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Category: Middle East

Beijing’s zero-COVID policy snags Lao exports to China via new railway

Editor09 mins

Costly and time-consuming customs-clearing procedures put in place as part of China’s zero-COVID-19 restrictions are making it difficult for Lao traders to export products via the new Laos-China Railway, Lao officials and people involved in cross-border trade said. Lao authorities have been negotiating with their Chinese counterparts and officials with the rail company for months in an effort to send more Lao goods by train to China, but to little avail, said a Lao transportation official, who declined to be named so he could speak freely to the media. The U.S. $6 billion high-speed railway has been in operation for four months. Chinese goods and produce are shipped to Laos daily, while Lao goods are rarely transported to China, and fresh produce is not carried at all. The Chinese government’s ongoing enforcement of its zero-COVID policy for containing the highly contagious virus through intensive testing and tracing and lockdowns has meant that all imported goods must be fully checked and limits on the kinds of fruits and vegetables that are allowed in, the Lao official said. “The Chinese government does not allow sending fresh products and is still enforcing zero-COVID-19 procedures,” he said. Another complicating factor is that the train is not ready to carry fresh agricultural products, though it is transporting Chinese machinery, electrical equipment and housewares from China to Laos, the official told RFA on Monday. “Most Lao produce, including bananas and watermelons, haven’t been transported by train to China yet because these agricultural products are perishable, and the train containers are too hot for them,” the official said. Only some dried agricultural products from Laos, such as rubber, cassava and soil from Laos, can be exported by land to China via the railway, he said. A manager of the Vientiane office of a Chinese company that offers shipping services to businesses via the new railway told RFA that the COVID restrictions in China take too much money and time to process for most shippers. “They are very strict about the shipping of fresh products, fruit and produce,” he said. “The import and export of goods and tax document declaration is pretty hard as strict measures to cope COVID-19 are still imposed.” RFA could not reach the Chinese Embassy in Vientiane for comment. But state-run China Radio International reported on April 12 that China continued to enforce the zero-COVID policy to prevent all means of the virus from entering the country, including through the import of produce. A freight train from China traveling along the Laos-China Railway stops at Vang Vieng station in Vientiane province, Laos, Dec. 4, 2021. Credit: RFA Rotten fruit A businesswoman in southern Laos who exports white charcoal to China, South Korea and Japan said she’d like to use the railway but the Chinese have made the process too difficult. As of now, she sends goods to her customers in other countries via ships that leave from a Vietnamese port. A truck driver in northern Laos, who provides shipping services to China, said it was still more convenient and faster to ship produce to China via truck, even though that process has also slowed. “Sending fruits via Laos-China railway is not easy or fast,” he said. “The process takes very long, and the fruits can go rotten if it is not sent to China on time.” It used to take truck drivers two to three days to reach China by road, but COVID-19 protocols at the border have led to huge traffic jams and added as much as three days to the journey, he said. “When we reach Laos-China border, there will be trucks from China to take fruits or produce from our trucks … because we cannot drive to the cities in China,” the driver said. “These days, it is very hard to drive to China, and the COVID-19 control is very strict, and I do not understand why,” he said. “There will be officials in white plastic suits who will drive the trucks of fruit and produce from us into mainland China.” Phithoun Sri-inngarm, director of Nongkhai province’s customs office, told RFA that the Laos-China Railway transports goods from China to Laos and Thailand, but not vice versa. “In the past four months, transporting goods from Thailand to China through Laos is still very little when compared to goods shipped from China to Thailand through Laos,” he said. “The main reason is the difficult process on the Chinese side.” On March 27, the first shipment of Thai fruit — 40 tons of durians in two containers and 20 tons of coconuts in one container — was transported from Rayong province, Thailand, via the Laos-China Railway to Chongqing municipality, according to a Thai media report that cited Somkiat Mansiripibul, the manager of Kaocharoen Train Transport Co., Ltd. In January, the first shipment of 1,000 tonnes of Thai rice was delivered to China via the Laos-China railway, Thai media reported. As of March 3, the Laos-China Railway had carried more than 1.7 million passengers — 1.6 million of whom travelled on the section of railway in China — and 1.1 million tons of goods, according to the Lao News Agency. Officials have expected the railway to cut the cost of transport through Laos by 30%-40% compared to travel by road, giving a boost to trade and investment in the impoverished, landlocked country. The railway has operated 350 international train journeys carrying over 250,000 tons of freight since the start of 2022, Lao News Agency reported. Translated by RFA’s Lao Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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Nearly 40 Buddhist clergy killed and 40 jailed since Myanmar coup

Editor010 mins

Nearly 40 Buddhist clergy have been killed, and 40 others jailed, since Myanmar’s military took control of the country in a coup last year, according to data compiled by RFA’s Myanmar Service.   The 38 monks and one nun were killed between Feb. 1, 2021 — the day the military seized power — and mid-April 2022, RFA found through analysis of junta press releases, local media reports and interviews with sources.   A recent statement by the junta claimed that 33 monks were killed, and seven others injured, in a single April 3 attack by prodemocracy People’s Defense Force (PDF) paramilitaries, a group the military regime has accused of terrorism. RFA was unable to independently verify the claims made by the junta.   RFA’s own records, based on sources and local media reports, show that at least five monks were arrested and killed by junta authorities for alleged links to PDF groups, while another 38 monks are being held in various prisons throughout the country.   Residents and Buddhist leaders from Mandalay region’s Madaya township told RFA that on April 3 a PDF unit killed a monk from the township’s Kin village for allegedly working as an informer for the military. In retaliation, they said, the military arrested the head of the area monastic school Pinnya Wuntha, who later died in detention after being interrogated by troops.   Than Lone, a member of the PDF in neighboring Mingin township, told RFA that with the exception of those with ties to groups such as the pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia, the PDF had never killed a Buddhist clergy member.   “We can boldly say that no PDF units have killed any civilians … as long as they were not Dalans (informers),” he said.   “No comrade would have done that kind of killing. We are all connected. We might get rid of Dalans or Pyu Saw Htee members, but no one else.”   Than Lone said that the PDFs were formed “to protect the public” from the military and said they “would never do anything that would upset the people.”   Another report on the alleged killing of a monk by the military was relayed to RFA on Sunday by residents of Thabyethar village in Sagaing region’s Wuntho township, who said troops shot and killed the village abbot after he tried to stop them from setting fire to area homes.   When asked by RFA about reports of the killing and arrests of Buddhist clergy, junta deputy information minister, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, said that military has only arrested monks in rare circumstances.   “When it comes to arrests, the government rarely does that to monks,” he said. “In some places, so-called PDF terrorist fighters are operating under the guise of being monks. When we find out who they really are, we must take legal action.”   Zaw Min Tun did not comment on reports of the military killing monks.   Ma Ba Tha monks   Last month, a video went viral on social media in Myanmar purportedly showing monks with the hardline Ma Ba Tha group on a “tour” of several pro-junta villages in Sagaing in support of forming Pyu Saw Htee units. The video appears to show the monks helping to train people and delivering Buddhist sermons.   In one clip, Ma Ba Tha leaders known as “sayadaws” appear to be holding guns in their hands and telling residents that the PDFs are killing people and setting fire to villages.   Sources told RFA that the footage was filmed on Feb. 27 at the Yadanar Kan Myint Htei Monastery during a Pyu Saw Htee training camp graduation ceremony in Taze township’s Kabe village. They confirmed that pro-junta monks have been “carrying guns” and “taking part in some of the fighting” in the region.   A woman in Monywa region, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, blamed the deaths of the 38 clergy and many other civilians on the country’s leading monks, who she said had failed to intervene and stop the military’s crackdown on opponents to its rule.   “I’m heartbroken that [they] didn’t stop the junta from committing violence and killings,” she said.   According to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, authorities have killed at least 1,782 civilians and arrested nearly 10,300 others since the Feb. 1, 2021, coup, mostly during peaceful anti-junta protests.   Attempts by RFA to contact the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Group, a Yangon-based Buddhist monastic order, for comment on the reported killings went unanswered Monday.   Ashin Rajadhamma, a member of the Sangha Union in Mandalay, said true monks should not be engaged in weapons training or acting as informants for the military.   “National politics doesn’t call for monks to be involved in an armed struggle,” he said.   “Historically, the involvement of the monks [in politics] was nonviolent. We stand by doing the right thing. That’s why we express our wishes in a non-violent way. We take part in peaceful street protests. That’s how monks should be involved in national politics.”   Of the 38 monks RFA confirmed to be held in prison since the coup, most are from the regions of Mandalay, Sagaing, Bago, Tanintharyi, Ayeyawaddy, Magway and Yangon.   Among them are Thaw Bita (Alinga Kyeh) and Tay Zaniya (Mandalay Hill), two prominent monks with ties to the deposed National League for Democracy (NLD) party who were arrested on the day of the power grab. Thaw Bita was later sentenced to a two-year jail term by a prison court.   There are more than 500,000 Buddhist monks and 600,000 nuns in Myanmar, and while they are aligned in their veneration of the Buddha, their political interests vary. Some Buddhist clergy are outspoken proponents of democracy, while others support the junta for what they say is its protection of religious values.   Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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Viral Shanghai lockdown video-maker deletes own work amid rumors of detention

Editor09 mins

The creator of a viral video about the Shanghai lockdown has said he has deleted it, and that rumors of his detention were untrue, as shoppers poured into stores in Beijing amid rising COVID-19 cases. The montage-style video “April Voices” puts together audio clips, video and still photos of the past few weeks of life under the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s zero-COVID policy. “Shanghai is not under lockdown, and doesn’t need to be,” an official voice is heard saying at the start, followed by images of deserted streets and soundbites about overcrowded hospitals and ambulances that never come and deleted complaints posted to social media. It continues with audio of crying babies, complaints about undelivered groceries, rotting vegetables by the roadside, the scarcity of basic foodstuffs and water, wails and shouts from the windows of high-rise apartment buildings demanding officials hand out basic supplies. In the middle is a tearful clip of an exhausted neighborhood committee official who laments the lack of sensible policies or even explanations about why some 25 million people have been confined to their homes since late March and forced to submit to round after round of mass COVID-19 testing, before either being sent to overcrowded and under-resourced quarantine facilities or walled up in their own buildings and apartments, often with welded metal barriers. “Are they going to kill it? Oh my God!” says one woman, apparently witnessing officials dispatching a pet whose owners have been taken away after testing positive. “Some nice police officers brought us food, because we hadn’t eaten in several foods,” a man’s voice says, while another man talks about being unable to get admitted for urgent treatment in hospital owing to stringent testing requirements. “People might not be dying of the virus, but they’re starving to death,” says a man’s voice. “They haven’t even put up beds so we’re sleeping on the floor,” a woman’s voice says. “Are you locking the door?” shouts a woman. “What if there’s a fire?” a man demands to know. “I’m sorry to disturb you ma’am but my kid has a fever!” yells another woman. The blogger and video-maker Strawberry Fields, who described themselves as “Shanghai born and bred,” said via QQ.com that the video had now been deleted. “There were online comments today about the maker of the video being taken away, and a lot of people have been asking what happened, so I need to clarify things,” the blogger wrote. “My family and I are all fine, at home as usual, and no officials have contacted me.” “I felt that perhaps the meaning given to the video had been extended by its audience, and it spread far further and faster than is normal, so I deleted it myself at around 3 p.m. today,” they wrote. “I don’t want any more misunderstandings.” The video’s disappearance came as residents of Pudong and Huangpu protested at officials who had come to seal them into their buildings with steel barriers and fences, which are springing up across the city, sometimes cutting off entire districts from each other by blocking main thoroughfares. Shanghai authorities reported 51 deaths from COVID-19 in the past day, with 2,680 newly confirmed symptomatic cases and more than 17,000 asymptomatic cases. A resident of Beijing queues up for nucleic acid testing, April 25, 2022. Credit: Reuters Beijing preparing for closure Meanwhile, shoppers flooded stores and supermarkets in Beijing amid rising COVID-19 cases, as the authorities sealed off a number of residential districts in Chaoyang district. Store shelves were rapidly emptying of basic foodstuffs, fresh fruit and vegetables, sanitary supplies and Coca-Cola, as people scrambled to lay in stores for prolonged restrictions on their freedom of movement. Pork, steak and burgers, onion, ginger and coriander were among the first to go, as online posts suggested buying a second refrigerator or freezer to store food in for the long haul. Chaoyang district has launched a program of district-wide mass COVID-19 testing, to be repeated three times over the next week, a local resident surnamed Sun told RFA. “There was an infection source traced to Chuiyangliu in Chaoyang district,” he said. “All staff will undergo PCR testing today, and again on Wednesday and Friday, three times in all,” Sun said. “A lot of people are now buying food.” Another resident said many store shelves now stand empty. “Residents rushed to buy food at various supermarkets in Beijing yesterday, all the food is gone, and the shelves are empty,” the resident said. Current affairs commentator Li Ang said the authorities have shown in their handling of the Shanghai lockdown that they are less concerned about COVID-19 than they are about potential social unrest. “The main point is to strengthen their control of society in an all-round way, to prevent trouble, any unexpected incidents from happening,” Li said. “The first thing they consider is the stability of the regime, and the second is the security of the regime.” “That is the top priority, and nothing else is seen as a problem.” Lockdowns were imposed on 14 areas in Chaoyang at the time of writing, with another 14 areas subject to less stringent restrictions on people’s movements. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Vietnam says it discussed army games with Russia, not military drills

Editor05 mins

The Vietnamese Defense Ministry says that a meeting this month with Russia did not discuss a joint military exercise as reported Russian state media but an international military competition. Vietnam’s version of events published in the official military newspaper Sunday could be intended to distance Vietnam from bilateral military activities with Russia amid international condemnation of the war in Ukraine. Quan Doi Nhan Dan, the official mouthpiece of Vietnam’s armed forces, reported that on April 15 a Vietnamese delegation led by Maj. Gen. Do Dinh Thanh, commander of Vietnam Army’s Tank Force and Armored Warfare, took part in a virtual meeting with the Russian side to discuss Vietnam’s participation in the Army Games 2022. The International Army Games, dubbed the War Olympics, is an annual military competition hosted by Russia since 2015, usually at the end of summer. Participating armies compete in different events such as “tank biathlon,” infantry, anti-aircraft artillery and troop intelligence. China has been a regular participant of the games while Vietnam began taking part in 2018 together with nearly 30 other countries. Analysts say the Army Games aims to showcase the military prowess of Russia and other countries, as well as promote Russian weapons and technologies to prospective buyers. The report in Quan Doi Nhan Dan said the Vietnamese general had requested that his tank team be allowed to arrive early for training and familiarization “if the Army Games are to take place” this year. Bilateral military activities Russia is waging a full-scale war in Ukraine after invading its neighbor on Feb. 24. The invasion, widely condemned by the international community, has caused the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II. On April 19, Russia’s state media reported that Russia and Vietnam were planning to hold a joint military training exercise. The move was described by analysts as “inappropriate” and likely to “raise eyebrows” in the rest of the region. Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti said the initial planning meeting for the military training exercise was held virtually between the leaders of Russia’s Eastern Military District and the Vietnamese army. The news came as the U.S. announced a May 12-13 summit in Washington with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, including Vietnam. Vietnam considers Russia a traditional ally and a “comprehensive strategic partner,” and has been supportive of Moscow despite international outrage over Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. Earlier this month, Vietnam voted against a U.S.-led resolution to remove Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council. Before that, Hanoi abstained from voting to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the U.N. General Assembly. Vietnamese army officials are usually very tight-lipped about international affairs, and the report in the official army newspaper could be viewed as a denial of involvement in bilateral military activities with Russia.

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Soaring unemployment in Myanmar follows junta rollback of labor rights

Editor09 mins

Thu Thu, a 37-year-old laborer living in Shwepyithar township on the outskirts of Myanmar’s commercial capital Yangon, has been trying to find work at one of the Industrial Zone’s garment factories for more than two weeks with no luck. Using a pseudonym, she told RFA’s Myanmar Service that she was unlawfully terminated from her job nearly a month ago and needs to care for her elderly parents and two daughters but said no one wants to hire a woman over the age of 30. “Before, under the [civilian National League for Democracy government], employers hired based on a person’s skills. Now, under junta rule, they tend to look at age and they reject me after they see how old I am on my ID card,” she said. “I am facing severe hardship trying to support my family. Sometimes, to speak truthfully, I even consider taking my own life.” She said she now works odd jobs to make ends meet but questioned how much longer she will be able to manage with few prospects of employment. Thu Thu is just one of around 1,000 laborers trying to find work in the Shwepyithar Industrial Zone, a key component of Myanmar’s U.S. $3.4 billion textile sector. According to the Confederation of Trade Unions of Myanmar, there are over 500,000 textile workers in the Yangon region alone. However, job opportunities – even in the country’s once bustling cities – are drying up. The International Labor Organisation (ILO) estimates that more than 1.6 million workers, or nearly 3 percent of Myanmar’s population of around 54 million, lost their jobs last year due to the coronavirus pandemic and the political upheaval that followed the Feb. 1, 2021 military coup. According to the Myanmar Garment Factory Entrepreneurs Association, only 504 of 759 factories in Yangon are currently operating. Those workers in the Shwepyithar Industrial Zone who still have their jobs said they receive a fixed wage of 4,800 kyats (U.S. $2.60) per day and can no longer work for overtime pay because electricity shortages prevent their factories from operating at full capacity. Other baseline worker benefits have also disappeared in the wake of the coup. Garment worker Su Su Aung told RFA that since the takeover, factory owners have stopped providing medical leave to their employees and instead require that they sign documents agreeing to have their status downgraded following any absences. “We used to be able to take impromptu leave for sickness or take medical leave, but we can no longer do that. If we take leave for a day or two because of an emergency, they reduce our pay grade or skip our bonuses,” she said. “We never experienced these kinds of conditions before. When we appealed to them to keep the old policies in place, they threatened us and said no one would listen to our complaints, so we are forced to work under these conditions.” Workers arrive at a factory in Yangon, in an undated photo. Credit: RFA Reforms rolled back A garment factory worker of seven years’ experience, who declined to be named citing fear of reprisal, said years of labor rights reforms under the NLD government were rolled back seemingly overnight by the coup. “Employers have become more self-centered. There is no rule of law, so they can do whatever they want, knowing that the workers will keep silent because we need the money,” she said. “They think they are entitled to hire and fire people whenever they want. It’s like a living hell for us. We can only hope that someone will emerge who can make our lives better.” Zin Wai Aung, a volunteer who assists workers, said he is receiving an increasing number of complaints about getting fired. “We get two or three cases each day – most of them are for being terminated from work. Many workers get unpaid time off for 20 days and are to come back to work for ten days on regular basis. They no longer have full-time jobs, but they aren’t getting fired either,” he said. “In addition, we have seen many workers getting fired unlawfully, for complaining to their manager or requesting leave or holidays.” Workers arrive at a factory in Yangon, in an undated photo. Credit: RFA An owner of a garment factory that employs nearly 250 people told RFA that workers deserve someone to stand up for them in negotiating their rights. “It is normal to see disputes between workers and employers. We are trying to resolve them on both sides and things are getting better,” he said. But the owner added that after the coup, the labor situation in Myanmar “returned to square one,” leaving workers little protection of their rights. Workers who spoke to RFA echoed the owner’s sentiments, noting that the unions which represented them in disputes under the NLD government had largely disbanded after the takeover because they were being targeted by the military regime. Late last month, the ILO said it plans to investigate whether Myanmar is following conventions its government agreed to on the formation of worker unions and banning forced labor, but the junta has objected to the announcement. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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Hong Kong’s Chinese University evicts student media as PolyU cuts ties with union

Editor09 mins

A Hong Kong university has evicted a student newspaper and radio station, after another cut ties with its student union, amid an ongoing crackdown on freedom of speech on university campuses in the city. The student newspaper and radio station at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), which cut ties with the student union last year after it played a key role in recent pro-democracy protests, “CUHK Campus Radio moved out of Room 302 of the Benjamin Franklin Centre on April 20,” the radio station said in an announcement on its Facebook page on Thursday. “[We] started broadcasting in 1999, 23 years ago, and now we have reached the end,” the statement said. Students running the CUHK Student Press were also told to move out of the club room by university management on the same day, so repairs could be carried out. Asked if they could return after the work was completed, management declined to reply. The newspaper had been running since 1969, and hosted a huge archive of former news and features produced by students, the more historically valuable of which were sifted out and removed by student journalists before they vacated the space, local media reported. No mention was made of the eviction on the paper’s Facebook page, and no stories had been posted since April 20, when the paper reported on a compulsory vaccination program for students. The evictions came after the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) cut ties with its student union. CUHK Campus Radio, which has been evicted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, is the latest casualty in an ongoing crackdown on freedom of speech on university campuses in the city under a draconian national security law imposed by Beijing. Credit: CUHK Campus Radio. Campus protests Both CUHK and PolyU were besieged by riot police during the 2019 protest movement, and saw days of pitched battles between protesters and riot police in November of that year. Rights groups hit out at the Hong Kong police for ‘fanning the flames’ of violence, as desperate protesters were trapped for several days inside the PolyU campus, while hundreds more waged pitched battles with riot police on the streets of Kowloon. The U.S.-based group Human Rights in China condemned police action in and around Poly U as “trapping students, journalists, and first aiders, and reportedly handcuffing the latter group.” “[We] received an email from the Student Affairs Office on the evening of [April] 14 … [in which] the union was officially ordered to drop Hong Kong Polytechnic University from its name,” the Poly U student union said in a Facebook post. “All organizations linked to the union are required to move out of the PolyU campus on or before July 15, 2022,” it said. “The union has been trying to negotiate … with the university for years, but has been unable to reach a consensus,” the statement said. “The university will stop providing all venues and other support [previously] provided to the student union.” The April 15 post called on students to pay attention to the move. “A student union is not just a student organization, but also an expression of collective consciousness,” it said. “We hope PolyU students won’t give up their right to protect themselves.” Meanwhile, the Law Society of Hong Kong served notice on a prominent human rights law firm, which will be forced to close in June after representing an 18-year-old woman who accused several police officers of gang-rape during the 2019 protest movement. Vidler & Co. also represented Indonesian reporter Veby Mega Indah, who lost vision in one eye after being hit by a non-lethal projectile fired by police while covering the protests, although she later terminated her instruction of the firm. Firm founder and senior partner Michael Vidler told RFA he wouldn’t be able to comment on the reasons for the Law Society’s order to cease practicing until June 3, owing to a legal injunction in force until that date. Vidler has also worked with other high-profile Hong Kong dissidents including Joshua Wong, and in 2013 assisted a trans woman — in W V. Registrar of Marriages — to win the right for any transgender person in the city to marry as their affirmed gender. In January, the Education University of Hong Kong became the latest of the city’s universities to cut its student union loose, amid an ongoing clampdown on public speech, under a draconian national security law imposed on the city by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The university said it hadn’t “authorized” the union. Hong Kong student unions have provided various types of activities and benefits for students for decades, receiving funding and premises to do so, as well as participating in the formulation of policy by sending elected representatives to sit on university committees. But since the national security law took effect on July 1, 2020, they have been increasingly criticized by officials and denounced in the CCP-backed media, often a harbinger of official reprisals. Media reports said the University of Hong Kong (HKU), CUHK, City University, Polytechnic University, Lingnan University and Baptist University have all stopped collecting student union dues since the start of the current academic year. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Children of Myanmar’s conflict zones deprived of key immunizations

Editor08 mins

Children whose families have fled fighting in Myanmar’s conflict zones are being deprived of essential immunizations due to lack of access to health care, refugees and medical professionals said Thursday. From infancy to 18 months of age, children are required to receive 12-13 routine immunizations to ensure healthy growth and protection from disease. They include vaccines designed to protect against tuberculosis, measles, hepatitis B, diphtheria, chickenpox, tetanus, polio, meningitis, severe pneumonia, Japanese encephalitis, rubella, severe diarrhea and cervical cancer. But doctors told RFA’s Myanmar Service that regular injections are often not an option for families caught in fighting between junta troops and the armed opposition in the nearly 15 months since the military seized power in a coup. They said small children — especially those in the war-torn remote border areas of Kayin, Kayah, and Chin states and Sagaing region — have been most affected by the failure to immunize, which can lead to stunted growth, severe illness and even death from otherwise treatable medical conditions. A refugee mother from Kayin state sheltering near Myanmar’s border with Thailand told RFA that she was recently forced to flee her village with the baby girl she had given birth to only days earlier. “I had to leave my village with my two-week old baby, and she hasn’t received any vaccines yet,” she said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We had to sleep on the other side of the river [in Thailand] because of the fighting and the baby got sick as the weather was very cold for three or four days. I was so worried for her. The medics tending the refugees here gave us some Paracetamol and she got better, but I wish we could get her vaccinated.” Parents have described a similar situation in Sagaing region, where the military has been burning homes to the ground in raids on villages, they say have provided haven for anti-junta People’s Defense Force (PDF) paramilitaries. A woman from Sagaing’s Yinmabin township Chinbon village said she has been on the move with her young child since her home was recently targeted by military airstrikes. “We’ve been running from place to place, so there is no medication, no vaccines for these children,” said the woman, who also declined to be named. “Many children in the area suffer from poor health, and we just have to give them whatever we can find. There is no proper medicine. We don’t have clinics or hospitals around. My baby is now 15 months old and hasn’t been vaccinated because we’ve been on the run all this time in the jungle.” Lack of medical care since coup Before the coup, Myanmar’s regional Ministries of Health under the democratically elected National League for Democracy government organized routine immunizations for children through hospitals, clinics and rural health centers. In some towns and villages, children were vaccinated by health workers at administrative offices and churches. But since the takeover, many parents in Myanmar’s conflict zones told RFA that their children have never received a full medical exam or routine immunizations. Than Naing Soe, the director of the Health Awareness Center under the junta’s Ministry of Health, rejected claims that families lack access to immunizations for their children. “We’ve been providing vaccinations for children constantly at hospitals and clinics. We can do that,” he said. “Public health services are also being administered in wards and villages, while hospital-based immunization activities are gaining momentum.” But a mother in Chin state’s Tedim township, where anti-junta resistance is strong, alleged that vaccines are not being delivered to health facilities in the region. “In Chin State, no health services or medicine has been available since the coup,” she said, noting that many midwives in rural clinics have joined the [anti-junta] Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), while those who didn’t have no supplies. “We haven’t received anything since the coup. Medical supplies stopped coming in a long time ago. What were we supposed to do? We have had to do whatever it takes to care for our children.” Rebuilding the country A doctor in the CDM, who gave her name only as Olivia, said children are at risk of developmental conditions if they do not receive their required immunizations within a specified age range. “During the 18 months after birth, the baby should be vaccinated in a timely manner. … Only then will they have a chance to fully develop mentally and physically,” she said. “If not vaccinated, their health and safety is at risk. … Losing children means losing key human resources needed to rebuild the country.” The United Nations Children’s Fund said in February that nearly 1 million children in Myanmar are deprived of access to routine immunizations, while around 5 million are at risk of contracting disease due to a lack of vitamin supplements. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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Hun Sen favors cronies with parcels of drained lake land

Editor010 mins

Cambodian’s autocratic Prime Minister Hun Sen has doled out at least 900 hectares of land reclaimed from one of the last large natural lakes in Phnom Penh to his sister, a wealthy tycoon and ally, and top military officials all benefiting from the largesse, according to a domestic land rights organization. The privatization and filling of Boeung Tamok Lake, also known as Beoung Tumnup Kabsrov, has picked up during the past few years, with little left of the body of water on the northwest side of the capital city. The lake spans six communes in Prek Pnov and Sen Sok districts and is home to a diverse ecosystem of birds and fish. It is also home to 300 families and 1,000 people, many of whom earn a living through fishing, aquaculture farming and home-based businesses, according to the Cambodian NGO Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT). Most of the families live in dilapidated and poorly built housing, with 30% residing in makeshift shelters. The lake’s boundaries were officially demarcated in 2016 when the Cambodian government declared Boeung Tamok’s original 3,240 hectares as state public property, according to an April 2021 report by the NGO. As part of a land privatization drive, the government granted dried-out parts of the lake to ministries authorized to resell the land for urban development projects and to oligarchs and cronies close to the government, STT reported. In more than four years, the government has issued more than 40 directives to reclaim parts of the lake or to give away the land, according to STT, which assists poor communities to protect their rights to land and housing. As of late 2021, the government had reclaimed more than half of the lake area, or about 1,670 hectares. Hun Sen-approved land giveaways that went to 11 government ministries and institutions, including the Interior, Justice and Health ministries, Phnom Penh City Hall and the National Police, according to STT and to reports by VOD, a local independent media outlet. The Ministry of Interior, for instance, sold the allocated land to finance the construction of a new building headquarters on the old site. In addition, 22 individuals also received reclaimed lake land from Hun Sen. Among those who have benefited are his sister, Hun Seng Ny, who received 20 hectares of land. Vong Pisen, commander-in-chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces; Sao Sokha, deputy commander-in-chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces; and other senior military officers each received more than 36 hectares, VOD reported based on information in subdecrees signed by Hun Sen. Kok An, a wealthy tycoon close to the prime minister, received 155 hectares of land. Hun Sen also handed over 100 hectares to Chheng Thean Seng, the younger sister of wealthy real estate businesswoman Chheng Sopheap, also known as Yeay Phu, who has been implicated in several land grab scandals in Cambodia. Say Sophea, wife of Phoeung Phalla, a two-star general of the Special Forces Parachute Unit, received 75 hectares, VOD reported Environmental activist Thon Ratha, who was jailed for criticizing the government’s reclamation of Boeung Tamok, said he fears that the lake could soon disappear, like other natural lakes in Boeung Tumpun and Boeung Choeung Ek districts. The fact that individuals close to Hun Sen received parcels of the restored land raises a suspicion of corruption, he said. “Whether to sell or rent, how much to sell for, or whether to rent it and for how long — we seem to have no information about these questions other than the decision to give parts of the lake to this person and that person,” he told RFA. “That’s why I’m still skeptical. We’re worried that there may be a systematic conspiracy or corruption.” A map shows Phnom Penh’s Boeung Tamok Lake and the Tompoun/Cheung Ek Wetlands. Credit: RFA graphic ‘It belongs to the state’ Government spokesman Phay Siphan said that those who acquired land bought it from the original owners. He also said that before the government offered the land for sale, state institutions assessed the impact on local communities living there, though he did not know if the reclamations had forced some residents to leave their homes. “They bought it from the people in two stages, during which they asked for a [subdecree] to cut away part of the land from the lake,” he said. Seang Muy Lai, director of the Housing Rights and Research Project at Sahmakum Teang Tnaut, said that Boeung Tamok should be kept for the benefit of the public. More than 200 poor families living on the lake face eviction, Seang Muy Lai said. “It is unreasonable to give away parts of the lake that are two to three meters deep,” he said. “There should be no one occupying it. It is illegal to allow anyone to occupy the lake because it belongs to the state.” The environmental watchdog group Mother Nature Cambodia has urged the government to stop the development of reclaimed areas of the lake because of the negative impact on communities that rely on the body of water for their livelihoods and significant flooding in the city as the result of runoff during heavy rains. Lim Kean Hor, Cambodia’s minister of water resources and meteorology, has clashed with Hun Sen over the issue for expressing growing concern over the encroachment on the riverbanks and waterways that are properties of the state and has warned that warned that flooding is connected to landfilling developments such as Boeung Tamok. “The bank of the river, the river, the creek, the canal, and the lake, these are all public properties, so all provincial authorities and governors must take measures to facilitate the prevention of abuse from dumping land which is not in compliance with the law,” he said in a May 2020 letter issued all municipal governments and provincial authorities. Reported by RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Sok Ry Sum. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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Mystery fences spring up blocking Shanghai streets overnight amid ongoing lockdown

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Mysterious fences have begun appearing overnight blocking city thoroughfares in Shanghai amid a grueling COVID-19 lockdown affecting some 26 million people, residents told RFA. Photos from a number of different locations across the city were visible on social media on Thursday, showing wire netting fences with steel posts driven deep into the ground, blocking all traffic on the street. “The posts supporting the wire fencing have all been driven into the ground,” Minhang district resident Feng Enhao told RFA. “It has been a unified move across the whole city, including Minhang, Putuo and Jiading districts, completed overnight.” “The sections left unblocked are around party and government buildings,” Feng said. “It’s very strange, because even police vehicles can’t get through, and the military and police can’t move around.” The move came as vice premier Sun Chunlan and Shanghai municipal government officials promised that the end of COVID-19 “dynamic clearance” restrictions in Shanghai is just around the corner, with cases in the city beginning to dip. Wu Ganyu of the Shanghai municipal health commission told a news conference on Wednesday that community transmission of the virus had been “effectively curbed,” after newly confirmed cases fell for three days straight. Road blockages have been reported in more than a dozen districts of Shanghai, including Changning, Huangpu and Xuhui. One resident said there is no sign of COVID-19 measures being lifted any time soon, despite official promises. Transferring negative tests The move comes after large numbers of residents from Huangpu district were transported out of the city to Hangzhou on Wednesday, following a directive from the Pingwangjie neighborhood committee to residents of Nanjing East Road. At the start of lockdown, anyone testing positive during mass, compulsory COVID-19 testing was sent to mass isolation facilities in the city. When those filled up, then were bused out to neighboring provinces, including Zhejiang. More recently, however, those testing negative have been bused out of town, leaving those who tested positive to isolate in Shanghai, with some residential communities requisitioned as isolation facilities. A Huangpu resident told RFA on Wednesday: “They are transferring the people test negative because too many people are testing positive in the community,” the resident said. “So they are turning it around and sending those who tested negative to Hangzhou today.” “There are very few negatives in the community, so they only need two buses to transport them,” she said. Those testing negative will remain in Hangzhou for seven days before being sent back home for a further seven days of quarantine, the Pingwangjie directive said. Anger over restrictions Public anger and despair over the restrictions continues to bubble over onto social media despite the best efforts of government-backed censors to delete such accounts. In one video, a woman is shown about to jump from a building while onlookers try to dissuade her. “Someone from the [temporary] cabin hospital is about to jump off the building,” the person shooting the video says. “Some people can’t bear being held in those conditions.” “Fierce types like me make trouble, but those who don’t dare to do that and can’t bear it any longer do this instead.” “They fooled people into coming [to the temporary facility] and then gave them nothing,” the person says. “There are no sanitary towels for the women and no toilet paper for the men.” Another video clip showed a woman in a residential community berating a police officer over supplies that were ordered but hadn’t arrived. “Our pandemic supplies are being left to rot in the civic center, and nobody is distributing them,” the woman asks loudly. “What happened to our pandemic supplies?” In another, a man shoots video from inside a compulsory isolation center where people are shown crammed in to a large hall on camp beds, with no measures taken to avoid infection. “First day in the isolation center, and I’ve got a cough. I didn’t have a cough before I went into isolation, but I have one now,” the man says. “Look at this — so many people isolating together. No measures to limit transmission, no masks … no members of staff come here. What’s the point of isolating if it’s like this?” Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Chinese police order residents to hand over passports ‘until after the pandemic’

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Police in the central Chinese province of Hunan have ordered local residents to hand over their passports to police, promising to return them “when the pandemic is over,” amid a massive surge in people looking for ways to leave China or obtain overseas immigration status. A March 31 notice from the Baisha police department in the central province of Hunan posted to social media ordered employers to hand over the passports of all employees and family members to police, “to be returned after the pandemic.” An officer who answered the phone at the Baisha police department confirmed the report, and said the measure is being rolled out nationwide. “According to official requirements, [passports] must be handed over because of the pandemic,” the officer said. “It’s everywhere, not just Hunan. It’s across the whole country,” they said. “Anyone with a passport has to hand it over, not just people who have an employer.” “If people don’t hand them over … then they have to expect to be investigated,” the officer said. China’s zero-COVID policy of mass compulsory testing, stringent lockdowns and digital health codes has sparked an emigration wave fueled by “shocked” middle-classes fed up with food shortages, confinement at home, and amid broader safety concerns. The number of keyword searches on social media platform WeChat and search engine Baidu for “criteria for emigrating to Canada” has skyrocketed by nearly 3,000 percent in the past month, with most queries clustered in cities and provinces under tough, zero-COVID restrictions, including Shanghai, Jiangsu, Guangdong and Beijing. Immigration consultancies in Shanghai confirmed they have also been seeing a huge spike in emigration inquiries in recent weeks. Many clients are now looking for “a green card from a big country and a passport from a small country” to supplement their Chinese passports, a consultant who gave only the surname Liu told RFA. “Some clients also need a favorable exchange rate [with their destination country],” he said. “We have had nearly four times as many inquiries this year as this time last year.” He said most people are looking for a one-step process to achieve permanent residency, and don’t mind spending more of their savings to achieve it. “There are many who are applying to Turkey, because [you need to] buy a house for at least U.S. $250,000, which is between one and two million yuan,” Liu said. “There are rumors this will go up to U.S. $400,000 in May, so a lot of people are trying jump aboard the last bus before the price hike.” A Shanghai-based immigration consultant surnamed Shen said more and more people are applying now, as there is scant sign that the government will ease up on the zero-COVID policy. “You could maybe start by applying for permanent residency of another country, in case this escalates in future,” Shen said, referring to the order to hand over passports. Mao Runzhi The wave of interest in leaving the country has sparked memes around the Chinese characters “runzhi,” a satirical reference both to late supreme leader Mao Zedong and the English word “run.” “Mao Zedong’s [birth] name was Mao Runzhi, and he ran away at the most critical moment,” Xia Ming, professor of political science at New York’s City University, told RFA. “There is also the word run in English, as in run away.” Xia sees the current exodus as the peak of a wave of migration that began around five years ago, and cited recent news events like the woman found chained by the neck in the eastern province of Jiangsu as catalysts, along with the pandemic. “There are constantly cases of abduction and trafficking and missing persons,” Xia said. “Anyone could become that chained woman; it’s so random.” “Women and children are kidnapped and sold as sex slaves or for organ donations, and this has had a big impact on China’s middle classes,” he said. He said the Shanghai lockdown had also come as a huge shock to some of the most privileged people in Chinese society. “These people who used to live more comfortable lives than everyone else suddenly found themselves facing starvation overnight, and lost any sense of personal dignity,” Xia said. “This was a huge shock to the quietly successful middle class.” Taiwan-based Hong Kong commentator Sang Pu said people from Shanghai aren’t fleeing COVID-19 so much as their government’s draconian disease control restrictions. “Emigration is being driven by the CCP’s authoritarian approach to disease control and prevention, not by the virus,” Sang said. “The reason is a political one.” “But do their politics accord with those of the countries they are moving to? Not necessarily,” he said. “These people aren’t just refugees; they are looking for some kind of paradise where they can live freely, but they bring with them the legacy of authoritarian rule. We should stay vigilant.” He said if rich Chinese businesspeople and senior officials are allowed to flee overseas with money, this would effectively set up a tried-and-tested channel for money-laundering, as well as providing the CCP with a growing foothold overseas. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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