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Category: South Asia

Junta blames ‘terrorist drones’ for Sagaing bombing

Editor04 mins

A bomb blast in Myanmar’s Sagaing region injured eight locals, junta-backed messaging channels reported Monday. Pro-military Telegram groups said “terrorist drones” attacked a market in Shwebo township on Sunday morning. They said three children were among the injured. They said an eight-year-old girl was severely injured after bomb fragments hit her in the neck. But a local, who didn’t want to be named for fear of reprisals, told RFA junta troops fired heavy artillery at the market. “There is U Aung Zeya Palace to the west of Shwebo Market. Kha Ma Ya-42 Battalion was stationed there. They opened fire,” said the local. “One shell exploded outside the market; the other exploded in the market stall of a greengrocer. “Two people were hit in the waist and chest. They were sent to Mandalay Hospital,” the local said, adding that those with minor injuries were taken to Shwebo’s public hospital. Locals said that the market had been temporarily closed and junta troops were searching the neighborhood. RFA could not confirm either of the reports and Sagaing region’s junta spokesperson, Saw Naing, did not return calls on Monday. Motorcycle bomb In another attack Saturday, 12 Shan state residents were injured by a bomb blast outside a jewelry store in Lashio’s township’s market. A local, who also requested anonymity, said the bomb was planted in a motorbike outside the Zwe Htet store. “Of the 12 people injured, 11 are jewelry store employees,” the resident said. “Among them, two men and two women were seriously injured.” Residents say aid groups took the injured to the local hospital. They said many stores in the market are closed as the junta has stepped up security in Lashio. Debris outside the Zwe Htet jewelry store, Lashio township, Shan state, where a motorcycle bomb exploded on July 15, 2023. Credit: Citizen journalist In April a bomb went off near a water festival pavilion in Lashio, killing four people and injuring 11 after People’s Defense Forces warned people not to take part in Water Festival celebrations sponsored by the junta. Nobody has claimed responsibility for Saturday’s blast. Junta-media was silent on the bombing and Shan state junta spokesperson, Khun Thein Maung, didn’t return RFA’s calls. Junta leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing said on July 13 that there had been 489 explosions nationwide since the start of this year, resulting in 782 fatalities. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

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Two days of junta attacks in Myanmar’s Sagaing region leave 4 dead

Editor05 mins

Junta forces targeted three Sagaing townships this week, killing four civilians and injuring 17, as they continued to try to impose martial law in the region, locals told RFA Friday. On Wednesday the army turned its heavy artillery on Shwebo township, bombarding Tet Tu village twice, killing a man and injuring 11 people including a four-year-old child. “The child was hit in the abdomen and another seven people were critically injured,” said a local, who didn’t want to be named for fear of reprisals. “The other three were slightly injured.” On Thursday the guns turned on Kale township, killing two people and injuring six. “A heavy artillery shell hit a house in See San village, killing a couple in that house,” said a local, who didn’t want to be named for safety reasons. “A child and a woman near her house were also injured.” The other locals were injured in attacks on two neighboring villages. Locals said troops shell their villages nearly every day, and mine explosions are also common. A house in See San village, Kale township, Sagaing region, destroyed by heavy artillery fire on July 13, 2023. Credit: Chin National Organization The junta also sent ground troops into Wetlet township Thursday, burning around 100 homes. Locals said an elderly man died in his home in Thone Sint Kan village. “The column spent the night in Thone Sint Kan village Wednesday night and troops torched the houses when they left on Thursday morning,” said a local, who also requested anonymity for safety reasons. “An old man who was paralyzed died in the fire.” Around 40 homes are still standing but residents have fled the village and say they are afraid to return home until troops have left. The junta has released no statement on the incidents and junta spokesperson for Sagaing region, Saw Naing, did not return RFA’s calls. The junta placed Shwebo and Wetlet under martial law last February but has struggled to seize control of the townships. Junta leader Senior Gen.Min Aung Hlaing told a military council meeting in Naypyidaw Thursday that he needed to step up security due to serious violence in Sagaing region, Chin and Kayah states. The continuing violence has brought widespread international condemnation and calls on this year’s Association of Southeast Nations chair Indonesia to put more pressure on ASEAN member Myanmar to end the fighting and restore democracy. The latest came from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Speaking on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Jakarta Friday, he said Myanmar’s military rulers must be pushed to stop violence and implement the “five-point consensus” peace plan they agreed with the rest of the 10-member grouping two years ago. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

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More than 2 dozen bodies of Uyghur inmates released in Kashgar prefecture

Editor07 mins

Authorities at a prison in the Xinjiang region released the bodies of at least 26 Uyghur inmates before the Eid al-Fitr holiday in late April, police in various towns have told us. We contacted 10 police stations in Kashgar prefecture’s Maralbeshi county to confirm that authorities at Tumshuq Prison had released the bodies.  Five of the inmates were elderly and died of heart and lung diseases, while one other died of diabetes, sources said.  A Maralbeshi resident said many of them died of starvation because the inmates fasted in secret during Ramadan and couldn’t eat during breakfast or after sunset because of jail rules. Officials contacted by us did not comment on the matter. In June, a source told us that authorities at the prison had released the bodies of dozens of individuals, including that of his brother, just before the Islamic holiday marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. To obtain more information, we followed up by contacting police in the 10 towns, including speaking to officials in Sériqbuya, Awat and Chongqurchaq.  When we contacted the police station in Awat, a Maralbeshi market town, to inquire about the body distribution on the eve of Eid al-Fitr, one officer said he was aware of the distribution of 18 bodies of dead prisoners, but he declined to disclose any information regarding the identities or their respective family members. “We have knowledge of the events and circumstances surrounding their deaths as they were under our supervision, but I am unable to share further information,” he said. “I believe the overall count of deceased individuals amounts to 18,” he said. “However, I am unable to disclose their identities.” The police officer did not say whether prison authorities took the bodies directly to family members of the decedents, to the police station, or to a mortuary. We previously reported that other bodies were taken to a police station before being handed over to families. The process took place under the supervision of county, village, and people’s committee officials and police. Additionally, authorities monitored the families for several weeks. Tumshuq Prison housed locals arbitrarily arrested during the 2017 crackdown on prominent and ordinary Uyghurs alike, jailing them in “re-education” camps and prisons for alleged extremist behavior, such as previous trips or contacts abroad or religious activities.  China has come under harsh international criticism for its severe rights abuses of the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs, including forced labor. The U.S. government and several Western parliaments have declared that the abuses amount to genocide or crimes against humanity. A police officer from Seriqbuya told us in April that prison authorities delivered five bodies to his police station, and that most of them had been in their 70s or 80s and had been ill.  “It appears that most of them passed away due to ineffective medical treatments,” he said. The police officer also confirmed that one of the corpses was that of Abdugheni Qadir. A person familiar with the situation told us that Abdugheni Qadir from Seriqbuya was the son of Qadir Toxti, principal of Sériqbuya Primary School. Authorities arrested him in 2017 while he was doing business in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The other three dead prisoners were Memettursun Metniyaz, Haji’ahun and his wife Mehpiremhan. Metniyaz was a Uyghur motorcycle repairman jailed in early 2017 for completing the hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, years before. He died of diabetes in jail and his body was delivered to his family, a local residential committee member who oversaw the return of his corpse told us in a May report.   Haji’ahun, a hatmaker, and his spouse Mehpiremhan, residents of Maralbeshi county, were each sentenced to 10 years in Tumshuq Prison in 2019 for “illegal” religious activities, people with knowledge of the couple’s situation told us in a June report. Translated by us Uyghur. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Matt Reed.

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

Editor09 mins

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

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

Editor014 mins

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

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

Editor09 mins

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

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Meta’s oversight board orders removal of Hun Sen’s Facebook video

Editor09 mins

Meta’s oversight board on Thursday ordered the removal of a video posted on Facebook by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in which he threatened violence against his political opponents and called for an immediate suspension of his accounts. The ruling, reversing a previous decision, marks the first time the oversight board has instructed Meta to shut down an account run by a government leader, and suggests that the company may be shifting its stance on how it deals with content posted by users who have otherwise enjoyed impunity in what they say on its site. Hun Sen didn’t immediately comment on the ruling, but called on his social media followers to switch to rival platforms TikTok or Telegram. The Cambodian leader, who has ruled the country since 1985, has regularly taken to social media to deliver lengthy tirades against his opponents, warning them of consequences if they defy him. Such threats are often acted on by judicial authorities, security forces, and supporters of his ruling Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP. On Thursday, Meta’s oversight board of independent experts said that in one such speech, live streamed to Facebook in January, Hun Sen ranted about claims that the CPP had stolen votes in prior elections, offering his accusers the choice of “legal action or a club.”  He warned that he would send thugs to beat them up or arrest them in the middle of the night. While he did not name the target of his ire, Hun Sen’s “stolen votes” comment was widely viewed as a reference to opposition Candlelight Party Vice President Son Chhay, who was convicted of defamation last year after saying that local commune elections in Cambodia had been marred by irregularities. Intimidating opponents Cambodia is preparing to hold a general election on July 23, but observers say that the ballot is likely to be neither free nor fair. Image grab of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s newly created TikTok page, following Meta’s oversight board on Thursday reversed the social media company’s decision to leave up a video Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen posted to Facebook threatening violence against his political opponents and called for an immediate suspension of his accounts. Credit: TikTok/@hunsenofcambodia Meta initially reviewed the speech after receiving complaints that it violated Facebook’s guidelines on inciting violence, but decided to leave the content up because of its news value. However, the company referred the content to its oversight board, saying it had created “tension between our values of safety and voice.” On further review, the board found that the content had indeed run afoul of Facebook’s guidelines prohibiting incitement, citing “the severity of the violation, Hun Sen’s history of committing human rights violations and intimidating political opponents, as well as his strategic use of social media to amplify such threats.” The board ordered that the video be removed, and called on Meta to suspend Hun Sen’s Facebook and Instagram accounts for six months. While the call for the account suspension is non-binding, Meta is obligated to take down the video and issue a statement to the public on its reasons for doing so within 60 days. ‘Finally called out’ Hun Sen has yet to comment on the oversight board’s ruling, but on Thursday, he posted a message to his Facebook page calling on his 14 million followers to switch to the Chinese video platform TikTok for future updates. Hun Sen’s TikTok account, set up on Wednesday, currently has nearly 22,000 followers. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his wife Bun Rany wave during the Southeast Asian Games Closing Ceremony in Phnom Penh, Cambodia May 17, 2023. Credit: Cindy Liu/Reuters Later, the prime minister wrote on the Dubai-based Telegram messaging app that he had found Telegram “more useful than Facebook” and told his 85,000 followers on the app that he will be posting content there going forward. “This will allow me to easily communicate with people while I am traveling to countries where Facebook is not permitted,” he said. “I will keep my Facebook account but I will suspend using it so that people can get information from me through Telegram.” Hun Sen said his newly created TikTok account would allow him “to more easily connect with the youth.” ‘The stakes are high’ Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for New York-based Human Rights Watch, issued a statement on Thursday dismissing Hun Sen’s reason for leaving Facebook. “Hun Sen is finally being called out for using social media to incite violence against his opponents, and he apparently doesn’t like it one bit,” he said.  “That’s the real story about why he’s running away from Facebook, which dared to hold him accountable to their community standards, and into the arms of Telegram, the favored social media messaging system of despots ranging from Russia to Myanmar.” Robertson said it was high time for tech companies such as Meta to confront world leaders who violate human rights on their platforms. “The stakes are high because plenty of real world harm is caused when an authoritarian uses social media to incite violence — as we have already seen far too many times in Cambodia,” he said. Translated by Samean Yun. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

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Searching Tibetan monasteries, China requires monks to renounce ties to Dalai Lama

Editor04 mins

Chinese authorities in Tibet are randomly searching monasteries and forcing monks to sign documents renouncing all ties to the “separatist” Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism’s foremost spiritual leader, Tibetan sources living in exile told us. The Dalai Lama is widely regarded by Chinese leaders as a separatist intent on splitting Tibet, a formerly independent nation that was invaded and incorporated into China by force in 1950, from Beijing’s control. The Dalai Lama, who now lives in exile in India, says only that he seeks greater autonomy for Tibet as a part of China, with guaranteed protections for Tibet’s language, culture, and religion. We reported last year that China began requiring Tibetans working in official government positions to renounce all ties to the Dalai Lama as a condition of employment. Authorities appear to be including monasteries under this rule. Beginning this month, Chinese authorities conducted searches of monasteries in Shentsa (in Chinese, Shenzha) and Sok (Suo) counties on the premise of maintaining security, a Tibetan living in exile, who requested anonymity for security reasons, told us.  “The authorities search all the residences of the monks and the main shrines in the monasteries,” the exile said. “The monks of Shartsa Monastery are also forced into renouncing ties with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and be a part of anti-Dalai Lama groups.’    Chinese authorities conduct a search at a monastery in Nagchu. Credit: Citizen journalist   The Shartsa monks are seen signing their names on a board on the wall (Credit : in photos received by RFA).  The text on the board states that “We will rigorously take part in opposing the Dalai Lama clique and will remain loyal and devoted to the country [China].” As part of their searches, the authorities have been scrutinizing the monks’ prayer manuscripts and books, and removing prayer flags from shrines, said another exiled Tibetan, who declined to be named. “They did not give any sort of warning before conducting these random searches,” said the second exile. The monks in these monasteries were summoned for a meeting where they were forced to sign documents renouncing the Dalai Lama and separatism.”  Translated by Tenzin Dickyi. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.

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Local dealers decry influx of illegal Chinese traders to Myanmar jade town

Editor08 mins

Burmese gemstone dealers are frustrated over the influx of Chinese jade traders who have set up shop in a northern mining town in Myanmar since the 2021 military coup, residents say. The traders are purchasing gems illegally at lower cost, making already tight margins razor thin for brokers in Hpakant township in Kachin state, driving some out of business out of business, they say. Myanmar’s Law for Gemstone Trading, enacted by the country’s parliament in 2019, limits foreign nationals seeking to buy stones to gem fairs in Mandalay and Naypyidaw.  The illegal export and sale of jade is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, but the junta has held few offenders accountable in Kachin – nestled between India to the west and China to the east – since coming to power. A resident of Hpakant told RFA that, in the past, only Myanmar nationals bought raw stones directly from township mines and then washed, cut, or transported them for resale in the country’s official gem fairs. “But these days, Chinese buyers use the WeChat messaging app and come to buy everything, including loose soil, directly from the mines,” said the resident who, like others interviewed for this article, spoke on condition of anonymity citing security concerns. “It’s only natural that the prices directly offered by major traders are better than local dealers in the sale of any goods, including rice, beans and other crops,” he said. “The price gap is hurting local dealers.” According to a report by international rights group Global Witness, from 2014-2017, the annual revenue from the legal sale of jade and other gemstones in Myanmar ranged from US$346 to $417 million, while the illegal jade market netted US$1.73 billion to $2.07 billion annually. Black market The situation presents a conundrum for Myanmar’s jade dealers, who rely heavily on demand from China’s domestic market for their gems.  That demand has led to entrepreneurs seeking to eliminate the middleman by going straight to the source of the jade, to the point where approximately half of the people traveling to Hpakant to buy gemstones are Chinese, residents said. Aung Hein Min, a former lawmaker who was elected to represent Hpakant in Myanmar’s 2020 election, told RFA that it is critical for authorities to enforce the ban on the illegal purchasing of gemstones. Jade night market in Hpakant in Kachin state, in July 2020. Credit: Ye Aung Thu/AFP “The jade and gemstones purchased directly from jade-mining towns by Chinese nationals will not be transported via legal routes, they will arrive in China through the black market,” he said. “That’s why it doesn’t do any good for our country or our people.” However, junta Social Affairs Minister and Kachin state spokesman Win Ye Tun told RFA that foreigners are restricted from traveling to Hpakant, and that those caught skirting the ban are arrested and deported. He also noted that not all of the Chinese using WeChat in Hpakant are foreign nationals. “They may be [ethnic] Chinese Myanmar nationals,” he said. “We carefully inspect the situation and take action against them in accordance with the law, rather than criticizing baselessly … And it isn’t just Chinese – we do not accept any foreign nationals in those areas and we have always taken action accordingly.” Jade night market in Hpakant in Kachin state July 2020. Credit: Ye Aung Thu/AFP Win Ye Tun said that some Chinese nationals had been arrested and deported during the more than two years since the military coup, although he could not provide an exact number. He claimed that the junta has not granted any extensions or new permits for jade mining in Hpakant since the takeover. ‘Industry is hurting’ Meanwhile, traders in Hpakant told RFA that the domestic jade market has declined since the coup and that only bright, translucent jade is selling in China, adding to the pressure faced by local brokers. “If you buy stones for resale, you can only earn money for a day’s worth of meals and you won’t make a living to provide for your family,” one local trader said. “The gemstone industry is hurting. There is no longer demand for the opaque stones that used to sell and could earn us an income.” Complicating matters further, Myanmar’s military and a joint force of anti-junta Kachin Independence Army and paramilitary People’s Defense Force fighters have been locked in a standoff in Hpakant since early this year. Imports of food and fuel from Myanmar’s heartland are regularly blocked from entering the region by military checkpoints. But despite the conflict, jade traders said Chinese nationals are “freely entering and exiting” Hpakant and illegally shipping jade from the area back home. Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

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Cambodia approves election law amendment aimed at preventing boycott of July 23 vote

Editor05 mins

Cambodia’s National Assembly on Friday unanimously approved an amendment to the election law that prohibits those who don’t vote in next month’s elections from running for office in future elections.  The change appears to be aimed at preventing a large-scale boycott of the July 23 vote by supporters of the main opposition Candlelight Party.  A boycott would be a way of expressing public anger over the National Election Committee’s decision in May to ban the party from running in the election – essentially blocking the only major party that could challenge Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party. The committee blamed the ban on inadequate paperwork, but opposition activists said it was politically motivated. They pointed out that they were allowed to compete in last year’s local commune elections with the same documentation.  The ban, which was upheld by the Constitutional Council on May 25, means that the ruling Cambodian People’s Party won’t have any major challengers on the ballot next month. More than a dozen minor parties have also qualified for the ballot. Cambodian lawmakers welcome President Heng Samrin as he arrives for a session at the National Assembly in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on June 23, 2023. Credit: Heng Sinith/Associated Press Not a surprise The result of Friday’s vote in the Assembly, which is made up only of members from the CPP, was not a surprise. All 111 parliamentarians who participated in the session voted to approve the amendment without objections. Anyone who doesn’t vote next month won’t be able to run as a candidate in next year’s Senate, district and commune elections, according to Minister of Interior Sar Kheng. They also won’t be able to run in the next general election scheduled for 2027, he said. The amendment also allows for the prosecution of individuals and parties who discourage people from voting, he said in a speech at the Assembly before the final vote. “The amendment will regulate those who want to run for offices. It won’t affect voters’ rights guaranteed by the Constitution,” he said.   Hun Sen first proposed the change to the law earlier this month.  Phil Robertson, Human Rights Watch’s deputy Asia director, said earlier this month that Hun Sun is trying to pressure people to vote because he thinks a high voter percentage will bring legitimacy to the election. Finland-based political analyst Kim Sok said Friday’s amendment will affect opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who has been living in exile in France since 2015, and many of his supporters, who also live outside of Cambodia and won’t be able to return to vote in person.  “The amendment doesn’t serve the country’s interest,” he said. “It is being done according to one person’s wish.” Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

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