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Category: South Asia

Military reshuffling aims to keep Myanmar’s ruling junta in place for the long term

Editor09 mins

A recent reshuffling of top military personnel by the leader of Myanmar’s junta is part of an effort to gain control of the entire governing apparatus and remain in power for years to come, analysts and observers said. Among the top generals reassigned on Aug. 3 were the heads of the defense and home affairs ministries – the first changes since Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing seized power from the elected civilian-led government in a February 2021 coup. The two ministries are responsible for tackling armed anti-junta resistance fighters across the country. Former Transport and Communications Minister Gen. Tin Aung San was appointed as defense minister, making him a member of the National Defense and Security Council, and former Defense Minister Gen. Mya Tun Oo was made transport and communications minister. Both will continue serving as deputy prime ministers. Lt. Gen. Yar Pyae, the former Union Government Office 1 minister, replaced Lt. Gen. Soe Htut as head of the Home Affairs Ministry. Yar Pyae held on to his position on the State Administration Council – the junta’s governing body – and his roles of national security adviser to Min Aung Hlaing and leader of the junta’s peace negotiation team. The move came days after Min Aung Hlaing extended emergency rule in Myanmar for another six months on July 31, thereby delaying the date by which elections must be held according to the country’s constitution. The junta previously pledged to hold elections in August. It also occurred as Myanmar, already hit hard by economic sanctions, faces intense international criticism over the military’s attacks on civilian communities and execution of detained combatants in areas that are hotbeds of resistance to the regime. An annual report released publicly on Tuesday by the U.N.’s Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar cited strong evidence that the military and its affiliate militias have committed “increasingly frequent and brazen war crimes.”  New assignments at lower levels A leader of the nonviolent anti-junta civil disobedience movement, or CDM, said Min Aung Hlaing reassigned generals he trusts to important ministries to prepare for what he may face during the next state of emergency period. “The Defense Ministry is just like a correspondence office under the commander-in-chief,” the person said. “That’s why he transferred Gen. Mya Tun Oo, who is one of his major players, to the Ministry of Transport and Communications, which he will heavily use in the future to tackle the issues of airplanes and cyber communication.” Min Aung Hlaing appointed capable Yar Pyae as home affairs minister in place of Soe Htut, who is in poor health, to strengthen the operations of the State Administration Council over the next six months, he added. The CDM leader, who served in the military for 21 years and held the rank of a captain, moved to the civilian administration where he worked for nearly a decade until he was promoted to a director position. Following the 2021 coup, he left his job and joined other professionals who walked off the job to peacefully protest against the regime. Reassignments have also taken place among lower-ranking military officers. From January to the end of June, the junta transferred 40 lieutenant colonels, majors and captains to civil ministries to work as chief executive officers, or deputy and assistant directors, according to the junta’s weekly national reports. Among them were one lieutenant colonel, nine majors and 30 captains sent to work at the Myanmar Economic Bank, Election Commission, Union Civil Service Board, ministries of construction, industry and commerce, sports and youth affairs, hotels and tourism, and the Yangon and Naypyidaw City Development Committees.  The largest number of military officers were transferred to the Myanmar Economic Bank with five majors as managers and 16 captains as assistant managers.  The transfers indicate that the junta is trying to control the operation of civil departments as well, said former Captain Kaung Thu Win, a member of the CDM.  “The junta aims to replace its people in senior positions in the civil departments such as directors to be able to control the head of the departments so that they will follow its instructions more faithfully,” he told RFA. “It transferred junior officers to the civil departments so that they can provide the military with the necessary information inside each department.” RFA could not reach junta spokesman Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment on the personnel changes. ‘It’s called militarization’ Thein Tun Oo, executive director of the pro-military Thayninga Institute of Strategic Studies, said the new appointments would strengthen the military administration. “The bureaucratic mechanism makes the administration of a country run smoothly and easily,” he said. “In order for that mechanism including national security projects to operate, it is important for all the people involved to be able to work effectively. That’s why we need really capable people who can focus on their tasks.” More reliable replacements were made because many of the current government departments have experienced security breaches, he added.  The appointment of military officers to both top and middle-level civilian positions is the junta’s attempt to dominate the entire government apparatus, political and military analyst Than Soe Naing said. “It’s called militarization,” he said. “It is a military’s attempt to dominate and control all departments.” Given the country’s current situation with anti-junta People’s Defense Forces, led by the shadow National Unity Government, and ethnic armed groups fighting junta forces, it is important for the military regime to have reliable people to back it, Than Soe Naing said.  “They only work with their service members who they can trust, so that they feel safer,” he said.    Translated by Myo Min Aung for RFA Burmese. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Matt Reed.

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Rohingya boat sinks off Myanmar’s Rakhine state, 45 missing

Editor03 mins

A boat carrying Rohingya people, reportedly heading for Malaysia, sank in the Bay of Bengal near Rakhine state’s capital city Sittwe, a village administrator told RFA Tuesday. He said all but 10 of the 55 people on board are missing.  Eight men were found alive on a beach near the city’s Basara village on Monday night, hours after the vessel went down, along with the bodies of two women, said village administrator Soe Myint. He told RFA that authorities are still searching for the missing people. “The boat sank after taking on water due to heavy rains and high waves in the sea,” he said. “The boat reappeared yesterday. Two dead bodies were found and eight people were recovered [alive]. The rest of the missing are likely to die. Now we are looking for the bodies on the beach.” He said 10 women and 35 men were unaccounted for, adding that eight people survived by holding onto plastic containers when the boat sank. Residents said the survivors are being cared for in Basara village. The junta-run Rakhine Daily News reported August 7 that the Rohingya had left Rathedaung township heading to Malaysia by boat. More than 740,000 Rohingya fled Rakhine following a military crackdown on the ethnic group that started more than five years ago, and now live in refugee camps in Bangladesh. Of the more than 600,000 that remained in Rakhine, around 125,000 are living in displaced people’s camps in the state. Many Rohingya living in Rakhine state often leave by boat across the Bay of Bengal to Malaysia due to economic hardships and discrimination. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.

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Cambodia’s king signs royal decree to nominate Hun Manet as PM

Editor08 mins

Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni on Monday issued a royal decree to appoint Hun Sen’s eldest son Hun Manet as the country’s prime minister, ensuring that the transfer of power from father to son will occur later this month. According to the decree, Hun Manet will assume the office on Aug. 22, when the newly elected National Assembly adopts the new cabinet. It will be the completion of years of preparation for a transfer of power from father to son, as the 71-year-old Hun Sen, who has ruled the country since 1985, prepares to step aside. Hun Sen did however say that he would continue to have a role in government for the next 10 years.  Hun Manet’s royal appointment comes after the country’s electoral body on Saturday announced last month’s election results, which gave Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP, 120 of the assembly’s 125 seats.  The election has been criticized by the international community for being neither free nor fair, as the main opposition party was disqualified from participating. Analysts and opposition party officials have criticized Hun Manet’s appointment as prime minister, saying that dynastic rule has no place in a democracy. Finland-based political analyst Kim Sok told RFA’s Khmer Service that Hun Manet lacks the acumen to solve Cambodia’s national problems. “Hun Manet has only one policy: to follow his father. And his father, although the CPP has written hundreds of good policies, has implemented only one point: to persecute the people,” said Kim Sok.  “[Hun Sen] has destroyed the nation, selling the nation to maintain power. Therefore the chaos that is the burden of the social crisis left by Hun Sen as a father will continue under Hun Manet and will be even more serious.” Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen and his son Hun Manet attend election campaign rallies in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, July 1, 2023 and July 21, 2023 respectively. Credit: Cindy Liu/Reuters Cambodian legal scholar Vorn Chanlouth told RFA that under the current legal process, there are no obstacles standing in Hun Manet’s way because the CPP has effectively prepared for the transfer of power. But there is still reason to doubt the legitimacy of it. “The problem we have here is the transparency of PM candidate,” he said. “In this 7th legislative mandate election process, many political parties lack transparency, as they did not present their prime ministerial candidates to the public. For example, in the CPP, Hun Sen said he was the candidate, but when his party won, he passed the post to his son. This is not transparent.” Chanlouth said that prime ministerial candidate should have come forward to explain to the public his party’s policies, but Hun Manet said nothing other than that he would follow in his father’s footsteps. “We don’t know specifically or exactly what they are going to do to solve the national problems we face today,” he said.   ‘Not over yet’ Hun Sen, meanwhile, has assured the public that “It is not over yet” in an announcement on his Telegram social media channel.     He said that in addition to being the father of the prime minister, he will continue in other positions until 2033. Hun Sen is currently the president of the CPP, and he repeated his intention to become the president of the senate, a position currently held by CPP vice president Say Chhum. Oum Sam An, a former lawmaker for the former main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, said that Hun Sen’s intention to assume future positions in government shows that he is “afraid of his own shadow,” meaning that he is afraid to face the law after he resigns as the leader of the country. “The leadership has not changed,” he said. “Most of them are the children of members of the senior government, so the new bloods are the old blood taking on the jobs [of their parents].” Kim Sok said that Hun Sen’s rule would be remembered for its destruction of natural resources, arrest of dissenting citizens, and other rights violations. “Because the Cambodian people, the international community, and the International Court of Justice, cannot forget the story that the general public cannot forget about Mr. Hun Sen as the leader of a coup that robbed power and led a society through state terrorism,” said Kim Sok. “He used the name of the state to abuse the people and destroy them.” CPP spokesman Sok Ey San, however, denied that Hun Sen was responsible for killings or injustices on the Cambodian people in the past. He said those who dare to criticize without evidence will be held accountable before the law. Translated by Sok Ry Sum.  Edited by Eugene Whong.

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Plenty of blame to go around in Vietnam’s COVID repatriation flight bribery scandal

Editor014 mins

Following a two-week trial, a Hanoi court last month convicted 54 defendants, including senior diplomats, for collecting over $7.4 billion in bribes to arrange government flights home for Vietnamese citizens stranded overseas during COVID pandemic lockdowns. The COVID-19 repatriation flight scandal is not Vietnam’s largest corruption case in monetary terms, but it involved 25 officials from five different ministries, and the country’s tightly controlled state media were given relatively free rein to cover a case that captured public attention and affected many citizens.  Nearly 200,000 Vietnamese are reported to have returned on some 1,000 Vietnamese government-organized charter flights from 62 countries during the 2020-21 peak of the pandemic. The scandal toppled three Vietnamese ambassadors and other diplomats for skimming from repatriation funds. In the July 28 sentencing of 54 people, four officials received life sentences, while 45 officials and businesspeople were jailed for between16 months and 20 years. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for one official, but the courts held back. Of defendants, 21 were charged with receiving bribes, 24 for  giving bribes, and the remainder for abuse of power, brokering bribes, or fraud.  The 24 businessmen and women spoke in court about Vietnam’s “envelope culture”. Prosecutors described a “well-oiled” system put in place for companies that sought government contracts, with amounts correlated to the number of flights and repatriates.  Tarnished diplomats There are six takeaways from the case that prosecutors said showed “extremely dangerous levels of corruption” that “betrayed the efforts of the whole country.” First, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) is now tarnished in the eyes of the public. Thirteen of the 54 convicts – almost a quarter – were from the MFA, which prides itself on being a very small and elite institution. Vietnam’s diplomats are usually highly regarded. Yet the case displayed tawdry corruption, historically more common in other ministries.  In a time of crisis, these diplomats preyed on common overseas workers whose remittances play a key role in supporting the home economy, and they did so in a crisis when people were desperate. The media were filled with stories of people who missed the deaths of parents and other cases of loss that resonated with the public. Four people in the embassy in Malaysia alone received 10 billion dong ($423,000) in bribes. Defendants [front row, standing] appear in court for the repatriation flight trial in Hanoi, Vietnam, July 11, 2023. Credit: Vietnam News Agency/AFP The scandal brought down a deputy foreign minister, To Anh Dung, who was found guilty of accepting 21.5 billion dong ($908,000), as well as ambassadors to Japan, Malaysia, and Angola, and the consul general in Osaka.  In addition, the head of the consular affairs office, Nguyen Thi Huong Lan, received a life sentence for receiving 25 billion ($1.06 million). She refused to admit that they were bribes, but rather “thank you gifts” from companies that she took “out of respect.” Repayment brings clemency Second, the Supreme Court determined that repayment of three-fourths of the pilfered funds would make defendants eligible for a degree of clemency.  For example, prosecutors had sought the death penalty for a secretary of a deputy minister of health, but upon repayment of the full 42 billion dong ($1.8 million), the court handed him a life sentence, saying “There is no need to remove from society.” While it’s important for the government to recoup the proceeds of crime and ensure that people do not benefit from corruption, the ruling also creates a sense that justice can be bought. Local media raised the question of whether filling state coffers was more important than punishing people who extorted bribes from citizens during the pandemic. Third, only three senior officials of Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security were found guilty, a figure that looks inexplicably small given the ministry’s reach. MPS investigators were focused on Vu Anh Tuan, the former head of the immigration management department, and seemed keen to close ranks and redirect the investigations outward.  Vietnamese nationals wearing protective suits are seen aboard a repatriation flight from Singapore to Vietnam, Aug. 7, 2020. Credit: Mai Nguyen/Reuters But one defendant received considerable media scrutiny. Hoang Van Hung was in charge of Department 5 of the MPS Investigation Security Agency, the office that was investigating the businesses that paid the bribes, tipping them off in return for his own illicit payments.  Though caught on video receiving a briefcase that prosecutors alleged contained $450,000, the former MPS investigator was defiant, claiming that the attaché held four bottles of wine. He denied meeting anyone under investigation despite significant evidence. Prosecutors noted that given his position, he knew all the steps to take to cover his tracks, including relying on burner phones.  His defiance throughout the trial reminded people that the people charged with investigating corruption tend to be tainted by it the most. His sentence was longer than prosecutors had asked for.  Health ministry graft Fourth, the trial served up another reminder that corruption is endemic in the Vietnamese Ministry of Health. The secretary of a deputy minister of health, Pham Trung Kien, was caught taking some 253 separate bribes within a year.   In addition to this scandal, the ministry was also rocked by the Viet A test kit scandal, and in a separate corruption case in July, a Ho Chi Minh City businessman was accused of selling $3.2 million in non-resistant latex gloves. The investigations into so many senior level ministry officials have had real impacts on the healthcare sector. So scared of being caught up in a corruption investigation, no one was willing to sign off on imports of key medicines, leaving serious shortages in early 2023 and causing the delays of thousands of surgeries.  Healthcare workers spray disinfectant on Vietnamese nationals after their repatriation flight from Singapore landed at Can Tho airport, Vietnam, Aug. 7, 2020. Credit: Mai Nguyen/Reuters Fifth, Vietnamese analysts that I spoke to noted that there was a distinct difference in levels of contrition. The older figures who had been in the system for years…

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Huge Buddha statue a fig leaf for Myanmar junta atrocities, critics say

Editor012 mins

Myanmar’s junta inaugurated a 1,700-ton Buddha statue at a grand ceremony in the capital Tuesday that was secretly mocked by citizens used to the military’s efforts to win respectability through religion. The unveiling of the Maravijaya Buddha to mark the full moon day of Waso is the latest attempt by a military regime in Myanmar to present itself as being aligned with religion in the Buddhist-majority country, despite resorting to violence to enforce their grip on power. Civil servants had “no other choice but to go” to the ceremony, despite Waso being a holiday, said a resident of Naypyidaw who, like several others RFA Burmese contacted for this report, spoke on condition of anonymity, citing security concerns. “What I am sure of is that no civilians who aren’t government employees joined the ceremony,” he said. “Only [junta] employees who were forced to join went there. The military even arranged transportation for them.” Waso, also known as Dhammasetkya Day, commemorates the first sermon Buddha ever delivered, and Myanmar’s latest junta pulled out all the stops. The ordination ceremony in the capital Naypyidaw for the 63-foot-tall Buddha, which sits atop an 18-foot-tall throne, was the most extensive official religious event in the country since the military under Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing seized power two-and-a-half years ago. Pro-junta media have dubbed the 58 billion-kyat (US$27.6 million) carving “the world’s largest marble sitting Buddha statue,” ordered built by the junta chief to “show the international community that Buddhism is flourishing in Myanmar” and to “bring peace to the country and the world.” But residents of the capital were quick to point out the hypocrisy of the regime’s message of harmony when its security forces are responsible for the deaths of 3,861 civilians since the Feb. 1, 2021 coup d’etat. “What we see is that the junta is using a lot of money and manpower in building the statue to make it more famous than previous pagodas,” said another resident. “I have no plans to visit, as it was built by the blood-stained hands of the military dictator.” Other critics of the project have slammed the statue as a vanity project for Min Aung Hlaing, who they say hopes to paint himself as a protector of Buddhism in Myanmar. Rights activist Zaw Yan pointed out that the money used to build the statue was part of Myanmar’s national budget. He questioned why it wasn’t used to feed people who are starving because of the junta’s economic mismanagement or provide aid to the 2 million the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says have been displaced by conflict in the country since the takeover. “This is just the junta’s attempt to appear as if [Min Aung Hlaing] is a holy king in hope of gaining people’s support as a political exit,” he said. ‘Remembered as murderers’ Sai Kyi Zin Soe, a political analyst, told RFA that Min Aung Hlaing likely built the Maravijaya Buddha statue in a bid to whitewash his legacy, ward off danger and prolong his rule. “That’s what [junta chiefs] usually do,” he said. “There have been similar examples of this in the past.” The statue’s ordination was reminiscent of one in February 2002, when the country’s former junta under Senior Gen. Than Shwe held a ceremony to consecrate a 560-ton, 37-foot-tall marble Buddha statue known as the Loka Chantha Abhaya Labha Muni in Yangon.  Than Shwe moved Myanmar’s capital from the city to Naypyidaw in 2006 and three years later built the Uppatasanti Pagoda there – its name invoking a Buddhist mantra believed to protect against foreign invasion. In 1986, former junta leader General Ne Win completed the Maha Wizaya Pagoda, whose name means “extraordinary success,” south of the revered Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon. However, few people visit the pagoda these days because of its association with the dictator, whose regime was responsible for killing unarmed students, monks and other civilians in a bloody 1988 coup. Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, center, head of the military council, puts jewelry at point of victory, auspicious ground, during consecration ceremony at the sitting Maravijaya Buddha statue made with marble rock, Sunday, July 23, 2023, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. Credit: Military True News Information Team via AP In addition to the statue’s unveiling on Tuesday, the junta also announced an amnesty that reduced the prison term of the jailed head of the deposed National League for Democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi, by six years and that of the country’s ousted president, Win Myint, by four. It also ordered the release of thousands of inmates from prisons around the country. The junta often announces amnesties on Buddhist religious days. “Of course they want to be rulers who are seen to revere Buddhism … but they are remembered as murderers, not as devout religious leaders,” said Kyee Myint, a human rights lawyer. “[Try as they may] their wrongdoings will remain recorded in history.” Waryama, a leader of the Spring Revolution Sangha Network of anti-junta Buddhist monks, likened such acts to “hiding a dead elephant with the skin of a goat,” or attempts of deception. “Generations of tyrants and dictators in our country build these temples and pagodas to cover up their atrocities and killing of the people.,” he said. “[The junta] is using the Buddha’s image to try to continue its rule of the country so that it can inflict more cruelty … In fact, worshiping Buddha statues is just a superficial custom of Buddhism.” Buddhist in name only The statue unveiled on Tuesday, whose name Maravijaya means “the Buddha who overcomes the devil’s interference,” is imbued with Buddhist symbolism. According to the Institute for Strategy and Policy (ISP-Myanmar), an independent research group, worship of the Maravijaya statue involves the number nine, seen as auspicious by Myanmar’s superstitious military leaders. The combined weight of the statue (1,782 tons) and throne (3,510 tons) is 5,292 tons. When 5,292 is added together until one digit remains (5+2+9+2=18, 1+8=9), the result is nine.  The same is…

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Family run, since 1985

Editor01 mins

Strongman Hun Sen has announced he will transfer power to his eldest son Hun Manet, after nearly four decades ruling Cambodia. Hun Manet, a former military chief and four-star general, is at the forefront of a major generational succession in the ruling party that will also see Interior Minister Sar Kheng and Defence Minister Tea Banh hand over their posts to their sons.

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Myanmar junta announces fourth extension of emergency rule

Editor06 mins

Myanmar’s military junta extended a state of emergency on Monday on the eve of a deadline, delaying elections it had vowed to hold by the end of the year, according to media reports. The National Defense and Security Council, Myanmar’s top decision-making body, ordered the extension at a meeting convened by the junta in the capital Naypyidaw, Bloomberg reported, citing junta Deputy Information Minister Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun. The announcement marks four consecutive six-month extensions of emergency rule in Myanmar since the military seized power in a Feb. 1, 2021, coup d’etat, citing ongoing instability in the country. The latest period was set to expire on July 31. The military regime had announced plans to hold an election this year, in what analysts say is part of a bid to crush the opposition and legitimize its rule through the polls. Opponents have dismissed the planned election as a sham because it appears rigged to exclude parties ousted by the coup and keep junta officials in power. The fourth extension of emergency rule would postpone the election, which Myanmar’s Constitution mandates must be held within six months after a state of emergency is lifted. The renewed state of emergency announced Monday was not unexpected. On July 13, junta chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing hinted at a possible extension of emergency rule during a meeting of the Tatmadaw, or Myanmar’s Armed Forces, in the capital Naypyidaw, calling for greater security in Sagaing region, as well as Chin and Kayah states. The three regions are centers of resistance to military rule and have seen an uptick in violence in recent months. ‘Extraordinary situation’ According to Myanmar’s military-drafted constitution, emergency rule can only be extended twice “in normal situations.” In announcing the last extension on Jan. 31 this year, junta leaders cited the “extraordinary situation” created by resistance against the military regime for stymieing efforts to hold a general election. At the time, Min Aung Hlaing, faulted “terrorist groups” formed by deposed lawmakers and officials – the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw and the National Unity Government – as well as the numerous local militias known as People’s Defense Force, or PDF, that have fought the junta across Myanmar since 2021. Min Aung Hlaing was the leader of the coup that ousted and jailed leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy government about two months after their landslide election victory. Civilians under threat After the last extension, the junta declared martial law in 40 townships in Sagaing, Magway,  Tanintharyi and Bago regions, as well as in Kayin, Chin and Kayah states. The military embarked on a brutal campaign against the armed resistance, but the resistance grew stronger. Military clearance operations have claimed the lives of civilians on a near daily basis in Myanmar. According to Burma News International’s Myanmar Peace Monitor, which compiles data on military conflict in the country, at least 383 civilians were killed throughout the country during the latest extension of emergency rule, from Feb. 1 to July 15. Most were arrested and killed or died in military shelling and airstrikes. According to a July 15 statement by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, nearly 2 million people have been displaced by armed conflict across Myanmar since the coup. Of those, nearly 800,000 people have been displaced in Sagaing region alone.

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Activist says he’ll continue to struggle for democracy in Vietnam

Editor015 mins

Radio Free Asia interviewed 74-year-old Australian citizen and democracy activist Chau Van Kham after his release from a Vietnamese prison last week. He was arrested in 2019, hours after he arrived in Vietnam and met with a fellow pro-democracy activist. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison for “terrorism aimed at toppling the people’s administration.” Kham was a member of Viet Tan, a pro-democracy group with members inside Vietnam and abroad. It has been described by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights as a moderate activist group advocating for democratic reform. Hanoi claims it is a terrorist organization that aims to topple the government. Kham suffers from glaucoma, high blood pressure and kidney stones, according to Viet Tan. His release came on humanitarian grounds “in a spirit of friendship” between Canberra and Hanoi, according to Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, CNN reported. He returned home to Sydney on July 25. RFA: You have just returned home. Please tell us your thoughts about being released? Chau Văn Kham: My first emotion is only after leaving the Vietnam Airlines plane do I truly feel that I have freedom. My emotions were lifted when I saw my wife and my younger brother at the airport, and at the same time the reception of Mr. Chris Bowen, representative of the Australian prime minister.  I remembered those who struggle and are still in prisons under the communist regime, especially those who fight for freedom and democracy for Vietnam. RFA: The Vietnamese government accused you of “terrorism against the people’s government.” The government said that the activities of the Viet Tan Party were characteristic of “terrorism.” Could you tell us what you have done in Vietnam that they would accuse you of such a severe charge? Chau Văn Kham: When I went to Vietnam through Cambodia, I had a bag in which there were only a pair of clothes and several pairs of underwear. No documents, no leaflets, no laptops. And I used a very old mobile phone. During the time I stayed in Vietnam, I didn’t do any activities that they could accuse me of being terrorism. During the investigation process, police decided to prosecute me with “having activities to protest against the people’s government.” But after some months, the investigative agent told me that the government didn’t see any activities of me in that purpose so the government lowered the crime down to “terrorism.”  I thought that the “terrorism” crime was heavier than “having activities to protest against the people’s government,” but I didn’t dispute what he said. But they still couldn’t find any activities to accuse me. They told me that when I sat by the Bach Dang River, it was to investigate how to attack vessels on the river. I told them that I used to be a Navy sailor, and I went there to have coffee with my friends and to remember the past. I just laughed at such an accusation. The investigative agents showed me online photos of the Viet Tan Front with guns. I explained to them that such photos with armed guerrillas were for propaganda purposes, not for attacking. I myself know well that the Viet Tan Party, announced to the world its existence in 2004, had a non-violence policy that was announced in 2007. I joined the Viet Tan in 2010. Vietnamese-Australian democracy activist Chau Van Kham [left] is escorted into a courtroom in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Nov. 11, 2019. (Credit: Vietnam News Agency/AFP) RFA: Could you tell us what you did in Vietnam, and what evidence and any grounds they used to prove that you did terrorist acts? Chau Van Kham: In fact I didn’t do anything that could be seen as terrorism. They used an announcement on the website of the Ministry of Public Securities that said Viet Tan was a terrorist organization since 2017. They asked me if I heard about that. I replied that I had heard but I didn’t care. They asked why. I replied to them with these reasons: Firstly, Viet Tan operates all over the world, even in Vietnam, and only Vietnam accuses Viet Tan a terrorist organization. Secondly, the announcement on the website of the Ministry of Public Securities had not been adopted into law. If there had been a law naming the Viet Tan as a terrorist organization, the Australian government would have known and would have ended our operation. But at court, when I explained this, the chief judge slammed his hand on the table saying that I came to Vietnam and Vietnamese law applied. RFA: Why do you think Vietnam has accused Viet Tan of being a terrorist organization – a very severe accusation – while others have been accused as being “anti-people’s government” organizations? Châu Văn Kham: To many Vietnamese inside the country, “terrorism” means “death, sorrows, breaking down, back to the terrible time of war.” Even me, as a war veteran, when mentioning war, I feel appalled. As a result, any organizations that would bring about such things would be avoided.  The purpose for accusing me as a terrorist was to create the thinking of “deaths, sorrows.” It was completely wrong. The evidence was aired on state television stations at least five days a week during prime time. News about terrorism and deterioration to corruption was aired, and the Viet Tan Party was always mentioned. In the prison, other cellmates asked me what I had done to become jailed with terrorist charges. I told them, “Look at me – a small guy with a meek personality. How could I terrorize others?” It was just the Vietnamese government’s propaganda.  Now, in my opinion, the only force that can counter Vietnam’s government for the time being is the Viet Tan Party. So, by all means, they try to destroy our prestige, making Vietnamese people avoid us.    I would add the purpose of my trip to Vietnam was to do fact-finding about the real human rights situation…

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Lao police detain Chinese rights lawyer who was headed to the United States

Editor05 mins

A Chinese human rights lawyer who lost his law license after speaking out about the cases of 12 Hong Kong activists has been arrested in Laos and could face deportation to China, the Associated Press reported. Lu Siwei was arrested in Vientiane Friday morning as he boarded a train for Thailand. He was traveling to Bangkok to board a flight to the United States to be with his wife and daughter, according to the AP. Lao police said that there was something wrong with his passport, according to Bob Fu, founder of Texas-based religious rights group ChinaAid.  Lu sent a message at 10:10 a.m. on Friday saying that he had been detained by three policemen, according to his wife, Zhang Chunxiao. “I haven’t been able to get in touch with him again,” she told Radio Free Asia. “I feel that they will send him back as soon as possible.” Lu had been under surveillance in China since his attorney’s license was revoked in 2021, Zhang said. A camera was installed at the door of their house, and he had been barred from leaving China.  ‘Long-arm jurisdiction’ The arrest in Laos was obviously due to the “long-arm jurisdiction” of Chinese authorities, who have been aggressively pursuing Chinese dissidents abroad, Fu said. Lu would face prison if returned to China. Fu said he was contacted by Lu’s family two weeks ago to help him leave China. Lu had valid visas for Laos and the United States, and two ChinaAid activists were traveling with him when he was arrested, the AP said.  Fu sent the AP photos of Lu’s passport to verify his claims. He told RFA that Chinese authorities likely asked Lao police to focus on Lu’s passport during the interaction at the train station. He said he’s spoken with several U.S. State Department senior officials about the arrest. One of the two activists [left] traveling with Chinese rights lawyer Lu Siwei [right] argues with police who were in the process of detaining Lu, near the Thanaleng dry port, 13 kilometers (8 miles), south of Vientiane, on July 28, 2023. Credit: Anonymous source via AP “The State Department activated the emergency response mechanism and immediately notified the U.S. embassy in Laos and the diplomatic systems of other allied countries,” Fu said. China’s Foreign Ministry didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from the AP on Friday. Numbers listed for Lao’s Foreign Ministry rang unanswered, and the Laotian embassy in Beijing didn’t immediately respond to emailed requests for comment, the AP said. Lawyer for detained activist Lu was hired by the family of Quinn Moon, one of 12 protesters who were jailed after trying to escape to democratic Taiwan by speedboat following the 2019 Hong Kong protest movement.  He was particularly vocal in the months following their initial detention and repeatedly commented about his unsuccessful attempts to gain access to his client. After his law license was revoked in 2021, Lu told RFA that he couldn’t have predicted he would end up in this situation. “Sometimes it is difficult to imagine what your life will bring,” he said. “You can make some plans, but there are still some certain events that will change your life.” Edited by Matt Reed.

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China is the tech abettor of global autocracy

Editor08 mins

Lost in recent news about China’s spy-base in Cuba was the fact that Huawei employees are working for the Latin American dictatorship. The Chinese telecoms giant isn’t just helping maintain an intelligence-gathering facility. It’s also helping Cuba oppress its own citizens.  This is a common thread in Chinese diplomacy: Giving authoritarian regimes the technological tools they need to surveil, repress, and punish dissidents.  Huawei, whose links with the Chinese Communist Party are well established, has been Cuba’s main technology provider for the state telecommunications company since 2017.  According to a Swedish study, this is part of China’s support for “digital authoritarianism,” and Huawei’s eSight Internet management software that filters web searches is also in use across Latin America. When the Cuban people staged massive protests in July 2021, the government controlled and blocked the internet using technology “made, sold and installed” by China, according to Senator Marco Rubio.  Then there’s Africa. In September 2018, Djibouti started surveillance system construction in collaboration with the state-owned China Railway Electrification Bureau Group. The video surveillance system covers major urban areas, airports, docks, and ports in the city of Djibouti.   In Asia, China is reportedly cooperating with Myanmar’s military government in constructing a surveillance post on Great Coco Island. In December 2020, Myanmar applied 335 Huawei surveillance cameras in eight townships as part of its “Safe City” project.  China’s President Xi Jinping shakes hands with Djibouti’s President Ismail Omar Guelleh before a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, April 28, 2019. Credit: Madoka Ikegami/Pool via Reuters The cameras have facial recognition functions and alert authorities if surveilled persons are on a wanted list. In July 2022, Reuters reported that Myanmar’s military government installed Chinese-made cameras with facial recognition capabilities in cities across the country. The equipment was purchased from Dahua, Huawei, and Hikvision.  In another case of close Chinese support for an authoritarian ruler in Southeast Asia, it was confirmed in February 2023, that China has a naval base in Ream, Cambodia. In June 2019, the Deputy Commissioner of the General Commissariat of the Kingdom of Cambodia Police and Chief of Phnom Penh Municipal Police visited Chinese companies including Huawei and Hikvision, expressing interest in China’s “Safe Cities” surveillance systems and other police equipment which he hoped to introduce for “improving public security and combating crimes.”  In October 2022, according to Voice of America, Cambodian human rights activists suspected Cambodian local police of using drones and surveillance cameras supplied by Chinese companies to monitor labor rights protesters.  Belt and Road Initiative In Pakistan, China has installed Chinese technology for domestic surveillance since at least 2016. That’s when the so-called “Safe City” project commenced operations in Islamabad, in collaboration with Huawei and other Chinese companies like e-Hualu. The project has established checkpoints and electronic police systems along major city thoroughfares, enabling citywide vehicle monitoring. In 2017, Huawei collaborated with the Punjab Safe Cities Authority in Pakistan to build a safe city system in Lahore. The project includes an integrated command and communication center, 200 police station sites, and 100 LTE base stations. In Central Asia, Huawei and Hualu surveillance systems are throughout Dushanbe, ostensibly to combat what local authorities say is “terrorism and extremism.” In May 2023, the head of Sughd Province Tajikistan met with Huawei representatives to discuss its 25 million USD “Safe City” project in Khujand, its provincial capital.  A staff member sits in front of a screen displaying footage from surveillance cameras, at the Hikvision booth at Security China, the China International Exhibition on Public Safety and Security, in Beijing, June 7, 2023. Credit: Florence Lo/Reuters Much of China’s global provision of domestic surveillance tools is through its Belt and Road initiative, through which it has sent technology to Egypt and Nigeria, Uganda, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Angola, Laos, Kazakhstan, and Kenya. There’s also Serbia, where a political dissident claimed that the objective of the country’s participation in the Belt and Road Initiative is to “hunt… down political opponents.”  Technology surveys show that around the world, at least 79 states have bought into Huawei’s surveillance package. They include liberal democracies like Italy, Netherlands, and Germany. A Huawei contract can thus signal entry-level affiliation with Xi Jinping’s New World Order, where “a future and destiny of every nation and every country are closely interconnected”—by invasive Chinese technology that abets oppression. That doesn’t belong in America’s backyard, in Cuba, or anywhere else in the world. Aaron Rhodes is senior fellow at Common Sense Society and President of the Forum for Religious Freedom-Europe. Cheryl Yu is senior researcher at Common Sense Society. The views expressed here are their own and do not reflect the position of RFA.

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