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Category: Middle East

Taiwan boosts advanced chip plans, warns of high-tech fallout if China invades

Editor09 mins

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) said on Friday it would join the race to make next-generation 2-nanometer chips by 2025, amid growing saber-rattling from China. The company said it would start volume production of the low-energy advanced chips within the next three years. Samsung and Intel have made similar announcements in recent months. “We are living in a rapidly changing, supercharged, digital world where demand for computational power and energy efficiency is growing faster than ever before, creating unprecedented opportunities and challenges for the semiconductor industry,” TSMC CEO C.C. Wei told the North America Technology Symposium. TSMC launched the 5nm process in 2020 and is scheduled to start commercial production of the 3nm process later this year in Tainan. The first 2-nm plant will be built in Hsinchu, with production to expand later to Taichung, the island’s Central News Agency reported on Friday. The announcement came after Taiwan’s chief trade negotiator John Deng warned that a potential Chinese invasion — increasingly threatened by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) — would lead to a global shortage of semiconductor chips. “The disruption to international supply chains; disruption on the international economic order; and the chance to grow would be much, much (more) significant than [the current shortage],” Deng told Reuters at a World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in Geneva this week. “There would be a worldwide shortage of supply.” ‘Special operation’ fears Taiwan dominates the global market for the most advanced chips, with exports totaling U.S.$118 billion last year, Reuters reported, quoting Deng as saying he hopes to decrease the 40 percent share of the island’s exports that are currently being sold to China. While Taiwan has never been governed by the CCP, nor formed part of the People’s Republic of China, and its 23 million people have no wish to give up their sovereignty or democratic way of life, Beijing insists the island is part of its territory. Taiwan has raised its alert level since Russia invaded Ukraine, amid concerns that CCP leader Xi Jinping could use an invasion of the democratic island to boost flagging political support that has been dented by growing confrontation with the United States and draconian zero-COVID restrictions at home. Xi recently signed a directive allowing “non-war” uses of the military, prompting concerns that Beijing may be gearing up to invade the democratic island of Taiwan under the guise of a “special operation” not classified as war. “One interpretation is that, in doing this, Xi Jinping is copying Putin’s designation of the Ukraine war as a ‘special military operation’,” U.S.-based current affairs commentator Xia Yeliang told RFA. “Xi Jinping … wants to surpass Mao Zedong, and in doing that, he doesn’t think anyone is as good as him, not even Deng Xiaoping,” Xia said.  Collective leadership He said Xi is under huge political pressure from within party ranks, citing media reports and credible rumors from high-ranking sources within the CCP.”How’s he going to do that? Economically, the situation is already better than under Mao. So he means to liberate Taiwan, and fulfill Mao’s wish, the task that he was unable to complete himself.” “A lot of people don’t trust Xi and worry that he’s going to get China into trouble … they could replace him with a system of collective leadership. So what does Xi do in response? He tries to create an atmosphere of fear, threatening to go to war, that if the U.S. does this or that, we’ll make our move,” Xia said. “Xi Jinping wants to manufacture an external crisis; a sense that if we don’t invade Taiwan now, then the opportunity will be lost, so we have to move now. He wants everyone to support him as chairman of the Central Military Commission [ahead of] the CCP 20th National Congress,” he said. Tseng Chih-Chao, deputy secretary-general of Taiwan’s Chung-hwa Institution for Economic Research, said global shortages of a particular kind of chip have already put a spanner in the works of automakers around the world, and that TSMC currently holds a 90-percent global market share in advanced chips. “When we look at their main customers like Apple’s Nvidia chips, they are the most advanced chip manufacturers in the world,” Tseng said.  “Without TSMC, the entire high-tech industry around the world would cease to function, including all of the chips that go into iPhones or Apple computers,” he said. “Most importantly, there are no alternative suppliers who can make these chips anywhere in the world right now.” “If China launched an attack, it could cause serious damage in a very short period of time, that would be very difficult to rebuild, especially after the [likely] loss of technology, equipment and talent,” Tseng said. “So of course [Deng] was going to say this to the United States and other Western countries.” Taiwan’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou said the island welcomed U.S. support, but stood ready to defend itself. “In the face continued military expansion and provocation from China, Taiwan has a high degree of determination and capability to defend itself,” Ou said on June 16. “[Our] government will continue to strengthen self-defense capabilities and asymmetric combat capabilities, maintain national security with solid national defense, and deepen Taiwan-US ties.” Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Three people killed as troops target villages in Chin State

Editor03 mins

Three people died Thursday after junta forces fired artillery shells at a farm in Mui Tui village in Chin State’s Mindat township, residents told RFA. Yaw Man, an official from Mindat People’s Administration which is engaged in armed resistance, said a man and two women died when shells exploded. He said the military council’s Infantry Battalion No. 274 started shelling villages in the northern part of the city on Thursday morning. Mui Tai village is located 6 miles (9.7 kilometers) from Mindat. “A 70-year-old man, a 60-year-old woman and a 30-year-old woman working on the farm died on the spot. Another was wounded by bullets. The shells also landed in the village. Three houses were destroyed there,” said Yaw Man, adding the the injured man was being treated at a charity clinic near Mindat Township.  Residents told RFA that Infantry Battalion No. 274, which is based in Mindat, fired shells seven times targeting villages, including Mui Tui, in the north of Mindat city from around 9:30 a.m. Locals said the army was not targeting local People’s Defense Forces (PDFs), but deliberately aiming at the villages. Calls to a military council spokesman by RFA on Thursday morning went unanswered. In the past, the spokesman has said the army had to open fire to destroy villages where local PDFs were sheltering and conducting military training. On May 23, heavy artillery fired by Infantry Battalion No. 274 hit a house in Madat village critically injuring an 11-year-old boy whose right leg had to be amputated. Chin State was one of the first regions in Myanmar to form militias to fight the military following the coup in February last year. More than 200 people have been killed in the state since then according to the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO), which monitors human rights abuses. At least 10 civilians have been killed in Mindat City and Mindat Township since February 1, 2021. Fighting between junta troops and local militias has forced nearly 90,000 locals to flee their homes in Chin State.

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UN member states criticize China over Uyghurs at Human Rights Council session

Editor09 mins

Nearly 50 United Nations member states on Wednesday issued a joint statement criticizing China’s atrocities against Uyghurs and calling on the U.N. human rights chief to release a long-overdue report on abuses in Xinjiang. Paul Bekkers, the permanent representative of the Netherlands to the U.N. office in Geneva, delivered the statement on behalf of 47 countries, saying the member states continued to be “gravely concerned” about the human rights situation in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Bekkers cited well-researched and credible reports of the detention of more than 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in the region, along with widespread surveillance, discrimination, and severe restrictions on culture and freedom of religion that these groups face there. “We are also concerned about reports of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, forced sterilization, sexual and gender-based violence, forced labor, and forced separation of children from their parents by authorities,” he said. Bekkers also said the member states continued to be “gravely concerned” about deteriorating human rights situations in Hong Kong and Tibet. In the statement, the nations urged China to respect for the rule of law, to protect human rights, to provide unfettered access for independent observers to Xinjiang, and to respect the principle of non-refoulement, which prevents people who have the right to be recognized as refugees from being forcefully returned to countries where they could be harmed. The statement from the member states came more than two weeks after Michelle Bachelet, a former Chilean president who has served as the U.N. high commissioner for human rights since 2018, wrapped up a six-day visit to China in May, including stops in its far-western region Xinjiang. At a news briefing following the visit, Bachelet, 70, said she was not in China for an official investigation of the situation in Xinjiang, though she said she had “unsupervised” access to sources that the U.N. had arranged to meet there. Uyghur rights groups demanded her resignation after they said she repeated Chinese talking points and said she had been unable to assess the full scale of what Beijing calls “vocational education and training centers” in Xinjiang, but which the human rights community and scholars call internment camps. Bekkers said Beijing should stop arbitrary detentions and immediately release those held, end travel restrictions, and begin impartial investigations into allegations of racial, ethnic and ethno-religious profiling, which were among the eight recommendations relating to Xinjiang issued in August 2018 by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination within Bachelet’s office. Bekkers also called on Bachelet to disclose more information about her visit to China. “We are interested in more detailed observations, including on the restrictions the Chinese authorities imposed on the visit as well as on your access to members of civil society and to places of your choice,” he said. As for the overdue report on abuses in Xinjiang, Bachelet informed the Human Rights Council in September 2021 that her office was finalizing its assessment of information on allegations of rights violations. Three months later, a spokesperson said the report would be issued in a matter of weeks, but it was not released. Support is growing The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) praised the issuance of the statement, saying it was pleased to see many countries from Latin America and the Pacific sign onto it, though the effort was bittersweet. “However, like last time, there is no single Muslim nation among them. It is very tragic,” said Semet Abla, vice chairman of WUC’s Executive Committee. But WUC president Dolkun Isa pointed out that the number of U.N. member states supporting the Uyghurs has been steadily growing with 47 backing Wednesday’s statement, compared to 43 showing support for Uyghur issues in 2021, and 14 in 2018. “Even Israel was one of the signatories of the statement,” he said. “Even though Turkey did not sign the statement, it issued a strong condemnation and rebuke of the Chinese concentration camps.” On Monday, Bachelet told officials attending the Human Rights Council session that she raised concerns about the human rights situation concerning Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities in Xinjiang during her trip. “My office’s assessment of the human rights situation in Xinjiang is being updated,” she said in an oral update at the session. “It will be shared with the government for factual comments before publication.” Bachelet also said that her office and the Chinese government agreed to hold an annual senior meeting on human rights and to continue exchanges on human rights issues of concern. “We are now elaborating concrete steps to put the agreements into action,” she said. Sophie Richardson, China director of New York-based Human Rights Watch, noted that Bachelet now has said that she will release the report before the end of her term ends in August or September. “And we certainly hope that she follows through on that,” she told RFA. “We are a bit skeptical, but nevertheless still think that it is extremely important to hear the United Nations Human Rights Office offer up its assessment based on remote monitoring of what Human Rights Watch deems crimes against humanity targeting Uyghurs and other Turkic communities,” Richardson said. Bachelet also said Monday that she would not seek a second term for personal reasons, but later told reporters her decision was not connected to criticism over her China trip. “As my term as high commissioner draws to a close, this council’s milestone 50th session will be the last which I brief,” she said. Translated by Mamatjan Juma for RFA Uyghur. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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Starvation becomes a side effect of North Korea’s struggle to contain COVID

Editor08 mins

The increase of COVID-19 cases in North Korea is creating knock-on hardships for the families of patients, as the loss of income from quarantine restrictions has left some without enough money to feed themselves. The cash-strapped North Korean government has responded to reports of family members of COVID patients starving to death, by forcing neighbors to “volunteer” to feed them–but the state isn’t providing any additional food for the effort. North Koreans have long chafed at being drafted by the state to provide free labor, food, building materials or cash for national projects–orders that come on top of the non-stop struggle to survive on a bleak economy. A family illness can have devastating consequences in North Korea, where both men and women need to work to earn enough to support their families. Men work in government-appointed jobs, but because their salaries are low, women are expected to earn additional income through side businesses. “Confirmed COVID-19 cases have increased from the beginning of May. COVID-19 patients were quarantined at the facilities while their families were quarantined in their homes,” a resident from Unsan county in South Pyongan province, north of the capital Pyongyang, told RFA’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “An elderly family member of a COVID patient died, unable to eat properly during the 15 days that the patient was in quarantine. It was then that they started organizing the volunteer group,” she said. The source said that since the beginning of June, each neighborhood, or division and subdivision of each rural town, was directed to operate a group of volunteers to look after the families of quarantining patients. But the government did not give these groups any extra food to carry out their work, as it is in short supply in the chronically malnourished country. “The local government provides a certain amount of corn to COVID-19 quarantine facilities, but they don’t give anything, not even a single cabbage, to the families who all quarantine in their homes. There have been cases of elderly people who starved to death … because they were trapped at home, unable to make money, and they had nothing to eat,” she said. “As the residents’ complaints increased and became stronger, county quarantine command reported these cases to the National Emergency Quarantine Command. When the case was reported to the Central Committee, the authorities organized COVID-19 volunteer groups across the country, including in Pyongyang, and took measures to provide food and water for the elderly and other at-risk people in their quarantine homes,” she said. The measures included forcing some North Koreans to harvest their own vegetable gardens to give food to the quarantining families, the source said. While residents do what they can to avoid being tapped to volunteer, authorities tend to target the people with the largest vegetable gardens. “They complain and ask, ‘Who is this service for?’ The authorities are using us to provide what the government should be providing, and they are taking all the credit,” the source said. In Uiju county, near China in the northwestern province of North Pyongan, authorities organized volunteer groups there after the death of the child of a woman in her 30s who was away in quarantine, a source there told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely. “She was the breadwinner for her family and her 3-year-old child died of malnutrition as her husband watched at home,” he said. “The authorities who organized the volunteer groups are appealing to people to show the true face of socialism by displaying the spirit of service that offers generous support and effort. They are asking people to think of those who are facing greater difficulties than they are in the time of COVID-19,” said the second source. Authorities are forcing better-off citizens to volunteer for at least 10 days and to donate about 30 kilograms (60 pounds) of potatoes each, he said. “Residents say that if the state wants to take care of the families of COVID-19 patients, the state should be the one that provides the food and vegetables,” the second source said. “They say [the government] is just passing on the cost to the residents, and it is not volunteer work for the families of COVID-19 patients but volunteer work for the state.” After two years of denying the pandemic had penetrated its closed borders, North Korea in May declared a “maximum emergency” and acknowledged the virus had begun to spread among participants of a large-scale military parade the previous month. Though North Korea has not been tracking confirmed coronavirus cases, possibly due to lack of testing equipment, state media has been publishing daily figures of people who report fever symptoms. As of Tuesday, 4.53 million people have come down with fever, 72 of whom have died, 38 North, a site that provides analysis on the country and is run by the U.S.-based Stimson Center think tank, reported. Translated by Claire Lee and Leejin J. Chung. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Cambodian American lawyer gets 6 years for ‘treason’ in mass sentencing of opposition

Editor011 mins

Police in Phnom Penh on Tuesday arrested a Cambodian American lawyer and activist dressed as the Statue of Liberty outside a courthouse, where minutes before a mass trial ended by convicting her and more than 50 other opposition figures of treason. Theary Seng was a high-ranking member of the Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) before the country’s Supreme Court dissolved the party five years ago, a decision that paved the way for Prime Minister Hun Sen to tighten his grip on the country and squash criticism of his longstanding government.    Wearing a copper-patina hued flowing gown and speckled in glitter, Theary Seng stood holding the torch of liberty in one hand and a tablet reading “Paris Peace Accord, 23 October 1991” in the other, a reference to the agreement that ended civil war in Cambodia and established the Southeast Asian nation as a fledgling democracy. “I am ready for the sham verdict that will be announced this morning which will be a guilty verdict. I am ready and prepared to go to the notorious Cambodian prison for my political opinions, for my beliefs, for my belief in democracy,” she told reporters prior to the conviction. “This regime will not let me go free. It will be an unfair and unjust verdict, because I am innocent, the others charged with me are innocent. But we are living in a dictatorship, we are living in a regime that suppresses and represses its own people, that punishes, that uses the law as a weapon against its own people,” Theary Seng said. She also said that she would not enter the court during the trial. If the authorities wanted to arrest her, they would have to do it publicly, she said. Theary Seng was sentenced to six years in prison, while the others received sentences ranging from five to eight years. Among the other activists on trial Tuesday, 27 were tried in absentia, according to New York-based Human Rights Watch. The treason charges against the activists stem from abortive efforts in 2019 to bring about the return to Cambodia of CNRP leader Sam Rainsy, who has been in exile in France to avoid what his supporters say are politicized charges against him. Following the verdict, authorities obliged Theary Seng’s request for a public arrest — two police officers grabbed her and rushed her into a waiting truck, a video shows. Chhoeun Daravy, an activist who witnessed the arrest, told RFA the police truck drove her to prison. “We are deeply troubled by today’s unjust verdicts against Theary Seng and others,” the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia said in a statement posted to Facebook. “Freedom of expression and association, and tolerance of dissenting views, are vital components of democracy. “We call on Cambodian authorities to release her and other human rights activists from unjust imprisonment.” The Cambodian government’s spokesperson, Phay Siphan, told RFA’s Khmer Service that Theary Seng’s courtside demonstration had nothing to do with the verdict, and tried to dispel the idea that her conviction could damage relations with Washington. “The court’s measures are based on the law,” he said. “Cambodia and the U.S relationship is important … more important than just one person,” Phay Siphan said. Because Theary Seng is a dual citizen of Cambodia and the United States, the embassy can request that she serve her sentence in the U.S., Phay Siphan said. He also said she had the option to appeal and could also seek amnesty from Cambodia’s king after serving two-thirds, or four years, of her sentence. Theary Seng’s lawyer, Choung Chou Ngy, told RFA that he will appeal the court’s verdict. Meanwhile, the prison department refused to allow him to see her, which he said violated the law. The court’s verdicts today show a double standard, Ny Sokha of the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association told RFA. He said that former CNRP officials who agreed to defect to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party have seen their sentences suspended or the charges they faced dropped. “The court’s decision is more about politics rather than the law. If the culture of the dialogue still existed, no one would have been prosecuted. The problem stemmed from political conflict,” he said. In an interview with RFA, Sam Rainsy said he would return to Cambodia to face charges if Hun Sen dropped all charges against former CNRP officials, including Theary Seng. “Hun Sen has targeted me. Hun Sen is afraid of my presence. Why is Hun Sen is afraid of me?” he said. “Release all the prisoners. I volunteer to stay in jail since they [the court] accused me of being the ring leader.” During the mass trial in Phnom Penh Tuesday, Sam Rainsy was given an additional eight years in absentia–adding to the 47 years he has received in recent years. “Hun Sen is afraid of democracy. About 61 were prosecuted but millions of people won’t be intimidated. Wipe your tears and continue,” he said, adding that Theary Seng would be a bone that Hun Sen would have to swallow. Jared Genser, who is providing pro bono counsel to Theary Seng, condemned the court’s decision. “By detaining Theary on plainly fabricated national security charges, Hun Sen has violated a litany of her rights — and dealt yet another blow to Cambodia’s civic space,” said Genser. “It is clear that Hun Sen feels greatly threatened by this courageous woman who speaks truth to power.”  Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, called Tuesday’s proceedings a “show trial” and said they “expose the Hun Sen government’s fear of any vestige of democracy in Cambodia.” “The mass trials against political opposition members are really about preventing any electoral challenge to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s rule, but they have also come to symbolize the death of Cambodia’s democracy,” Robertson said. “By creating a political dynamic that relies on intimidation and persecution of government critics, Hun Sen demonstrates his total disregard for democratic rights,” he said. The convictions draw to a close a trial that began in 2020…

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Police in China’s Tangshan promise citywide crime crackdown after thugs beat woman

Editor012 mins

Police in the northern Chinese city of Tangshan have announced a citywide crackdown on violent crime after a viral video of thugs beating up a woman at a barbecue restaurant sparked massive public outrage. Nine people were arrested in connection with the incident. Tangshan mayor Tian Guoliang said the city would “strike hard” against organized crime and improve public order after several of the woman’s assailants were found to have ties to a Jiangsu-based criminal gang, the Tian ‘an Society, according to state broadcaster CCTV.   The anti-crime campaign received widespread public support on social media, where the video has sparked outrage, prompting women to voice concerns about traveling or eating alone. It will target criminal activities that “spur strong emotion from the public and have an adverse influence on society, including intentional injury, extortion, drug abuse and cybercrimes,” the English-language China Daily newspaper reported. The video — which shows women initially fighting back after being approached and harassed by an unidentified man — has been traced to the early hours of June 10, at a restaurant in Tangshan’s Lubei district. Much of the outrage focused on the fact that nobody watching intervened to stop the subsequent, vicious beating of the women who fended off the initial assault, who was left severely injured as the attackers ran off. Four women were injured in the incident, two of whom were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, police told state media. The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s disciplinary arm called for the “root causes” of the crime to be investigated and dealt with. “We must stick to a zero tolerance policy for all kinds of illegal and criminal activities … and build a comprehensive and three-dimensional prevention and control system,” the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said. “Don’t wait for problems to emerge before you pay attention to them.” Hebei resident Zheng Cheng said the barbecue restaurant incident was just the tip of the iceberg, in a city plagued by gang violence. “They have their own independent source of funding, and there are [powerful] people behind them,” Zheng told RFA. “These attackers are very arrogant, and act as tyrants in the local area.” Further reports of violence against women have emerged in Tangshan since the beating video. Kidnappings Pictures posted by medical staff from a Tangshan hospital showed a young woman’s injuries after she was kidnapped outside the high-speed railway station, raped and stabbed, eventually crawling two kilometers before being rescued. A nightclub singer surnamed Zhang also reported being kidnapped by a Tangshan gang who held her for ransom, locking her in a dog cage. Six people have been arrested in connection with her case, and with that of a cake shop owner who reported extortion, Tangshan police department said on Monday. A current affairs commentator surnamed Cai said online discussion of the case was relatively free, even on China’s tightly controlled internet. “The reason they have gone easy on online [reports and comments] is that there was no official involvement here,” Cai said. “That’s hugely important. If officials had played any kind of a role here, they would have shut down discussion.” “They are now deflecting the blame onto criminal gangs, to take the heat off the government,” he said. Xue Li, a Generation Z woman, said she has been left sad and angry after reading constant updates on the Tangshan incident on her phone all weekend. “I just felt so angry at the time, and so disappointed, for the same reason as everyone else, which was why was nobody helping?” she said. “How is it that men can just get away with beating up women like that?” Another young woman who asked to be identified as S said she had felt panicky after seeing the video. “I couldn’t breathe,” S said. “I couldn’t believe that something like this could happen in 2022.” A Taiyuan resident who gave only the nickname Ellie said many women are well aware that the Tangshan incident was just the tip of the iceberg. “What makes me feel even more helpless is that this is just one of countless cases of violence against women, and if the authorities hadn’t decided to go in hot [due to the online outcry], they wouldn’t have arrested them so soon,” she said. ‘Powerless in the face of absolute violence’ Another woman who gave the nickname Shirley said telling women to be more careful wasn’t the right response. “I don’t know why, but every time this kind of incident happens, somebody comes out and says that women should take steps to protect themselves,” she said. “I used to agree with that, but after watching this incident, I wonder if women can actually protect themselves,” she said. “Even if I stop wearing [certain clothes] or going to out-of-the-way places … I’m still powerless in the face of absolute violence,” Shirley said. The Tangshan beating was just the latest case of violence against women to rock China in recent months, In February, harrowing video footage of a woman identified as Xiaohuamei chained by the neck in an outbuilding went viral on the Chinese internet, prompting widespread public anger over the rampant trafficking of women and girls, aided and abetted by local ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. An investigation by Jiangsu provincial authorities said Yang was a missing woman known by the nickname Xiaohuamei who was trafficked out of the southwestern province of Yunnan in 1997 and sold twice by human traffickers in Feng county. Nine people have been arrested for crimes linked to her trafficking, including her “husband,” who was identified by his surname, Dong. However, doubts remain about Yang’s actual identity. “Both the Tangshan incident and the case of the chained woman a few months ago, taken together, have contributed to a general concern among Chinese women that there are no guarantees for their personal safety,” Human Rights Watch senior researcher Maya Wang told RFA. According to the government-backed news website The Paper, found a number of court cases in which men stood trial for…

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Taiwan says China’s sovereignty claims over Taiwan Strait reveal military ambitions

Editor07 mins

Taiwan on Tuesday rejected China’s claim that the Taiwan Strait, the body of water between the democratic island and China, were its own territorial waters. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou said the Taiwan Strait is defined in international law as international waters. “Our government has always respected any activities conducted by foreign vessels in the Taiwan Strait that are allowed by international law,” Ou told reporters in Taipei. “We understand and support the freedom of navigation operations conducted by the U.S. as these operations promote peace and stability in the region,” she said. She said recent comments by Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin laying claim to the Taiwan Strait were “a distortion of international law.” She said Wang’s comments “revealed [China’s] ambition to annex Taiwan.” While Taiwan has never been governed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) nor formed part of the People’s Republic of China, and its 23 million people have no wish to give up their sovereignty or democratic way of life, Beijing insists the island is part of its territory. “Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory,” Wang told a news conference on June 13. “Taiwan has sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the Taiwan Strait.” “It is a false claim when certain countries call the Taiwan Strait ‘international waters’ in order to find a pretext for manipulating issues related to Taiwan and threatening China’s sovereignty and security,” he said. China vs rule-based international order In Taipei, Ou said Taiwan will continue to work with like-minded countries to jointly uphold the rule-based international order and promote peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), countries can claim an area 12 nautical miles (22 kilometers) from the coast as their territorial seas, where they have full sovereignty. They can also claim exclusive economic rights over waters up to 200 nautical miles from their coast, but other countries still have the right to sail through or fly over the waters. Most of the Taiwan Strait is less than 200 nautical miles wide, meaning that Chinese and Taiwanese economic claims mostly overlap. Huang Chieh-chung, associate professor of international affairs and strategy at Taiwan’s Tamkang University, said the timing of Wang’s claim was interesting. “Is it appropriate to come out and say something like this now? The intentions behind [Wang’s comments] may need further analysis,” he said. He said it was unclear whether the international community would support China’s claim. “The Taiwan Strait is an important international waterway, so how can China claim it all as its own?” Huang said. “Whether or not China can win international support for this view is up to them.” “But we in Taiwan won’t accept it.” Legitimacy rejected Ye Yaoyuan, director of the Department of International Studies and Contemporary Linguistics at the University of St. Thomas in the United States, said Beijing’s intention could be linked to legal moves aimed at paving the way for a military invasion of Taiwan. “One thing China has been doing is showing [its actions regarding Taiwan] from a legal point of view,” Ye told RFA. “If there is war in the Taiwan Strait, can they prevent other countries from intervening in such a war using international law, or intimidate them?” “China has been making comments, particularly using the perspective of international law, to strengthen its legal case for forcing ‘unification’ on Taiwan,” Ye said. “But the legitimacy [of such arguments] isn’t accepted by most countries.” Chinese leader Xi Jinping has signed a directive allowing ‘non-war’ uses of the military, prompting concerns that Beijing may be gearing up to invade the democratic island of Taiwan under the guise of a “special operation” not classified as war. The U.S. State Department hadn’t responded to requests for its comment on Wang Wenbin’s comments by the time of writing. U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan held “candid” talks with Chinese defense minister Yang Jiechi on Monday, with scant agreement reached on the matter of Taiwan. Sullivan reiterated the U.S. policy of recognizing Chinese sovereignty but expressed “concerns about Beijing’s coercive and aggressive actions across the Taiwan Strait,” a senior White House official told Agence France-Presse. Last month, U.S. President Joe Biden appeared to break with decades of Washington policy when he said the U.S. would defend Taiwan militarily if it was attacked by China. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Three die in raid on Sagaing region village

Editor05 mins

The bodies of a woman and two men have been found after junta troops set fire to Lat Pu Kan village in Myanmar’s Sagaing region on Monday. The three had been tied up and killed before troops torched the village in Pale township. The bodies of the woman, Daw Aye Man, and a man U Kyaung Maung, both in their 70s, were found along with U Paw, a man in his 80s, a local resident told RFA. “The victims were arrested and killed,” said the resident, who declined to be named for safety reasons. “Daw Aye Man, the woman, could not go anywhere as she was old and had no one who could carry her to help her flee. She was killed in her bed. U Paw, who was over 80, had poor vision. He was tied up and killed. The other man, U Kyaung Maung, was deaf. Their bodies were found after the military left the village.”  It was not clear why the three were killed when they were unable to take up arms to resist the junta forces. Calls to a military council spokesman by RFA on Tuesday morning went unanswered. In addition to the three murdered villagers, a 30-year-old local, Ko Naing, is missing according to local residents. A 53-year-old man, U Paw San, was shot and injured on Monday when troops fired heavy artillery and live rounds on nearby Kokko Gone village, locals told RFA. Three cattle were also killed. The military council has not issued a statement on either incident. The local People’s Defense Force (PDF) militia said that local PDFs have been able to defeat the junta’s troops because locals led them around landmines. It said that was why troops targeted the villages. Local militia member, Saya Poe Thar from the Kya Thit Nat group (Leopard Squad) said the troops who burned Lat Pu Kan and Kokko Gone villages on Monday also went to Pon Taung Nat Htake village in Pale Township on June 10, sending 107 military trucks, carrying around 170 soldiers. The troops included a landmine clearance team.  He said about 10 soldiers were killed on Sunday by landmines laid by the Kya Thit Nat militia group. Two local fighters also died. The military then set fire to nearby villages thought to support the PDFs, killing civilians and destroying their homes, Saya Poe Thar said. Sagaing has been the site of some of the fiercest fighting between military troops and opposition PDFs since the junta seized power in February last year. Data for Myanmar says 103 people were killed and 192 injured in the region between February 1, 2021 and April 28 this year. Fighting and arson attacks have forced an estimated 336,600 people to flee their homes in Sagaing since the coup, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. Independent think-tank Institute for Strategy and Policy Myanmar said this month that around 15,530 homes and other buildings had been burned or destroyed in the northwest region from the start of military rule until May 26 this year, representing nearly 70% of all the buildings damaged in Myanmar.

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Thousands rally to mark 3rd anniversary of 2019 anti-extradition protest in Hong Kong

Editor011 mins

Thousands of exiled Hongkongers and allies marked the 3rd anniversary of the 2019 Hong Kong protest movement in cities around the world at the weekend, with a large crowd gathering on Parliament Square in London to mark the first anniversary of mass public protests on June 12, 2019. Some 4,000 protesters gathered in London gathered at Marble Arch, marching to Parliament Square to chant slogans including “Free Hong Kong! Revolution now!”, which has been banned under a draconian national security law in Hong Kong. Exiled former pro-democracy lawmaker Nathan Law said people’s goals weren’t all the same, but that Hongkongers in exile would still work together. “Some people want an armed revolution, the liberation of Hong Kong, and independence for Hong Kong,” Law said. “We have also heard how we might use culture to change a society.” “We imagine different paths to reach the goal, but we all share the same values,” he said. “We are diverse, we don’t have only one voice, and we don’t have only one way to express what we want.” “This diversity can be complementary, and coexist without any of us being subordinate to each other or telling each other what to do, but with the community responding to everyone when needed,” he said. In Liverpool, drone footage showed a line of dozens of people along a busy shopping street, dressed in the black of the 2019 protest movement, and carrying the yellow umbrellas of the democracy movement. At the London rally, participants were asked to remember the 10,277 people arrested and the 2,800 prosecuted under the national security law, which was imposed on the city by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from July 1, 2020, ushering in an ongoing crackdown on peaceful political opposition and public dissent. The rally marked the mass protest that blockaded Hong Kong’s Legislative Council (LegCo) on June 12, preventing lawmakers from getting into the chamber to pass a hugely unpopular legal amendment that would have allowed the extradition of alleged criminal suspects to mainland China. The protest was the first of many to be quelled that year by widespread police violence that saw the firing of tear gas and rubber bullets on an unarmed and peaceful crowd, many of whom were unable to flee, as well as mass arrests and physical beatings of mostly young people. Teargas memories A young man who was there at the time, and who now lives in the U.K., said he still has vivid memories of the day. “When I got there, all I could smell was the harsh and pungent smell of tear gas,” the man, who gave only the nickname Karson, told RFA at the London rally. “The people were surrounded by [police firing] tear gas, and there was no way for us to leave.” “I remember the police saying at the time that they wanted the crowd to disperse, but they also tear gassed protests that had [police approval], and … prevented people from leaving,” he said. “That sort of action in a crowded place caused people to trample each other.” Karson, who is in the difficult process of applying for political asylum, said others shouldn’t be discouraged, as there are organizations set up to help asylum-seekers from Hong Kong. A Hongkonger who arrived in the U.K. with his family over a year ago, who gave only the surname Chan, was also in Parliament Square, joining in with a mass rendition of the Les Miserables hit “Do You Hear The People Sing?”, which was often sung during the 2019 protests. Chan said his family had agreed the night before that they should all attend to support Hong Kong, now that they live overseas. “I want to tell our brothers and sisters in Hong Kong prisons that we have not forgotten you or given up on you,” Chan told RFA. “We are still very worried about you and care about you, and hope you are safe and well.” Mrs Chan said she is keen not to forget the protest movement, and the subsequent crackdown imposed by Beijing. “I felt that I needed to keep the momentum going, so that I don’t forget what happened,” she said. “This isn’t over, and I want to see it through.” The Chans’ 11-year-old daughter Kimmy said she is in the process of explaining to her classmates what has befallen Hong Kong in recent years. “I will tell them the story of the Hong Kong people, from the Umbrella Revolution [of 2014] to the present and try to take the fight to the international front,” Kimmy said. “Maybe, if more people know about it, Hong Kong can be restored [to the way it was], I hope.” Speak up when being bullied An older woman, also surnamed Chan, said she had come to the rally after living in the U.K. for decades. “I think it’s very important to deliver on one’s promises and not just to talk big,” she said. “As you can see from my slogan, we just want to get back what we deserve: it’s that simple.” “I think if people are bullying you, and you are unhappy about it, you have to speak up.” Similar rallies were held across the U.K. on Sunday, including Liverpool, Manchester and Nottingham. Manchester police took away a man in a red shirt who started playing the Chinese national anthem during the rally in the city. Hongkongers and their supporters also rallied on the democratic island of Taiwan. Some 700 people set off from Elephant Park in Taipei, many of them wearing black clothing and shouting 2019 protest slogans, as well as slogans calling on the authorities to defend Taiwan against CCP infiltration and aggression. “There’s nothing that people in Hong Kong can do right now [because of the national security crackdown], so we who are overseas should do a bit more,” a protester surnamed Chan told RFA. “It’s important to keep these memories going now that we are in a place of relative safety.” Another protester surnamed Chow said he had…

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Chinese rubber company detains Laos farmer trying to sell crop outside province

Editor07 mins

Employees of a Chinese-owned rubber company in rural Laos illegally stopped a local rubber tree farmer trying to sell his harvest to another buyer for a higher price, sources in the Southeast Asian country told RFA. Zhongtian Luye operates a rubber processing factory in Khua district in the northern province of Phongsaly along the border with China. The company created a contract farming system with rubber tree farmers in the area to maintain supply. It pays farmers U.S. $0.56 per kilogram ($0.25 per pound) of natural rubber. Though it has contracts with local farmers for certain quantities of their yield, nothing is stopping them from selling the rest of their crop in nearby Oudomxay province, where prices are around 25% higher. Employees of the rubber company blocked a road to prevent a car packed with raw rubber from leaving town, a villager told RFA’s Lao Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “They thought that the driver was shipping his output to sell in Oudomxay province [in breach of contract.] They also thought that he was trying to buy output from other villagers who have contracts with the company,” the villager said. “That is why they stopped his car and took it to their camp area. Normally if a car is stopped and there is any kind of wrongdoing, it should be taken to the district police station,” he said. Police showed up at the work camp to investigate, later ordering the company to release the driver. Zhongtian Luye did not have a contract with the man who was stopped, and the rubber was all from his own farm, the villager said. Police fined the employees for blocking the road without permission. A second villager said the company may feel justified in buying rubber at below market prices from local farmers because of the money it has invested in the area, including for road construction and to help farmers start producing rubber. There also have been cases where the farmers broke their agreements with Zhongtian Luye to try to make more money elsewhere, the second villager said. “They already signed agreements, but some farmers are not satisfied with the price set by the Chinese company,” the second source said. “The company has a concession and the right to buy from the farmers as stated in the memorandum of understanding. However, when the trees are mature for harvesting, some farmers don’t want to sell for so low.” A woman who used to do business with Zhongtian Luye told RFA that the company feels entitled to all the rubber produced in the area, even from farmers who are not under contract. “They want them to sell it to their company only, even though they can get a higher price in Oudomxay,” she said. RFA was able to contact Zhongtian Luye’s interpreter but he declined to comment on the issue. Under the most common contract farming system in Laos, referred to as “3+2 contract farming,” companies provide funding, training and marketing services to producers, in addition to buying the product, while farmers provide land and labor. The central or local government is usually responsible for ensuring that neither party is taken advantage of. An official from the Phongsaly province’s Department of Agriculture and Forests told RFA that Zhongtian Luye, the province and the farmers have signed production agreements. The company can decide to block roads to prevent the farmers from selling elsewhere, the official said. “It is to up the provincial and district level authorities to consider how to solve this kind of problem and the district deputy governor will hold a meeting to find a solution,” the official said. “But the agreement states that the rubber farmers who signed a contract-farming agreement cannot sell to other companies, but only this company,” he said, without explaining why the company has a right to prevent the farmers not under contract from selling elsewhere. The official said the company does not tell his department the prices it pays, but said the department would meet with the company to double check that the contracts are fair. Zhongtian Luye has been operating in Khua district since 2006. It is unknown how many farmers have contracts to produce rubber for the company. According to the report from the Phongsaly province People’s Assembly, there are two Chinese rubber companies in the district. Translated by Phouvong. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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