind and solar capacity. The report said the ambitious renewable push has been geographically widespread, with every province and most counties developing large-scale solar and wind power.  China’s operating scale solar capacity has reached 228 GW, more than the rest of the world combined.  This map shows prospective large utility-scale solar capacity in China. Credit: Global Energy Monitor. According to the report, China’s northern and northwest provinces have the largest number of solar projects. Shanxi, Xinjiang, and Hebei are the top three regions with the highest utility-scale solar capacity. Meanwhile, China’s combined onshore and offshore wind capacity has doubled since 2017, surpassing 310 GW, with the highest concentration of projects in the northern and northwestern regions, including Inner Mongolia, Hebei, and Xinjiang. China’s offshore wind capacity, which accounts for just 10% of its total wind capacity, is more than Europe’s offshore operating capacity. This map shows prospective wind farm capacity in China. Credit: Global Energy Monitor. On Sunday, China successfully commenced operations of the Tibetan plateau’s largest hybrid solar-hydro power plant, Kela, which can generate 2 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually, equivalent to the energy consumption of over 700,000 households. Currently boasting a capacity of 20 GW, the plant is projected to expand and achieve approximately 50 GW capacity by 2030. In the past, China has said that its greenhouse gas emissions will peak in 2030 before slowing down to reach net zero by 2060.  “Ramping up wind and solar capacity plays an essential role in China’s carbon emissions from the power sector,” Mei told Radio Free Asia. “When China reaches its emissions peak will essentially depend on how soon the growth of clean energy can start to outpace the increase in total energy demand, which could happen in the next few years given the current solar and wind boom.” China’s reliance on coal continues  Among the top 10 power sector emitters, China led the world by three times more than the U.S., the second-biggest carbon dioxide emitter, with fossil fuel power plants generating two-thirds of China’s electricity in 2022. In April, another energy research organization Ember said in a report that China produced the most CO2 emissions of any power sector in the world in 2022, accounting for 38% of total global emissions from electricity generation. Mei said that while China had made significant progress in renewable energy deployment, it continued to heavily rely on coal for power generation “due to its reliability and consistent electricity supply.” “The power supply model being adopted at the renewables bases in the northwest deserts still largely relies on new coal power plants to provide a steady, reliable flow of electricity through the long-distance direct current transmission lines to end users,” Mei said. In 2022, China alone accounted for 53% of the world’s coal-fired electricity generation, showing a dramatic revival in appetite for new coal power projects.  A View of the Wujing coal-electricity power station is seen across the Huangpu River in the Minhang district of Shanghai on August 22, 2022. Credit: Hector Retamal/AFP Recent record heatwaves and drought have also renewed focus on China’s energy security concerns, as factories had to be shut down due to power shortages, forcing authorities to increase reliance on coal.  Last year, Beijing approved the highest new coal capacity in eight years. It continues this year, with environmental group Greenpeace saying in April that China had approved at least 20.45 GW of new coal capacity in the first three months of 2023, according to official approval documents. “As electricity demand during extreme weather events increases, China must resist turning to coal and should instead prioritize more optimal solutions to manage the variability of demand and clean power supply,” Mei said. Edited by Mike Firn.

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Myanmar junta uses Telegram as ‘military intelligence’ to arrest online critics

Editor010 mins

Telegram is becoming the messaging platform of choice for fans of Myanmar’s junta, who are using it to report on critics – some of whom have gotten arrested or even killed. For example, actress Poe Kyar Phyu Khin recently posted a video entitled “Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (Our True Leader)” to the TikTok social media platform ahead of the jailed former state counselor’s June 19 birthday, prompting several users to post photos of themselves bedecked in flowers and express their best wishes. Incensed by the post, supporters of the military junta – which took control of the country in a February 2021 coup – took toTelegram to demand that Phyu Khin and those who responded to her be arrested. On the night of Suu Kyi’s birthday, junta security personnel showed up at the door of Phyu Khin’s home in Yangon and took her into custody. Pro-junta media reported the arrest and said that some 50 people had been detained that week alone for “sedition and incitement.” This is the new reality in post-coup Myanmar, where backers of the military regime regularly scour the internet for any posts they deem critical of the junta before using Telegram to report them to the authorities, activists say. Telegram has become a “form of military intelligence,” said Yangon-based protest leader Nang Lin. “It may look like ordinary citizens are reporting people who oppose the military, but that’s not true,” he said. “It’s the work of their informers. It’s one of the junta’s intelligence mechanisms. In other words, it’s just one of many attempts designed to instill fear in the people.” ‘Online weapon’ In a similar incident, rapper Byu Har was arrested on May 24, just days after being featured on pro-military Telegram channels for a video he published on social media in which he complained about electricity shortages and said that life was better under the democratically elected government that the military toppled. Pro-junta Telegram channels published a photo of hip hop singer Byu Har in handcuffs after he was arrested and allegedly beaten by military authorities on May 25, 2023, Credit: Myanmar Hard Talk Telegram Additionally, authorities arrested journalist Kyaw Min Swe, actress May Pa Chi, and other well-known personalities after pro-junta Telegram channels posted information about them changing their Facebook profiles to black to mourn the more than 170 people – including women and children – killed in a military airstrike on Sagaing region’s Pazi Gyi village in April. “Military lobbyists and informers go through these comments and … report the owners of the accounts to Han Nyein Oo, who is a major pro-junta informer on Telegram,” said an activist in Yangon, who declined to be named out of fear of reprisal. “Then, because of a small comment, the poster and their families are in trouble.” London-based rights group Fortify Rights also recently reported on the junta’s use of Telegram as an “online weapon” against its critics. “We can say that they are increasingly using Telegram channels as an online weapon as one of various ways of instilling fear in the people so that they dare not speak out,” the group said in a statement. RFA sought comment from Telegram’s press team but was forwarded to an automated answering system, which said that the company “respects users’ personal information and freedom of speech, and protects human rights, such as the right to assembly.” The answering system noted that Telegram “plays an important role in democratic movements around the world,” including in Iran, Russia, Belarus, Hong Kong and Myanmar. The founder of the Telegram channel is Russian-born Pavel Durov. In 2014, he was forced to leave the country and move to Saint Kitts and Nevis, a small Caribbean island nation, because he refused to hand over the personal information of Ukrainian users to Russian security services during the Crimea crisis in Ukraine.  Myanmar authorities arrested journalist Kyaw Min Swe [left] and actress May Pa Chi after pro-junta Telegram channels posted information about them changing their Facebook profiles to black to mourn Pazi Gyi victims in April. Credit: RFA and Facebook Telegram headquarters is located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Attempts by RFA to contact junta Deputy Information Minister Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun regarding the regime’s use of pro-military Telegram accounts to arrest people went unanswered Wednesday. Arrests violate constitution Thein Tun Oo, the executive director of the Thayninga Institute of Strategic Studies, which is made up of former military officers, told RFA that claims the junta uses Telegram to track down its critics are “delusional.” “If you feel insecure about Telegram, just don’t use it,” he said, adding that “such problems” are part of the risk of using the app. But a lawyer in Yangon, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing security concerns, told RFA that even if the junta isn’t gathering information about its opponents on Telegram, arresting and prosecuting someone for posting their opinions on social media is a blatant violation of the law in Myanmar. “It’s not a crime to post birthday wishes for someone on Facebook, whether it’s for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi or anyone else,” he said. “These arrests are in violation of provisions protecting citizens’ rights in the [military-drafted] 2008 constitution.” Pro-junta newspapers often state that action will be taken against anyone who knowingly or unknowingly promotes or supports Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government, the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw made up of deposed lawmakers, and any related organization under the country’s Counter-terrorism Act, Electronic Communications Law, and other legislation. According to a list compiled by RFA based on junta reports, at least 1,100 people have been arrested and prosecuted for voicing criticism of the junta on social media or sharing such posts by others since the military’s Feb. 1, 2021, coup d’etat. Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

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Monk killed in Myanmar junta air raid on Sagaing region monastery

Editor03 mins

Junta air raids on two Sagaing region villages killed 12 civilians including a monk, locals told RFA Wednesday. They said 11 people from Pale township’s Nyaung Kone and one from Pi Tauk Kone village died in Tuesday’s attack. A school teacher from Nyaung Kone, who didn’t want to be named for security reasons, told RFA the air force dropped three 500-pound bombs around the village monastery, killing one monk and 10 locals. “It happened when I was teaching children at school,” the teacher said. “I used to hear the plane approaching but this time I didn’t hear it until the bomb exploded. The bomb’s fragments and dust flew towards our school. Some people were already dead when I arrived at the scene of the explosions. Some are injured and receiving emergency medical treatment.” The monk was named as 55-year-old Kay Mar. Six men and two women, aged between 41 and 70, died on the spot. Four of the dead were relatives of the monk. An 18-year-old woman and a 48-year-old man were critically injured and died in Pale Township Hospital on Tuesday night. All the bodies were cremated on Tuesday night. Residents said six more people were injured and receiving treatment in the village. The aftermath of a junta airstrike on Nyaung Kone village, Pale township, Sagaing region Jun 27, 2023. Credit: Pale township People’s Defense Force A member of the People’s Administration Group of Pale township said that the junta attacked the village with Russian-made Yakovlev Yak-130 jet, destroying the monastery and 13 houses. Locals said a woman died and another was injured in a separate air raid on Pi Tauk Kone village on Tuesday night. The names and the ages of the dead and injured are not yet known because it is difficult to contact Pi Tauk Kone by phone. RFA called Sagaing region junta spokesperson Aye Hlaing on Wednesday but nobody answered. There were 454 airstrikes across Myanmar between January and April 2023, according to independent research group Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica, resulting in 292 deaths. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

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Myanmar military kills 17 People’s Defense Force members

Editor03 mins

Junta troops killed 20 people in a raid on a People’s Defense Force camp in Sagaing region and neighboring villages, locals and a militia official told RFA Tuesday. A column of around 50 troops raided the camp east of Kin Taw village in Sagaing township on Sunday morning. They killed 17 defense force members, according to a leader of the local PDF. “The junta troops came by boat and raided the camp early in the morning … when there were no guards, and all the PDF members were killed,” the leader, who declined to be named, told RFA. He added that the 14 men and three women aged between 20 and 30 had been tortured, with their faces disfigured. A Sagaing resident, who did not want to be named for security reasons, confirmed to RFA that the temporary camp was raided and 17 bodies were found near the camp and on the banks of the Ayeyarwady River.  He said three civilians were also shot dead at their homes when the junta raided nearby villages in the township. The three men killed were 37-year-old Myint Kyaw Thu and 50-year-old Maung San from Kin Taw village, and 69-year-old Pauk Sa from Myin Se village.  The local said that Pauk Sa’s wife is also missing and a 50-year-old man is suffering from gunshot wounds. Nearly 100 houses were burned down when neighboring Let Pan Taw village was also raided on Sunday, according to locals. Calls to the junta spokesperson for Sagaing region, Aye Hlaing, went unanswered.  On Tuesday junta-controlled newspapers confirmed the raid on PDF camps near Kin Taw and U Yin villages, saying15 guns and ammunition were seized. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

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