South Asia Archives - Page 38 of 98 - Investigative Journalism Reportika

Southeast Asia’s ‘narco-state’ and ‘scam-states’ undercut authoritarian rule boasts

Editor2 years ago014 mins

The year 2023 has been one of disorder in Southeast Asia. War is still raging in Myanmar, where perhaps thousands of civilians were killed this year, on top of hundreds more soldiers and anti-junta fighters. ASEAN, the regional bloc, has failed yet again to either bring the warring parties to the negotiation table or, as a result, take a sterner position on the military government that took power through a coup in early 2021. A consequence of the escalation of political violence in Myanmar has been the proliferation of crime. According to the Southeast Asia Opium Survey 2023, published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the country reclaimed the spot as the world’s biggest opium producer, with the area of land used to grow the illicit crop increasing by 18 percent to 47,100 hectares in 2023, compared to the previous year. Poppy fields stretch across pastures in mountainous Shan State, Myanmar in 2019. Myanmar reclaimed the spot as the world’s biggest opium producer according to the UNODC Opium Survey for 2023. (Ye Aung Thu/AFP) The report noted that “although the area under cultivation has not returned to historic peaks of nearly 58,000 ha (143,300 acres) cultivated in 2013, after three consecutive years of increases, poppy cultivation in Myanmar is expanding and becoming more productive.” At the same time, production of methamphetamine has also increased. One result has been to flood the rest of Southeast Asia with cheap drugs. On Dec. 13, the Thai police seized 50 million methamphetamine tablets near the Myanmar border, the country’s largest-ever drug bust and the second largest in Asia. Alastair McCready, reporting for Al Jazeera in November, noted that yaba pills—combination of methamphetamine and caffeine—are selling for US$0.24 cents each in Laos. The flood of drugs has led to an explosion of other criminal activity. Radio Free Asia has reported on the growing anger of ordinary Laotians about the authorities inability to investigate even petty crimes, which has been compounded by the ongoing economic crisis in the communist state, another indication of the disorder now infecting the region. Enter ‘scam states’ Singapore, after staying capital punishments for years, felt it necessary to begin state-enforced executions again, killing the first woman defendant in two decades this year for drug-related offenses. If Myanmar has the distinction of becoming Southeast Asia’s “narco-state” once again, some of its mainland neighbors now have the reputation of being what could be called “scam-states.” The blockbuster Chinese hit of the year No More Bets—a film about unwitting Chinese youths being lured into working for scammers somewhere in Southeast Asia, whereupon tragedy unfolds—was banned by several Southeast Asian governments, including Cambodia’s, which presumably thought its “ironclad” friend was spreading malicious propaganda. Bags containing about 2 million methamphetamine tablets seized in a northern Thai border town near Myanmar are displayed during a news conference in Chiang Rai province, Thailand, Dec. 17, 2023. (Office Of the Narcotics Control Board via AP) Indeed, if in China No More Bets was a Tarantino-esque public health warning, in Southeast Asia it was an alarming indictment of all that’s wrong in their nations, a held-aloft mirror they couldn’t ignore, hard as they tried. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reported in August that at least 120,000 people in Myanmar and 100,000 in Cambodia “may be held in situations where they are forced to carry out online scams.” According to a UNODC report, there could be “at least 100,000 victims of trafficking for forced criminality” in Cambodia alone. “If accurate,” the report added, “these estimates of trafficking for forced criminality in Southeast Asia would suggest that this is one of the largest coordinated trafficking in persons operations in history.” Note that those numbers are only of people forced to work in Southeast Asia’s scam compounds, which stretch from mainland Southeast Asia to Malaysia and the Philippines. The number of workers who choose, however you understand that word, to work in this industry is no doubt many times higher. Half of national GDP The UNODC was more hesitant in its language than it could have been. It offered a “conservative estimate” that the scam industry of one Mekong nation, which it did not name, “may be generating between $7.5 and $12.5 billion” in revenue annually, around half that country’s official GDP in 2021. Some think it was a reference to Cambodia, whose GDP was US$27 billion that year. My guess is that the UNODC was being vague because it knows this estimate could also apply to Laos and Myanmar. Five telecom and internet fraud suspects who were handed over to the Chinese police pose for a photo at Yangon International Airport in Yangon, Aug. 2023. (Chinese embassy in Myanmar/Xinhua via AP) Moreover, it’s possible that online scamming, with its associated human trafficking and money laundering, might now be the most profitable industry in all three states, and this increasingly un-shadowy sector may be worth as much as the entire GDP of all three states. To quote the UNODC report: “the scam industry is earning criminal groups the equivalent of billions of U.S. dollars, with profits rivaling the GDP of some countries in the region.” There have been some busts in Cambodia and the Philippines. One of the sparks for the “Operation 1027” offensive that unfolded in October across northern Myanmar, touted as the biggest rout of the junta’s forces since the February 2021 coup, was the apparent inability of the military junta to tackle Chinese-run scam compounds in Shan State. Because of the junta’s inactivity, a number of armed ethnic groups stepped in to tackle the scam compounds, which was well received in Beijing. However, the task of tackling these groups is beyond the capabilities of the police and militaries of Southeast Asian states. In authoritarian mainland Southeast Asia, law enforcement is a patronized, pay-for-promotion extension of ruling parties, which makes them not only ineffective but also systematically corrupt. Political protection Naturally, there is a good deal of political protection of these…

Lao Christians given permission to celebrate Christmas

Editor2 years ago06 mins

Christians in Laos are preparing to celebrate Christmas more freely this year after the Lao Evangelical Church received permission to do so from the Ministry of Interior, several believers told Radio Free Asia. In the past, Christians across the country had to get permission from their village and district authorities – approval that was not granted in many cases. Even though Laos has a national law protecting the freedom of religion, Christians have been restricted, persecuted and sometimes attacked in the one-party communist country with a mostly Buddhist population. Earlier this year, 15 Christian families and a pastor in Luang Namtha province were evicted and their homes destroyed because they didn’t participate in traditional and cultural activities of the communities. This year, however, the security minister sent a notice asking the district and provincial authorities to facilitate Christmas celebrations. Christmas, which celebrates the birth of Jesus as the promised messiah, falls on Monday this year, but churches are marking the holiday with various services and gatherings during this time. “We’re inviting some local leaders to attend our Christmas celebration,” a member of the Lao Evangelical Church in Savannakhet Province, who like other sources in this report requested anonymity for safety reasons, told RFA Lao. “This year, we don’t have to request permission to celebrate the holy day from the local authorities because we got permission from the central government more specifically from the Ministry of Interior,” he said. “The ministry has just sent a notice of the authorization to all provinces then the provincial authorities passed it down to the districts,” he said. “A district official told us that there are some changes this year; one of the changes is that we don’t have to request permission from the local authorities.” The Lao Evangelical Church is the largest registered Christian church in Laos with in 2021 more than 200,000 followers and around 200 pastors. Restrictions in some places Still, Christians in Savannakhet Province said they faced restrictions. “We’re celebrating Christmas this year, but not in our village because our village chief wouldn’t allow us to celebrate the holy day here, we would have to join the celebration in another village in the district,” a follower in Nong district said. Last year, Christians in three villages in that same district requested permission to celebrate Christmas, but the district authorities gave permission to only one village, Nalao. When Christians defied those restrictions and set up stages, tables and tents in all three villages, about 20 police and military officers armed with guns came. They dismantled and confiscated all the things the people had set up, prompting the women and children to cry, said a believer from the province. “We lost everything. We lost about 30 wooden planks, several hundreds of tables, chairs and tents. We rented these materials and equipment: so, we lost a total of ten million kip (US$500), and religious ceremonies were canceled,” he said. Historically, the district has been resistant to Christians. In 2018, seven Christian leaders in Nong district were arrested then released about a week later for organizing services without proper permission. A Christian in the district called for more freedom to exercise one’s faith. “We’d like to call on the authorities to allow us to freely celebrate Christmas and other religious ceremonies in every village, not just only one or two villages,” he said. Translated by Max Avary. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

US defense bill spends big against China’s maritime claims

Editor2 years ago010 mins

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday signed into law an $886 billion defense bill that includes US$16 billion to deter China’s expansive maritime claims and approves exemptions for Australia and the United Kingdom to buy American defense technology without licenses. The 2024 National Defense Authorization Act was passed by the Senate on Dec. 18 in a 87-13 vote and by the House on Dec. 19 in a 310-118 vote, after a compromise removed supplemental funding for Ukraine along with contentious abortion and transgender provisions. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, last week called the compromise “precisely the kind of bipartisan cooperation the American people want from Congress.” Biden said on Friday that parts of the compromise “raise concerns” but that he was “pleased to support the critical objectives” of the bill. The legislation “provides the critical authorities we need to build the military required to deter future conflicts, while supporting service members and their spouses and families,” Biden said. Maritime deterrence The bill includes $14.7 billion for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, well above the $9.1 billion requested by the Pentagon. The project, defense officials say, will help bolster U.S. defenses in Hawaii and the Pacific territory of Guam to increase “deterrence” efforts against China. A fighter plane takes off from the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong in the Pacific Ocean, south of Okinawa, April 9, 2023. The Pentagon’s Pacific Deterrence Initiative will increase “deterrence” efforts against China. (Japan’s Ministry of Defense/AFP) Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and expert in naval operations, said the “big increase” in funds would help by “improving the resilience and capability of U.S. and allied forces in the Indo-Pacific.” “I expect the increased PDI spending authorized in the NDAA will focus on defense of Guam, improved networking and data integration for U.S. forces in the Indo-Pacific, and accelerated efforts to posture U.S. ground troops in the region,” Clark told Radio Free Asia. A further $1.3 billion is earmarked specifically for the Indo-Pacific Campaigning Initiative, which a Senate Armed Services Committee statement said would fund “increased frequency and scale of exercises, freedom of navigation operations, and partner engagements” as China ramps up its claims of sovereignty. The 2024 bill also authorizes the biggest pay boost to military personnel in two decades, with a 5.2 percent overall bump, and increases the basic allowance for troops and housing subsidies. AUKUS It’s not only U.S. military bases and personnel in the Indo-Pacific that are receiving a large funding boost next year, though. The 2024 bill also approves the sale of nuclear-powered submarines to Australia and exemptions for Australian and British firms from the need to seek licenses to buy U.S. defense technology. The two provisions – known as “Pillar 1” and “Pillar 2” of the AUKUS security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States – have proved controversial, with some Republicans in Congress questioning Pillar 1 and some Democrats opposing Pillar 2. Republicans expressed concerns about the ability of shipyards to supply Australia with submarines by the 2030s amid massive building backlogs that have left the U.S. Navy waiting on its own orders. The Virginia-class attack submarine New Mexico undergoes sea trials in the Atlantic Ocean, Nov. 26, 2009. (U.S. Navy via AFP) Democrats, meanwhile, said they were worried that exempting Australian businesses from the need to seek licenses could open up an avenue for Chinese espionage to procure sensitive U.S. technology. But in the end the provisions passed with bipartisan support – even if the important licensing exemptions remain conditional on Australia and the United Kingdom putting in place “comparable” export restrictions. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat from Illinois and the ranking member of his party on the House Select Committee on China, said that the approval of both pillars of AUKUS would be a boon to U.S. efforts to counter the Chinese Communist Party’s maritime claims. “By authorizing the sale of up to three Virginia-class submarines to Australia, and simplifying the process for sharing advanced technologies between our countries, we are taking an important step in strengthening key U.S. alliances and working to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific region in the face of CCP aggression,” he said. Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said that the passage of AUKUS meant that Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States are “on the precipice of historic reform that will transform our ability to effectively deter, innovate, and operate together.” Australia’s ambassador to Washington, Kevin Rudd, said earlier this year he foresees a “seamless” defense industry across the AUKUS member states in coming decades if the security pact succeeds. Other measures The bill also establishes a new program to train and advise Taiwan’s military, and funds the Biden administration’s new “Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness Initiative,” which also is aimed at deterring China’s vast claims of maritime sovereignty. U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner said earlier this month would equip American allies across Asia and the Pacific “with high-grade commercial satellite imagery that allows them to have much more visibility into their littorals.” Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner, seen at Senate hearing earlier this year, says the U.S. will give allies across Asia and the Pacific “high-grade commercial satellite imagery.” (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/Reuters) Rep. Mike Gallagher, a Republican from Wisconsin and the chairman of the House Select Committee on China, said the bill was suitably focussed on the biggest threats currently facing the U.S. military. “We are in the window of maximum danger when it comes to a conflict with China over Taiwan,” Gallagher said after the House passed the bill. “Ensuring our military has the resources to deter, and if necessary, win such a conflict must be our primary focus in Congress.”

Anti-junta forces claim attack on Myanmar’s central region military HQ

Editor2 years ago04 mins

Anti-junta armies have attacked Myanmar’s military headquarters of Central Region Command in an old palace compound of Aungmyaythazan township, Mandalay city, the residents and members of forces who conducted the attack told Radio Free Asia on Thursday. This attack was carried out on Dec. 21 by the Mandalay Security and Special Task Force, People’s Defense Group from Pyinoolwin District, No More Dictatorship and Brave Warriors for Myanmar (BWM), according to a BWM announcement. A BWM official said that they targeted the dormitories where the regional commander and deputy regional commanders of junta’s Central Region Military Command were staying. “We were able to attack with six long-range 107-mm missiles. One device failed to detonate due to a material malfunction. But, five others successfully launched their attacks,” said the official who wished to remain unnamed due to security reasons. “The targets, which included the special office of the Central Region Military Command, the barracks of junta troops, and the residences of the regional commander and deputy regional commander, were successfully struck.” Damages to the buildings and casualties are still under investigation, the official added. A resident of Mandalay who lives near the royal palace compound speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals said Thursday that following the attack, junta troops intensified security measures and are carrying out searches and checks throughout the city. “It is true that the military headquarters in the palace compound was attacked. I became anxious and couldn’t sleep anymore. Since it was over two or three o’clock [in the morning]. This morning, as I rode my motor scooter around the neighborhood, I noticed something unusual. The roads were blocked off more than they had been in previous days, and there was an increased checking of motorcycles and cars,” he told RFA Burmese. The Central Region Military Command’s interrogation center is infamous for detaining and questioning anti-coup demonstrators, university students, and members of the People’s Defense Force in Mandalay city, following the military coup on February 1, 2021. RFA Burmese contacted Thein Htay, the military junta spokesman for Mandalay region and regional economic minister, regarding the incident by phone, but he did not reply at time of publication. Separately, on Dec. 20, Mandalay Palace – military headquarters – and some police stations in Mandalay city, including Obo Prison’s main guard posts, were attacked with drone bombs as part of “Operation Shwe Pyi Soe,” according to the Mandalay-based People’s Defense Forces. Edited by Taejun Kang.

Escaping war in Myanmar for prison in India

Editor2 years ago05 mins

Women who escaped the fighting in Myanmar are being detained and beaten in an Indian prison, according to a group that helps Burmese refugees. The India For Myanmar group said Tuesday the women have gone on hunger strike to demand their release from the prison in Manipur state which borders Sagaing region and Chin state. The group’s spokesperson Salai Dokhar said that the hunger strikers were being tortured at the command of prison authorities. “The prison authorities promised to release them on Dec. 15. Since they were not released on the 15th, the inmates of the women’s prison went on a hunger strike from the 16th. But starting on the night of the 17th, they were forced to sleep where it had snowed as punishment,” he said. “On Dec. 19, the authorities started beating the inmates. They called policemen and asked them to beat the female prisoners. I heard that there are some critically injured people.” The husband of one of the women, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, told Radio Free Asia on Tuesday that 36 protesting Myanmar women were beaten. “Those who have already been sentenced to five months in prison and fined were told that they would be released on Dec. 15. But they were not released, so they started protesting on the 16th. On the 18th they were beaten by policemen, and they were severely beaten,” the man said. “My wife has swollen cheeks. Some of the women lost their Htamein [Burmese traditional lower dress for women]. The policemen stopped beating them when their Htamein came off and they looked inappropriate.” He added that Burmese prisoners in the men’s dormitory had also been on hunger strike since Dec. 19 to support the female inmates. There are currently around 100 Myanmar nationals in Manipur prisons. Male inmates are held in detention centers and the women are in prisons according to family members. Manipur authorities charged those arrested under the Foreigners Act and sentenced them to a fine and imprisonment of up to six months. RFA Burmese emailed the Indian Embassy in Yangon about the beatings but did not receive a reply at time of publishing on Wednesday. Salai Dokhar said India For Myanmar would call on the chief minister of Manipur to release the Myanmar nationals as soon as possible and treat them as war victims. Currently, a total of 86 Myanmar refugees and migrant workers are being held in Manipur prisons, according to those helping refugees and migrant workers. They said there are around 6,000 Myanmar war refugees in Manipur state. Most of them are from Kale and Tamu townships in Sagaing region and Tedim, Tonzang townships in Chin state. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.

The limits of a Russia-China partnership that claims to have none

Editor2 years ago022 mins

Three weeks before Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine last year, President Vladimir Putin traveled to Beijing for the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping – an event shunned by Western leaders. In a 5,300-word joint statement issued the same day, Xi and Putin said their friendship had “no limits” – a declaration that caused a wave of unease in the West. It signaled that the world’s two preeminent authoritarian powers were making common cause. Beijing was also Putin’s first overseas visit outside the former Soviet Union in October since an arrest warrant was issued by the International Criminal Court against him for war crimes in Ukraine. In recent years, the China-Russia relationship has deepened as the two nations have sought a new world order against their common rival, the United States. However, since the war began, China has avoided providing direct military aid to Russia. Bilateral ties between the two powers are more complex and nuanced than meets the eye. Moscow’s association with China has a long and storied past that pre-dates the rise of the Chinese Communist Party to power in Beijing seven decades ago. Belarus-born Chiang Fang-liang poses with her husband, former Taiwan President Chiang Ching-kuo, March 15, 1985. Credit: AFP Kuomintang’s Soviet bride In the early afternoon on Dec. 15, 2004, Chiang Fang-liang – widow of former Taiwanese President Chiang Ching-kuo – died of respiratory and cardiac failure at a hospital in Taipei at age 88. She had lived a quiet, lonely life as a member of Taiwan’s first family. Her husband and three sons all passed before her. Born Faina Vakhreva in the Russian Empire, she was a member of the Soviet Union’s Communist Youth League and met her future husband when they both worked at a factory in Siberia. They married in 1935. A few years before that, Chiang’s father, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, led the Chinese nationalist party Kuomintang to power in mainland China. Yet in 1949, the victory of the Communists drove the Chiang family and their government to retreat to the island of Taiwan, where Fang-liang lived and died. The Soviet Union, and Russia afterwards, have had little contact with Taiwan, but the Chiang family’s Russian connection served as a reminder of how much influence the Soviets once had over the politics across the Taiwan Strait. Chiang Ching-kuo arrived in the USSR aged 15 and spent 12 years there. He embraced the life of a Soviet Marxist, even adopted a Russian name – Nikolai Vladimirovich – after Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the first leader of the USSR. The Kuomintang, founded in 1912 by Sun Yat-sen, for a long time received support and aid from the Soviet Union. However, during the Chinese Civil War (1927-1949) the Soviets turned to support the Communists who defeated the Nationalists and established the People’s Republic of China. Chiang Fang-liang is seen with her husband, former Taiwan President Chiang Ching-kuo, and their children in an undated photo. Credit: AFP/KMT In his memoir “My Days in Soviet Russia,” Chiang Ching-kuo recalled his time as being “completely isolated from China, I was not even allowed to mail a letter,” and those long years were “the most difficult” of his life. All his requests to return to the mainland were rejected by the authorities, according to Russian historians Alexander Larin and Alexander Lukin, as Chiang was virtually held hostage by Lenin’s successor as Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin. Chiang and his small family were allowed to leave the USSR in 1937 when in China the Kuomintang and the Communists formed a new alliance to fight against a Japanese invasion that presaged World War II. That was a lucky escape for them as the Soviet country was undergoing a period of extreme political repression known as the Great Purge, during which hundreds of thousands of Stalin’s political opponents were removed and eliminated. From then until her final days, Chiang’s Russian wife would never set foot in her motherland again. The years in the Soviet Union led Chiang Ching-kuo “to examine socialism with a more critical eye, and contributed to his evolution towards anti-communism,” argued Larin and Lukin, who said that the failure of the Soviet economic system played a part in Taiwan’s transition to market reforms under Chiang’s premiership during the 1970s. And not only in Taiwan, “eventually, the Chinese communists in mainland China arrived at the same conclusion” about the Soviet economic model, according to the Russian authors. “Deng Xiaoping, the architect of mainland Chinese economic reforms, was a classmate of Chiang … and had a similar although much shorter experience in the USSR,” they wrote. Good neighbors From the 1960s to the 1990s, the Sino-USSR relationship was marked by turbulence, including a seven-month border conflict in 1969. Mao Zedong’s China condemned Moscow for “betraying communism” while the Soviet Union withdrew all economic assistance to Beijing. It only warmed up after Mikhail Gorbachev became the general secretary of the USSR Communist Party and initiated the political and social reform called perestroika. After the Soviet Union dissolved, China recognized the Russian Federation as its legal successor on Dec. 24, 1991. Moscow and Beijing signed a Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation 10 years later, paving the way for a new chapter in their special partnership. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev [right] gestures as he talks with Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping during a meeting in 1989 in Beijing. Credit: Boris Yurchenko/AP A joint statement on the 20th anniversary of the treaty in 2021 said that Russian-Chinese relations “have reached the highest level in their history.” “The Russian-Chinese relations are based on equality, deep mutual trust, commitment to international law, support in defending each other’s core interests, the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity,” it said. Officially, Sino-Russia ties are described as a “comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction in the new era,” according to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. China has been Russia’s largest trading partner since 2010, with two-way trade reaching US$140.7 billion in 2021 and $134.1 billion in…

Hong Kong vows to pursue wanted overseas activists ‘to the end’

Editor2 years ago012 mins

Hong Kong on Friday vowed to pursue overseas pro-democracy activists on its national security wanted list “to the end,” amid calls from U.S. Congress members for sanctions linked to transnational repression by the Chinese Communist Party. National security police on Thursday issued arrest warrants for former British consular employee Simon Cheng, who co-founded the advocacy group Hongkongers in Britain, Frances Hui of the U.S.-based Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong, U.S. citizen and Hong Kong campaigner Joey Siu and overseas YouTube hosts Johnny Fok and Tony Choi. Police said they had “absconded overseas” and offered a HK$1 million (US$128,000) bounty for information leading to their arrests. “Fugitives should not have any delusion that they could evade legal liabilities by absconding from Hong Kong,” a spokesman said on Friday. “Fugitives will be pursued for life unless they turn themselves in … we will pursue these fugitives … to the end and use all practicable measures to bring them to justice,” he said in a statement posted to the government’s website. The wanted activists “continue to engage in acts and activities endangering national security,” slamming criticism of the move as “unreasonable” and “tainted with double standards,” he said. Chief Superintendent of Police (National Security Department ) Li Kwai-wah and Senior Superintendent Hung Ngan attend a press conference on arrest warrants issued for activists Simon Cheng, Frances Hui, Joey Siu, Johnny Fok and Tony Choi, in Hong Kong, Dec. 14, 2023. (Tyrone Siu/Reuters) The new additions to the Hong Kong authorities’ wanted list come after similar warrants were issued for eight prominent pro-democracy activists in July, and amid growing concern over China’s long-arm law enforcement activities far beyond its own borders. The group are wanted on a slew of charges under a draconian security law that bans public criticism of the authorities, including “incitement to secession”, “incitement to subversion” and “collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security,” police said in a statement on Thursday. Intimidation and harassment The warrants prompted calls in Washington for sanctions on Chinese Communist Party-backed officials. “Last night, CCP-controlled authorities in Hong Kong issued bounties on five Hong Kongers living abroad, including two pro-democracy activists living in the United States, one of whom is an American citizen,” Chairman Mike Gallagher and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party said in a joint statement on Dec. 14. “CCP-controlled Hong Kong authorities’ effort through intimidation and harassment to persecute US citizens and residents engaging in peaceful political activism in the United States is unacceptable,” they said, calling for urgent action from Congress to stem China’s “transnational repression.” U.S. Reps. Mike Gallagher and Raja Krishnamoorthi, seen at a hearing earlier this year, issued a joint statement calling for urgent action from Congress to stem China’s “transnational repression.” (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) Hong Kong’s national security police said on Thursday that “the acts of these five persons seriously endanger national security,” announcing a reward of HK$1 million to members of the public who provide information leading to their arrest. Police also arrested four people on suspicion of offering financial assistance via online crowdfunding to exiled former pro-democracy lawmakers Ted Hui and Nathan Law. No change Wanted activist Frances Hui said she wasn’t surprised by the bounty on her head, and wouldn’t be giving up her advocacy as a result. “I will continue to do what I think is right, including my advocacy activities for freedom and democracy in Hong Kong, and fighting for the imposition of sanctions on Hong Kong officials, continuing to advocate for the release of Hong Kong political prisoners, and continuing to appeal to the international community and [over China’s] transnational human rights violations,” she told Radio Free Asia. “I will also continue to build the overseas Hong Kong community and promote Hong Kong culture.” “I will continue to do what I think is right, including my advocacy activities for freedom and democracy in Hong Kong,” says Frances Hui, seen in the Chinatown neighborhood of Boston, Oct. 2, 2019. (Charles Krupa/AP) Meanwhile, Joey Siu said the Hong Kong authorities are using their trade and economic offices in overseas cities as a base from which to target and harass overseas activists from the city. She said even being a citizen of a foreign country is no protection. “The Hong Kong government’s basis for making me a wanted person is comments I made as a U.S. citizen in my own country,” Siu said. “This just shows how unreasonable and all-pervasive this transnational suppression by the Hong Kong and Chinese governments has become.” An honor Former U.K. consular employee Simon Cheng said it was his “lifelong honor” to be singled out by the authorities. “The accusations … that I betrayed my country are actually highly political and baseless,” Cheng told Radio Free Asia. “It’s actually a pretty humble wish that the government respect the rights of its citizens, and allow their voices to be more freely heard.” “We’re just a bit more persistent than the average person and are not afraid to carry on speaking out, so that’s why we are receiving this so-called punishment,” he said, adding that his main fear is that the authorities will target his friends and relatives in Hong Kong. Simon Cheng, seen in London in 2020, says his main fear is that authorities will target his friends and relatives in Hong Kong. (AP) British Foreign Secretary David Cameron condemned the warrants, saying his government would take up the matter “urgently” with Beijing and Hong Kong officials. “We will not tolerate any attempt by any foreign power to intimidate, harass or harm individuals or communities in the U.K.,” Cameron said in a statement. “This is a threat to our democracy and fundamental human rights.” “We call on Beijing to repeal the National Security Law and end its persecution of political activists.” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller called on Beijing to act in accordance with international norms and…

Ancient theatrical tradition falls on hard times in crisis-torn Myanmar

Editor2 years ago09 mins

For 145 years, the Myanmar city of Pyapon has marked the end of the rainy season with a performance of the ancient Indian epic poem Ramayana–never halting the annual ritual, even during Japanese occupation in World War II, a major uprising against harsh military rule and a catastrophic cyclone. These days, however, the dancers who have for seven generations made the Ayeyarwady River delta region city famous for performances of the Burmese version of the Sanskrit epic fear they may be the last of their kind in a country plunged into economic hardship and political turmoil in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and a 2021 military coup. “COVID health problems arise. Political crises arise. The days of performance are getting shorter,” said Zaw Oo, chairman of the Pyapon Ramayana troupe. “Funds are scarce. Jobs are scarce. Moreover, foreign culture infiltrates. It is really hard to preserve it so it won’t disappear,” he told RFA Burmese. People gather to watch Ramayana, a traditional drama being performed. (RFA photo) The 53-year-old father of two is a national gold medalist in performing as Dathagiri, the ten-headed chief antagonist in the Ramayana epic poem and the subject of worship in both Hindu and Buddhist temples in India and across Southeast Asia. “The main reason for performing is for safety,” Zaw Woo said of the belief that to keep Pyapon safe, the annual reading of the play must not be broken. “If we cannot perform it, we have to serve meals for Dathagiri as a token offering every year,” he told RFA. “We have to perform it – even if it’s an hour or a verse – to keep the tradition.” The Pyapon dance troupe has made modifications to tradition to keep people in seats for a lengthy poem that in the original Sanskrit has 24,000 verses. The Burmese Ramayana’s 94 chapters used to take up to 45 days to perform. (RFA photo) Overseas tour The Burmese version of the Ramayana used to require 45 days to perform, but the troupe trimmed it back – to nine days and nine nights. During the pandemic and following the February 2021 military takeover, the dance became a one-day, closed-door performance at Pyapon’s Shwe Nat Gu Pagoda. Last year, they put on the Ramayana for one day at the Rama theater, but this year, it ran for three days at the end of November. The truncated version of Myanmar’s national epic got mixed reviews, even from sympathetic fans. “In the past, I liked watching it. Watching all nine episodes. Now it’s just one afternoon,” said a 65-year-old woman named Myint. “I’m just watching it to slake my desire.” “Now, young people don’t dare to go out, so it’s not as crowded as it used to.” added Myint. The Ramayana dates as far back as 7th to 4th centuries BCE in what is now northwestern India, and became a major cultural and moral influence on Hinduism and Buddhism. Versions of the story of Prince Rama are found across South Asia and Southeast Asia, from the Maldives to the Philippines. Children with Thanaka, a light-yellow cosmetic paste in their faces, gather to watch Ramayana being performed. (RFA photo) She told RFA that fears of instability in Myanmar since the coup has taken away her enjoyment in going to the theater. The Pyapon dancers – proud amateurs with day jobs – are hoping their fame in Myanmar can translate into international support for the struggling troupe. In October they were invited to perform the Ramayana at the Indian embassy in Yangon, 75 miles (120 kilometers), which led to plans to put on the drama in India, Nepal and Indonesia, said Zaw Woo. “While he was giving us certificates of honor, the Indian ambassador – together with diplomats from the Nepali and Indonesian embassies – promised that he would do everything possible to help our Pyapon Ramayana troupe to visit these countries to perform the drama,” he said. Dancing trumps job Passion for performing remains high in Pyapon, despite the gloom and doom. A Ramayanaya performer backstage. The Ramayana was performed continuously even during World War II under Japanese occupation. (RFA photo) “I may not have eaten a meal, but if I’m performing the drama, I’m satisfied,” said Wai Phyo Aung, who is playing the role of Lakshmana, younger brother of Rama and has been dancing in the Ramayana troupe for 15 of his 34 years. He is the first in his family to perform after becoming fascinated with Ramayana dancing as a schoolboy. “I used to work for a company, and I lost my job again and again after performing nine nights,” he told RFA. “So, in order not to lose my next job, I became a taxi driver.” Sein Myint, the 77-year-old father of Zaw Woo, winner of three gold medals in a long dancing career, urges people to help keep the Pyapon Ramayana troupe dancing. “Some people think we are performing the drama because we are receiving payments,” he said. “We’re not. We’re manual laborers. If anyone offers to help us, we’ll accept it at any time.” Translated by Htin Aung Kyaw. Edited by Paul Eckert.

Junta troops seize orphanage during battle in central Myanmar

Editor2 years ago04 mins

Junta soldiers sheltered in an orphanage in central Myanmar to deter resistance groups from attacking, locals and People’s Defense Forces told Radio Free Asia on Tuesday. A junta military camp in Sagaing region’s Tamu township was abandoned by troops in November when it was captured by resistance groups, local People’s Defense Forces said. While attempting to recapture their lost base, junta troops positioned themselves in Kampat city’s orphanage on Sunday. Forty people were in the orphanage at the time, including 36 children and four teachers. On Sunday, junta soldiers launched an attack on People’s Defense Forces from outside the building, according to a resistance group official, adding that the troops used heavy and small weapons, as well as airstrikes. However, the resistance group removed the teachers and children from the orphanage on Monday, the official added. “That orphanage is near the military camp on the hill. The junta troops regained control of that camp on the hill using the orphans as human shields,” he told RFA, asking to be kept anonymous for fear of reprisals. “Both the children and the adults in that orphanage tried to escape, but they did not succeed. So they were evacuated by our People’s Defense Forces at around 12 yesterday. Now they are in a safe place.” The orphanage is owned by a Christian church in No. 1 neighborhood of Kampat city. Nearby are a police station and a temporary military camp on the hill, residents said, which troops regained control of after the battle. Intense fighting on the India-Myanmar border near Kampat city has been constant since the end of October. People’s Defense Forces claim to have captured Kampat on Nov. 7. Almost a month later on Wednesday, junta troops launched an offensive to recapture the city, defense force officials told RFA. Since then, fighting has continued. On Sunday, the military junta carried out an aerial attack around the Kampat Police Station near the orphanage, he added. Calls by RFA to Sagaing region’s junta spokesperson Sai Naing Naing Kyaw seeking comment on the incident went unanswered Tuesday. Nearly 5,000 residents from four neighborhoods in Kampat city and surrounding villages have fled on Tuesday, some to the Indian border. Fighting has also intensified near Tamu city, making it difficult for locals to find a place to seek shelter, residents said. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

Taiwan calligraphy exhibit honors Tibetans who self-immolated

Editor2 years ago016 mins

On Sunday, Tibetans around the world will be protesting outside Chinese embassies around the world to mark International Human Rights Day. There is no Chinese Embassy in democratic Taiwan, so the Dalai Lama Foundation will exhibit 166 works of calligraphy by Ho Tsung-hsun, with prayers and chants from five Buddhist teachers honoring the “heroes and martyrs” of the Tibetan resistance movement instead. The exhibit – titled “Those Who Give Fearlessly” – will honor 166 Tibetans inside and outside China who have set themselves on fire as an act of resistance to Chinese Communist Party rule, and in pursuit of freedom, Ho told Radio Free Asia in a recent interview. “I was very worried when I was doing this that people would think that I was encouraging self-immolation,” Ho said. “But these things happened – that’s a fact.” “You can’t erase an entire nationality from the historical record who have made such sacrifices in pursuit of their freedom,” he said. Ho made the exhibit not to advocate self-immolation, but to highlight the despair and helplessness of those who use it as a form of protest, he said. In 2020, Ho Tsung-hsun arranged the names of people who self-immolated around an outline of Tibet. (Provided by Ho Tsung-hsun) “Self-immolation is a last-ditch choice – there must be so much going on in people’s minds that we can’t understand,” he said. “166 self-immolations in the space of just 10 years is a shocking number.” “Cheng Nan-jung self-immolated right here in Taiwan, and we still see memorials to him here every year marking that day,” Ho said, in a reference to the 1989 self-immolation of the Taiwanese publisher, in a protest against the lack of free speech under authoritarian, one-party rule by the Kuomintang. Writing history Calligraphic inscriptions have been used since ancient times to record important events, whether on stone steles or on paper, Ho said. He hopes that his imitation of ancient scrolls will pay due respect to the people who burned in the ultimate act of self-sacrifice. Kelsang Gyaltsen, the Dalai Lama’s envoy to Taiwan, told Radio Free Asia he was moved by Ho’s tribute. “These Tibetans are heroes as we define them in Tibet,” he said. “The Chinese government demonizes them as insane, or claims they acted out of desperation due to family or economic disputes, but it’s not that. No.” “They sacrificed themselves for their country, and for their people.” Ho Tsung-hsun says Lobsang Phuntsok’s self-immolation death, the second to take place in Tibet, had a powerful effect as it occurred on Ho’s birthday. (Hsia Hsiao-Hwa) Kelsang Gyaltsen said the epithet, “Those who give fearlessly” is the highest level of almsgiving in the Buddhist tradition. “It means to give your life for a just cause,” he said. Many of those who set fire to themselves did so while shouting slogans or leaving statements calling for freedom for Tibetans, or for the return of its exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and the protection of Tibetans’ Buddhist and cultural heritage. Some inscribed “Independence for Tibet” on their bodies, Kelsang Gyaltsen said. Anyone who claims that just speaking of the self-immolations means encouraging them is engaging in pro-Beijing “cognitive warfare,” he added. “Who is it who most wants to forget them? Who doesn’t want us to cherish or remember them? It’s the brutal Chinese Communist Party regime,” he said, calling for the anniversary of the first self-immolation – Feb. 27 – to be marked as “Tibetan Self-Immolation Day.” Art as protest Ho, who studied advertising and fine arts, started writing calligraphy in high school 40 years ago. His calligraphy has graced a number of protests over the last three decades in Taiwan, including environmental protection and anti-nuclear campaigns, educational reform movements and political activism. Ho Tsung-hsun placed images of the the tantric Buddhist deity Palden Lhamo, a protective warrior goddess also known as Shri Devi, and Nechung, a protective deity closely associated with the Dalai Lama, on his desk to help him complete the calligraphy for Namlha Tsering. (Provided by Ho Tsung-hsun) He has an abiding memory of one self-immolation – the second to take place in Tibet, in 2009 — in particular. “Lobsang Phuntsok, who was only 20 years old at the time, self-immolated on March 16, which happened to be my birthday,” Ho said. “From then onwards, it seemed as if our souls were connected, and that was when I started to pay attention and care about what was happening.” March 16 is also the anniversary of mass protests by Tibetans, including Buddhist monks and nuns in Ngaba, a Tibetan region of China’s southwestern province of Sichuan, in 2008, that were to be a turning point in the movement for a free Tibet. “I was shocked, saddened and outraged by each self-immolation, especially during the nearly 90 self-immolations that took place in 2012 – at their peak, we were seeing nearly one a week,” Ho said. Just thinking about the way Lobsang Phutsok died causes him pain to this day, he said. Ancient style Ho’s exhibit will display 166 records of self-immolation by Tibetans using paper and a calligraphic style that matches the style of ancient official records. Each piece is 34 cm long and 18.5 cm wide (13 x 7 inches). Each work shows the person’s name, place of birth, identity and age of self-immolation. Ho’s exhibit also has the blessing of the Tibetan government-in-exile’s envoy to Taiwan, who suggested he make sure Tibetans are the central subjects of the work, and add the ancient Tibetan place-names from when the region was a sovereign and independent country, alongside the modern place-names that are used under Chinese rule. One record reads: “Lobsang Tashi, a monk from Amdo in today’s Sichuan, was 24 years old when he set himself on fire on Feb. 27, 2009, to fight for the freedom of Tibetans.” Every one of the 166 self-immolators, who include elderly in their 80s, 16-year-old students, high-ranking Buddhist teachers, or Rinpoche, monks, nuns, students and women, is given equal…

Category: South Asia