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Category: South Asia

Police soon to wrap up investigation into Vietnamese Facebooker

Editor07 mins

A police probe into a well-known Vietnamese Facebook user will end soon with Bui Van Thuan facing anti-state propaganda charges. The case is being investigated by the Security Investigation Agency of Thanh Hoa provincial police who said they would charge him under Article 117 of the Criminal Code “Making, storing, spreading information, materials, items for the purpose of opposing the State of Socialist Republic of Vietnam.” If convicted he faces a sentence of five to 12 years. Two police investigators, Le Hong Ky and Mai Van Tinh, spoke to the political blogger’s wife on Tuesday morning according to a summons sent the previous day. Before his arrest in August last year, Bui Van Thuan was well known as a daily compiler of Vietnamese political news. His posts featured many of the political struggles going on between provincial officials, which he nicknamed the “dog fighting ring.” Thuan’s wife went to the Thanh Hoa Police station for two hours on Tuesday morning, during which the police told her that her husband would soon have his day in court. “They said that Thuan’s case is about to be finished with investigations nearly complete and they will bring him to trial this year,” she said. “They told me Thuan asked the police to return to me some belongings unrelated to the case [confiscated during a house search]. They said they would return them but I should pick them up another day.” Nhung told RFA the main reason she was summoned to the police station was to discuss posts she made on her Facebook page and that of her husband. The two investigators said she should not have posted the letter of summons and should not have posted the content of the meeting with security officers on Facebook because it was against the rules. Nhung said the two officers told her they were aware of her meetings with friends of her husband and wives of prisoners of conscience. Thuan was arrested on August 30, 2021, just days after the visit of US Vice President Kamala Harris to Hanoi. He has been kept in solitary confinement in a single room since then, unable to meet relatives and lawyers. His wife says Thuan’s health has deteriorated as a result of his detention. “In March, I received a letter from Thuan that had been written by the police,” she said. “It said his health was fine with the exception of pain in his legs but the medicine provided by the detention facility is not very effective. I asked to be allowed to provide some medicine but the police refused saying that the medicine provided by prison clinics should be sufficient.” Nhung said she bought liver and eye tonics to send to her husband, but the police did not allow it, saying a doctor’s prescription was needed in order to send medicine to a prisoner. She added that the police only allowed her to send food worth no more than VND60,000 (U.S.$2.70) on each visit, up to a maximum of three times a month. However, she was given a deposit of about VND1.6 million (U.S.68) per month so her husband could buy food and other essentials from the prison canteen. This is the second time Thanh Hoa police have summoned Nhung for interrogation related to her husband but the latest document, dated July 4, said it was the first summons. On March 17, during the first summons, the police threatened Nhung over her actions to defend her husband and told her she could be arrested at any time if she did not cooperate with the investigation into her husband’s activities. She was also asked repeatedly to confirm details of Thuan’s and her own Facebook accounts. Bui Van Thuan was born in 1981, and is an ethnic Muong. He graduated from Hanoi National University of Education and worked as a chemistry teacher for a while, before becoming a famous Facebooker in Vietnam with the nickname “Old Father of the Nation,” a reference to political propaganda which refers to Ho Chi Minh as the father of the nation.

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Uyghurs in exile mark anniversary of deadly 2009 Urumqi unrest

Editor09 mins

Uyghur exile groups around the world on Tuesday demanded that China end its persecution of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang in a series of protests marking the 13th anniversary of deadly ethnic violence in the region’s capital. Uyghurs demonstrated in the capital cities of European Union countries, Turkey, Australia, Japan, and Canada, and in New York and Washington, D.C., to commemorate the crackdown in Urumqi, which became a catalyst for the Chinese government’s efforts to repress Uyghur culture, language and religion through a mass surveillance and internment campaign. “We gathered here to commemorate the massacre that occurred on July 5 in Urumqi and to remember the ongoing genocide taking place in East Turkestan today,” said Hidayetulla Oghuzhan, chairman of East Turkestan Organizational Alliance in Istanbul, using Uyghurs’ preferred name for the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). “We call upon the international community to not to remain silent and to take action against this genocide,” he said. In Paris, one protester told RFA that he lost many of his friends in the July 5 clash and that remembering that day was very important for him. Smaller demonstrations were held in other cities. About 15 members of the Australian Uyghur Tangritagh Women’s Association protested outside a mall in Adelaide to mark the anniversary of the massacre and demand that the Australian government ban the importation of goods made with Uyghur forced labor in the XUAR, according to India’s The Print online news service. Muslims in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka and in Narayanganj district, about 16 kilometers (10 miles) southeast of the city, also staged protests against the Chinese government’s oppression of Uyghurs, according to the same news source. About 200 people died and 1,700 were injured in three days of violence between ethnic minority Uyghurs and Han Chinese that began on July 5, 2009, in Xinjiang’s largest city, Urumqi (in Chinese, Wulumuqi), according to China’s official figures. Uyghur rights groups say the numbers of dead and injured were much higher, however. The unrest was set off by a clash between Uyghur and Han Chinese toy factory workers in southern China’s Guangdong province in late June that year that left two Uyghurs dead. News of the deaths reached Uyghurs in Urumqi, sparking a peaceful protest the spiraled into beatings and killings of Chinese, with deaths occurring on both sides. Chinese mobs later staged revenge attacks on Uyghurs in the city’s streets with sticks and metal bars. ‘We mourn the past’ Dolkun Isa, president of Germany-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC), called July 5 a day of mourning. “We have to remember that day,” he told RFA on Tuesday. “That day is the turning point in from China’s ethnic segregation and discrimination policy to the beginning of the genocidal ethnic policy. 2009 is the starting point of the ongoing ethnic genocide since 2016.” In late 2016 and 2017, authorities ramped up their clampdown on Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in the XUAR through abductions and arbitrary arrests and detentions in what China called “re-education” camps or prisons. An estimated 1.8 million members of these groups have been held in internment camps, where detainees who were later freed reported widespread maltreatment, including severe human rights abuses, torture, rape and forced labor. The U.S. and the parliaments of the EU have said the repression of Uyghurs in the XUAR is a genocide and crime against humanity. The Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP), based in Washington D.C., demanded the protection of Uyghur refugees and asylum seekers residing abroad. “Saving Uyghur refugees is the least that the world can do for Uyghurs, as we experience the 6th year of an ongoing genocide,” UHRP Executive Director Omer Kanat said in a statement. “It is urgent that all countries recognize the threat posed to Uyghurs abroad, and develop their own resettlement programs on an emergency basis.” Because China has sought the forcible return of some Uyghurs living abroad, UHRP said governments should immediately implement resettlement programs for those at risk of refoulement — forcing refugees to return to a country where they will likely face persecution. UHRP called on the U.S. Congress to pass the Uyghur Human Rights Protection Act, which would make Uyghurs and other persecuted Turkic peoples eligible for priority refugee processing by the U.N., designating them as “Priority 2” refugees of special humanitarian concern. The Washington, D.C-based Campaign for Uyghurs said the Urumqi Massacre was a reminder of the brutality of the Chinese government and the loss that Uyghurs have experienced in their fight for equality. “The world no longer believes China’s whitewashed tales stating the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] is innocent and a victim in the Urumqi massacre,” Rushan Abbas, the group’s executive director, said in a statement. “While we mourn the past, we continue to fight for the living, fight for the future of this free and democratic world. Justice is on our side reclaiming this correct history.” “We labor ensuring those who perished in 2009 will not have sacrificed their lives in vain,” she said. “With courage and hard work, justice shall prevail.” Translated by Mamatjan Juma for RFA Uyghur. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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Cambodia’s opposition party cries foul after governor likens them to ‘social plague’

Editor08 mins

Cambodia’s opposition Candlelight Party is once again urging government officials to stop harassing its members after a provincial governor from Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling party compared Candlelight members recently elected to local offices to a “social plague,” sources in the country told RFA. The complaint comes as members of the Candlelight prepare to meet with other minority parties to consider forming an alliance and to make recommendations to improve Cambodia’s elections process. The Candlelight Party won roughly 19 percent of the country’s 11,622 open commune council seats in the June 5 election, establishing itself as the main opposition to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), which took more than 80 percent of the vote. Prior to the election, the Candlelight Party candidates reported harassment and intimidation by members of the CPP and its supporters, including government officials. Unless the government acts, the discrimination against Candlelight and other opposition party members will grow, Candlelight officials fear. At a post-election ceremony in the western province of Pailin, provincial Gov. Ban Sreymom threatened the newly elected councilors affiliated with the Candlelight Party, saying they were a “plague we need to get rid of.” “We don’t teach people to be rude and provoke a social toxin or plague. We don’t let them stay. They are a plague, they will be removed or be sprayed with insecticide to kill it,” Ban Sreymom said during the ceremony. The comment will make it harder for the commune councils with representatives from both political parties to operate, the Candlelight Party’s chief for the province, Khem Monykosal, told RFA’s Khmer Service. “We haven’t even started our jobs, but there has been a threat already. This comment shouldn’t be used and they should respect the people’s votes. The comment is a major offense to our councilors,” he said. RFA was unable to reach the governor for comment Tuesday. Interior Minister Khieu Sopheak was also not available. Bun Sreymom’s comments were not discriminatory, asserted the CPP spokesperson Sok Ey San. “We empower the provincial governors to advise commune councilors, so I don’t believe they use the events to attack [the Candlelight Party],” he said. Government officials should not use their offices to discriminate against their political rivals, Kang Savang, a monitor with the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia NGO, told RFA. He urged the Ministry of Interior to investigate the case and to punish officials if they are in breach of the law. “Senior government officials should not use terms like that in public because it is against their duties as authorities,” he said. Candlelight Party Vice President Thach Setha said the Ministry of Interior must issue strict measures to prevent such comments in the future.  He hopes that the party’s newly elected commune councilors will be able to serve their constituents unhindered so that they can develop their communities. “We want the Ministry of Interior to take tough measures and punish [CPP councilors] who don’t share responsibilities with [opposition party] councilors,” he said. Opposition alliance Five political parties including the Candlelight Party will meet Wednesday to discuss a possible alliance. The four smaller parties — the Grassroots Democratic Party, the Cambodian Reform Party, the Khmer Will Party and the Kampucheanimym Party — will along with Candlelight also make recommendations to Cambodia’s government on improving the election process. “We are advocating progress on improvement to elections to the NEC [National Election Commission], and we all have plenty of work to do on the same path,” Yang Saing Koma, founder of the Grassroots Democratic Party, told RFA.  The ruling party is not concerned about the alliance, CPP spokesperson Sok Ey San told RFA. “They all split from the big party,” he said, referring to the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), which was dissolved in 2017 by Cambodia’s Supreme Court, paving the way for Hun Sen’s CPP to win all of the seats in the National Assembly in general elections the following year. Many of the former CNRP members who were barred from engaging in political activities as members of that party are now members of Candlelight. “Now they want to reunite, but the party lost election to the CPP already,” Sok Ey San said, referring to the CPP’s dominance in this year’s commune elections. Exiled political analyst Kim Sok said the parties should merge in order to compete with the CPP by creating a new political force. “We can’t say we are united and still support different parties,” he said. “If we don’t merge there is no significant benefit.” Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Chinese researchers develop device they say can test loyalty of ruling party members

Editor07 mins

Researchers in the eastern Chinese province of Anhui say they have developed a device that can determine loyalty to the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) using facial scans. A short video uploaded to the Weibo account of the Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center on June 30 said the project was an example of “artificial intelligence empowering party-building.” The Weibo post was later deleted, but a text summary of video, produced in honor of the CCP’s July 1 anniversary, remained available on the Internet Archive on Monday. “Guaranteeing the quality of party-member activities is turning into a problem in need of coordination,” the text said. “This equipment is a kind of smart ideology, using AI technology to extract and integrate facial expressions, EEG readings and skin conductivity … making it possible to ascertain the levels of concentration, recognition and mastery of ideological and political education so as to better understand its effectiveness,” the description said. “It can provide real data for organizers of ideological and political education, so they can keep improving their methods of education and enrich content,” it said. It said the device relies on “emotionally intelligent computing,” among other methods, to measure to what extent subjects “feel grateful to the CCP, do as it tells them and follow its lead.” In the video, as reported by Hong Kong’s Ming Pao newspaper, a researcher in white walks into a room and sits in front of a screen to take a test, before receiving a test score and analysis onscreen. Big Brother Before the post was deleted, some comments slammed the idea as “high-tech brainwashing,” while others referenced George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, saying that “Big Brother” would be watching them. Anhui-based sociologist Song Da’an said the post had been removed due to its political sensitivity. “Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center has been using biotechnology to measure the loyalty of party members and cadres,” Song said. “This shows that the CCP is becoming more and more totalitarian.” “In the logic of a totalitarian society, more and more emphasis is placed on refining controllability, and party members are regarded as screws [that could come loose] and potentially cause damage; they are the enemy of the machine,” he said. Song said the technology was based on the polygraph, used by security services to detect lying, which was itself based on the word association experiments of Swiss psychiatrist C.G. Jung. “They are using this technology to treat all party members as potential anti-CCP agents,” he said. “The use of these technology on officials demonstrates the sorry state of affairs within party ranks.” A Jiangxi-based current affairs commentator surnamed Zhang agreed. “They are consolidating their power to better hold onto it,” Zhang said. “That’s what these people want; to consolidate their position.” “Would a regime that served the people be afraid of losing political power?” ‘All-seeing eye’ A call to the Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center on Monday resulted in a recorded message saying “Sorry, the person you have called isn’t authorized to take your call. Goodbye.” In 2018, authorities in Zhejiang province installed an “all-seeing eye” in a high-school classroom to spot students who weren’t paying attention or who fell asleep in class, official media reported. The new system at the Hangzhou No. 11 High School links up a surveillance camera to facial recognition software that tracks students’ movements and facial expressions, according to the Zhejiang Daily newspaper. The technology was part of a trial of software and surveillance systems that could be rolled out elsewhere as part of the development of “smart campuses,” the paper said. “The system … can perform statistical analysis on students’ behaviors and expressions in the classroom and provide timely feedback on abnormal behaviors,” the report said. Data collected by the system will be analyzed by the software, and overly inattentive or sleepy behavior will generate a prompt to the teacher to admonish the offender, it said. The data could also be used to evaluate teachers’ performance in the classroom, the report said. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Will Southeast Asia support Russia’s war with semiconductor exports?

Editor012 mins

Despite the efforts of Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, the war in Ukraine continues. Whether governments in Southeast Asia are willing to admit it or not, the war matters, as it threatens the liberal international order, creates a dangerous precedent for other aggressor states, and harms the fragile post-pandemic economic recovery by causing inflationary pressures in energy and food. Southeast Asian states, apart from Singapore, have eschewed sanctions and continue to trade with Russia. But as the war drags on, that will have consequences in terms of secondary sanctions and other penalties imposed by the west. Russian supply chains run through Southeast Asia, and the United States and other western governments are have made the targeting of Russian sanctions evasion operations a top priority. One area where Southeast Asian actors may be tempted into sanctions evasion – or where, conversely, they could help pressure Russia economically – is in the export of semiconductors. A Protracted War Initially, Ukrainian forces successfully repelled the Russian invasion near the capital Kyiv and other cities in the north. Now, the Russians have advanced in the east and south, where the flat terrain favors the offense and provides little security for the defense. Tens of thousands of soldiers and over 4,500 civilians have been killed in 120 days of fighting. The United States estimates that the Ukrainians are losing 100 to 200 men a day. Cities, such as Mariupol, have been leveled by artillery fire and depopulated. Mass graves are being discovered, and the evidence of Russian war crimes is mounting. While Ukrainians are maintaining the will to fight, the costs are rising. Indonesian President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo visits an apartment complex destroyed by Russian airstrikes in Irpin, Ukraine, June 29, 2022. Credit: Handout/Press Bureau of the Indonesian Presidential Secretariat Trying to Weather the Economic Storm The initial shock of sanctions on the Russian economy has been stemmed. The ruble has not only recovered after its initial drop, but, buoyed by $150 million a day in oil and gas exports, it’s stronger than before the war began. Indeed, according to a recent report in The New York Times, in the first 100 days after the invasion, Russia netted $98 billion. Nonetheless, on June 26, Russia defaulted on $100 million in sovereign debt. While the economy reeled from the immediate or planned departure of about 1,000 western firms, over half of the 300 Asian firms have remained and continue to do business.  Where Russia is going to start to feel the economic pinch is in its manufacturing sector, as it is highly dependent on the import of inputs such as European machine tools and Asian semiconductors. Though Russia has five foundries, they produce very low quality products and Moscow is highly dependent on imports. In 2020, Russia imported nearly $1.5 billion in semiconductors. The largest producers of high-end circuitry, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and most importantly Taiwan, remain firmly committed to the sanctions regime. But firms in China and Southeast Asia may try to fill those critical supply chains for Moscow. In 2020, China accounted for one-third of Russian semiconductor imports. Since the Russian invasion, China has complied with international sanctions, for fear of secondary sanctions and the loss of market access. But diplomatically, China remains firmly in Russia’s camp, and continues to espouse the Russian justification for and narrative of the war. President Xi Jinping stated that there are “no limits” on the bilateral relationship and no “forbidden” areas of cooperation, suggesting frustration with western sanctions. On June 29, the U.S. Treasury department added five Chinese electronics manufacturers to an export blacklist, which will deny them the ability to sell in the U.S. market, for their sales to Russian military industries. This should have a chilling effect on other Chinese suppliers. Southeast Asia’s Role in Moscow’s Supply Chain In 2020, Malaysia exported some $280 million worth of semiconductors to Russia, making it the second largest source after China, according to the Financial Times. The Philippines and Thailand exported over $60 million each; Singapore exported roughly $10 million. In all, Southeast Asia accounted for nearly a third of Russian semiconductors. Malaysia has already been called out for announcing their intentions to sell semiconductors to Russia as part of their policy of “strategic neutrality.” On April 23, the South China Morning Post reported that the Malaysian ambassador to Moscow told state-owned media that Malaysia would “consider any request” and continue their exports to Russia. Malaysian manufacturers were warned that they could face secondary sanctions and loss of market access, threatening future investment in a nearly $9 billion export market. Similar warnings were made to manufacturers in the Philippines and Thailand. Although Vietnam remains close to Russia, its semiconductor manufacturing is directly controlled by foreign investors. Intel, which is amongst the most prestigious foreign investors in the country, made an additional $475 million investment in 2021; bringing their total investment to $1.5 billion. As companies continue to decouple from China, Vietnam is eager to increase high-tech manufacturing and is cognizant of the costs of trying to evade sanctions on Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Indonesian President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo at the Kremlin in Moscow, June 30, 2022. Credit: Sputnik via Reuters Evading Sanctions But Russia is desperate to revive its manufacturing and, as the war drags on, it will try to get countries to evade sanctions and/or use straw purchasers. Countries including Indonesia that are hard-hit from soaring energy prices have already looked to Russia for below market energy supplies. Jokowi’s trip to Moscow and his defiant willingness to include President Putin at the G-20 summit in Indonesia in November, are clearly intended to curry favor with Moscow for narrow economic gain. Indonesia’s leadership seems unable to grasp the fact that soaring food and energy prices that are hitting the public so hard have been caused by Russia’s illegal war of aggression. And sadly they are not alone in Southeast Asia, where the governments continue to view the war in Ukraine as a remote European crisis that doesn’t impact them or have other geo-strategic implications for the region. Southeast Asian countries can profess their neutrality,…

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Thai prime minister downplays Myanmar aircraft entering nation’s airspace

Editor07 mins

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha and the Royal Thai Air Force chief on Friday played down a brief incursion by a Burmese fighter jet into the nation’s airspace amid fierce fighting across the border, saying Myanmar and Thailand have “a good relationship.” Thailand’s air force scrambled two F-16 fighter jets to its northwestern border on Thursday after radar captured a Myanmar air force jet briefly violating Thai airspace during an aerial assault against Karen rebels, according to an air force statement that day. It also said Myanmar helicopters were detected in the area but did not appear to enter Thai airspace. “[They] admitted it and apologized. No intention, no determination so,” Prayuth said Friday, adding that the jet turned and overshot into Thailand. “We scrambled our aircraft to warn him as standard operating procedure. Today the military envoys have talked, and they apologized. “It looks like a big deal but it’s up to us to not make a mountain out of a mole hill – we have a good relationship.” Meanwhile, Thai Air Chief Marshal Napadej Thupatemi said he was irate over the incursion, but it was inadvertent. “I tell you frankly, like you, I was irate too, perhaps even more than you people. But we have contacted top commanders of Myanmar forces, asking them be mindful about their operation,” he said. “In air defense, there are three steps – identify friend or foe, intercept, and destroy if necessary,” he said. “Bear in mind, Myanmar is a friend. If a friend inadvertently trespasses our turf and we shoot him dead, that is way too excessive.” Fierce clashes The incursion occurred a day after Myanmar’s junta chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, hosted a delegation headed by Lt. Gen. Apichet Suesat of the Royal Thai Army in Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw for the 34th meeting of the Thailand-Myanmar Regional Border Committee, according to a report by the official Global New Light of Myanmar. The two sides discussed ways to strengthen cooperation between defense forces and anti-terrorism measures to improve stability along the border, the report said. Days of fierce clashes between Myanmar’s military and anti-junta forces in Kayin state have left more than a dozen anti-junta fighters dead and several wounded on both sides of the conflict, sources in the region said Thursday. The fighting began on June 26 when pro-democracy People’s Defense Force (PDF) paramilitaries and fighters with the ethnic Karen National Defense Organization/Karen National Liberation Army (KNDO/KNLA) launched a joint attack on a military outpost near Myawaddy township’s Ukrithta village, according to a report by the pro-military Myawaddy newspaper. The attack prompted a military retaliation that included artillery fire and airstrikes, and more junta troops were being deployed to the area, the report said. A rebel officer said junta jets were attacking positions in the area “nine or ten times a day.” About 200 residents of Myanmar fled across the border into Tak province on Wednesday, and two injured Burmese civilians were treated in Phob Phra district, local Thai officials said. Border communities Thai border communities have been affected by intermittent fighting in neighboring Myanmar since the 2021 coup, and in previous clashes between rebel groups and the Burmese government. A Karen source in Tak province’s Mae Sot district said more than 1,000 Karen refugees who fled the current conflict were still in Thailand. Southeast Asian countries have been criticized for not doing more to pressure Myanmar to return to democracy after the military coup in Feb. 2021 that ousted an elected government, and amid a brutal campaign to suppress protesters and armed opposition to the junta since then. A “five-point consensus” agreed by the 10-member regional bloc ASEAN in April 2020 to put Myanmar on the road to democracy was never enacted, in part, critics say, because the bloc operates by consensus and includes authoritarian governments that remain friendly with the junta. BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news service.

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New entreaty by ASEAN envoy to meet Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi

Editor011 mins

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Special Envoy to Myanmar has again requested that the junta let him speak with detained opposition chief Aung San Suu Kyi, amid criticism that his mission to resolve the country’s political crisis will be fruitless without meeting all stakeholders. ASEAN Special Envoy Prak Sokhonn held talks on Friday with representatives of seven ethnic armed groups in the capital Naypyidaw on the third day of his second visit to Myanmar since assuming his role with the bloc. Leaders of the armed groups told RFA Burmese that during the two-hour meeting Prak Sokhonn explained that he is working to achieve three goals: a dialogue on conflict resolution with all stakeholders, a nationwide ceasefire, and providing humanitarian assistance to those in need. He also told the groups that he wants to meet with the head of the deposed National League for Democracy (NLD) Aung San Suu Kyi, but that doing so “is very difficult,” they said. Nai Aung Ma-ngay, a spokesman for the New Mon State Party (NMSP), an opposition party that signed the Myanmar government’s nationwide ceasefire agreement in 2018, told RFA that the ASEAN envoy claimed to have asked for a meeting “with those whom he deserved to meet” during talks with junta leader Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing on Thursday. “He said he is trying his best on the prison issue. He said he met with the [junta] chairman yesterday and talked about these issues. He said they also talked about a dialogue,” the NMSP spokesman said. “Regarding the matter of Aung San Suu Kyi behind prison walls, he told us today ‘it is very difficult’ and ‘will take a lot of time.’” Nai Aung Ma-ngay noted that during Prak Sokhonn was also denied access to Suu Kyi by the junta during first visit to Myanmar as special envoy in March. “He said he is still trying and that he has about six months left in his current role [before the ASEAN chair rotates at the end of the year],” the NMSP spokesman said. “He told us that he would try to find a way to do it before his tenure ends.” During an emergency meeting on the situation in Myanmar in April 2021, Min Aung Hlaing had agreed to a so-called Five-Point Consensus to end violence in the country, which included meeting with all stakeholders to resolve the political crisis, but has failed to keep that promise. Observers say that peace cannot be achieved without including the NLD leadership and other powerbrokers in the process. In addition to the NMSP, the ethnic armed groups that met with Prak Sokhonn on Friday included the Shan State Reconstruction Council (RCSS), Democratic Karen Army (DKBA), Arakan State Liberation Party (ALP), Karen National Peace Council (KNLA/PC), Lahu Democratic Union (LDU) and Pa-O National Liberation Organization (PNLO). All seven are among groups that have signed a Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) with the government since 2015. Saw Mra Yazarlin, vice-chairwoman of the ALP, told RFA that Prak Sokhonn also asked the groups for their thoughts on who else should be included in talks aimed at resolving the country’s political stalemate. “Some answered him, saying representatives of the government, parliament, and [military],” she said. “[But there also] must be all political parties, and all ethnic armed groups, and civil society organizations, and other stakeholders included. Our side told him such a situation is necessary.” National League for Democracy party leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in a file photo. Credit: AFP ‘No one is above the law’ Prior to Prak Sokhonn’s ongoing five-day trip, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen — whose nation holds the chair of ASEAN — and the special envoy had requested that he meet with Suu Kyi and NLD president Win Myint but were refused by the junta. The pair are among several NLD officials who were arrested in the immediate aftermath of the military’s Feb. 1, 2021, coup and face multiple charges widely viewed as politically motivated. Prak Sokhonn has also requested that Suu Kyi be returned to her original place of detention after she was transferred last week to a Naypyidaw prison, prompting concern for the 77-year-old’s well-being due to poor conditions and lack of access to health care at the facility. That request was denied Friday by junta Deputy Minister of Information Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, who told a press conference that “no one is above the law,” and said special arrangements had been made to provide Suu Kyi “with proper food and healthcare needs.” Multiple attempts by RFA to contact Zaw Min Tun for comment on Prak Sokhonn’s visit went unanswered Friday. Earlier this week, the junta spokesman said that “those facing trials” will not be allowed to meet with the ASEAN envoy, adding that the military regime is “working with certain groups” to end the conflict in Myanmar, which has claimed the lives of 2,053 civilians since the coup, according to Bangkok-based NGO Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. The military has said it plans to allow the envoy meet with “some NLD members” during his visit but has not specified who they are. When asked on Wednesday who will hold talks with Prak Sokhonn, NLD central working committee member Kyaw Htwe said he could not comment on the matter. No solution likely Speaking to RFA, Naing Htoo Aung, permanent secretary of the shadow National Unity Government’s (NUG) Ministry of Defense, described Friday’s talks as “a sham,” and said they won’t produce a practical solution to the political crisis in Myanmar. “It is very important that all those who deserve to be involved in the talks are involved,” he said. “A sham political dialogue is not a solution to the country’s political and armed conflict, and such talks could have more negative consequences.” Ye Tun, a Myanmar-based political analyst, said that Friday’s meeting failed to include armed groups fighting junta forces in Kayin, Kachin, Chin, and Kayah states, and Sagaing and Magway regions, and that therefore it would do little to…

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Will the people of Hong Kong ever run their own city again?

Editor013 mins

On June 30, 1997, pro-democracy members held the majority seats on Hong Kong’s Legislative Council (LegCo), the result of the city’s first fully democratic general election in 1995, under political reforms brought in at the 11th hour of British rule by then colonial governor Chris Patten. By the following day — the first under Chinese rule — the 1995 LegCo had been swept aside in favor of a China-backed “provisional LegCo,” packed with members viewed more favorably by Beijing. Twenty-five years after the handover, the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has rewritten the rules to ensure that only those it deems “patriots” can stand as candidates. The current LegCo — elected earlier this year under the new rules — now has no openly pro-democracy members at all. And while the city’s Basic Law — endorsed by the CCP — promised direct, popular elections for the city’s chief executive by 2017, incoming chief executive John Lee was selected by a Beijing-backed committee in a “perfected” election in which he was the only candidate. Meanwhile, dozens who once served as pro-democracy lawmakers are now behind bars, accused under a draconian national security law of “subversion” after they took part in a democratic primary in 2020. The lack of democratic participation in post-handover Hong Kong isn’t for want of trying. From a mass march in 2002 against national security laws, to a 2012 campaign against CCP propaganda in schools, to the 2014 Occupy Central, or Umbrella Movement, Hong Kongers have mobilized in their thousands, hundreds of thousands and millions to demand an end to the erosion of their traditional freedoms and that promises of autonomy and more democracy made before the handover be kept. Riot police launch tear gas into the crowd as thousands of protesters surround the government headquarters in Hong Kong, Sept. 28, 2014. Credit: AP Photo Extradition law protests draw brutal response In 2019, mass protests of one and two million erupted in response to then chief executive Carrie Lam’s plan to allow extradition of alleged criminal suspects to face trial in mainland Chinese courts. Mass public anger over a brutal response to these protests spurred the movement further, which broadened to include demands for fully democratic elections, police and government accountability, and an amnesty for Hong Kong’s growing number of political prisoners. As protesters started to fight back against police tear gas, water cannon, live ammunition and rubber bullets with Molotov cocktails and bricks, not everyone was on board with a departure from peaceful resistance and civil disobedience. But the District Council elections of November 2019 resulted in huge turnout and a sweeping majority for pro-democracy candidates across the board, among them many who had been expelled from LegCo for not being patriotic enough in the years before the national security law criminalized public dissent. By March 2021, China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) had voted to change Hong Kong’s electoral system to ensure that only vetted candidates approved by a Beijing-picked committee and cleared by the city’s newly installed national security police could run for or hold any kind of public office. The NPC announced that China would be “taking full political control” of Hong Kong, and that only patriots would be allowed to run for office. Riot police fire tear gas during the anti-extradition bill protest in Hong Kong, Aug. 11, 2019. Credit: AP Photo Meanwhile, the arrests of outspoken journalists and the closure of pro-democracy media outlets and civil society groups continued under the national security law. On July 1, 2019, protesters broke into and vandalized the LegCo chamber to protest plans to allow extradition to mainland China. Now, the building has been refurbished and the Chinese national emblem added to the wall. The 90-seat expanded chamber is no longer the scene of lively political debate, and only 20 seats are returned by public vote. “The whole basis on which we do politics has changed,” Bruce Liu of the pro-democracy Association for Democracy and People’s Livelihood (ADPL) told RFA. “Political development has been uneven since the handover, with ups and downs, like the wind and waves.” “It’s like a circle game that always ends up back where it started,” Liu said, adding that his party now no longer seeks seats in LegCo, preferring to focus on social welfare and constituency clinics instead. Police detain protesters after a protest in Causeway Bay before the annual handover march in Hong Kong, July 1, 2020. Credit: AP Photo Exile or prison Tik Chi-yuan, who represents the social welfare sector in LegCo and who holds one of the few seats still elected by individuals rather than block voting by organizations, said the CCP sees Hong Kong as a security risk. “The central government in Beijing perceives some kind of threat to its security calculus,” Tik — who describes himself as a “non-establishment” LegCo member told RFA. “I think we need to look to the future now. The Basic Law promised democratic elections, so we should take that as our goal. It’s a process.” With most of the former political opposition either behind bars or in exile, the younger generation who grew up protesting have also disappeared from public view, many to escape becoming Hong Kong’s next political prisoner. Former student leader Law Cheuk Yiu said he left for the U.K. out of fear for his personal safety. “When the situation started to look truly bleak, I decided to leave,” he said, recalling a relatively liberal political atmosphere in the years immediately following the handover. “Things have changed since those early years: they won’t ever go back to the way they were then,” Law said. “Nowadays, anyone with a dissenting opinion is totally suppressed, basically.” For Law’s generation of Hong Kongers born and raised after the handover the past few years have left them facing a crisis of identity — whether they try to live under the national security law or seek a freer life overseas, as an estimated 140,000 have already done. “Our generation knows only too well that China…

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Taiwan hits out at Hong Kong’s vanishing freedoms, vows to protect its sovereignty

Editor012 mins

Democratic Taiwan on Friday said freedom had “vanished” in Hong Kong, as concerns were raised internationally over a political crackdown in the city after just 25 years of Chinese rule. “It’s only been 25 years, and in the past the promise was 50 years of no change,” Taiwan’s premier Su Tseng-chang told journalists as Hong Kong marked the 25th anniversary of the 1997 handover to Chinese rule. “Freedom and democracy have vanished,” he said, adding that Taiwan, which made a peaceful democratic transition in the 1990s after decades of authoritarian rule under the Kuomintang (KMT), must protect its own way of life in the face of Chinese territorial claims. “We also know that we must hold fast to Taiwan’s sovereignty, freedom and democracy,” Su said, in a reference to Beijing’s insistence that the island “unify” with China, despite never having been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and despite widespread public opposition to the idea. “China’s so-called ‘one country, two systems’ has simply not stood up to the test,” Su said of the arrangement touted by Beijing as a success in Hong Kong, and as a possible pathway to a takeover of Taiwan. Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said CCP rule had led to the end of freedom and democracy in Hong Kong. In a statement, the council hit out at China’s imposition of a draconian national security law “to govern Hong Kong in a coercive manner, restrict the basic human rights of Hong Kong’s people, and to imprison democracy advocates, silencing the news media and prompting the collapse of civil society.” It also said recent changes to the city’s electoral system to ensure only “patriots” can hold public office “is even more contrary to goal of universal suffrage and the expectations of Hong Kong citizens.” “Democracy, human rights, freedom, and rule of law have seriously regressed in Hong Kong, compared with 25 years ago,” the MAC said, dismissing Beijing’s claims that the pro-democracy movement had been instigated by foreign governments. “Taiwan adheres to a free, democratic and constitutional government, that the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, that sovereignty cannot be invaded and annexed, and that the future of the Republic of China and Taiwan must be decided by the people of Taiwan,” the statement said. “Taiwan will continue to safeguard universal values, democratic systems and ways of life, stand side by side with the international community, and firmly defend democracy,” it said. The statements from Taipei came after CCP leader Xi Jinping used the phrase “one country, two systems” more than 20 times during his speech on Friday marking the 25th anniversary of Chinese rule over Hong Kong, saying China’s tougher political grip on the city in the wake of the 2019 protest movement had enabled it to “rise again from the ashes.” MAC spokesman Chiu Chui-cheng called on China not to keep deceiving itself about the success of its policies in Hong Kong. “We solemnly urge [Beijing] to give the people back the democracy, freedoms and human rights that are their due,” Chiu said. Taiwanese political scientist Wu Rwei-ren said Xi wants to package the 25th anniversary as a kind of second handover. “The legal basis for one country, two systems was the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration [setting out the terms of the handover],” Wu told RFA. “By 2014, Xi Jinping’s regime had declared that it wouldn’t recognize [the treaty], saying it was a historical document with no meaning,” he said. “In this way, they redefined one country, two systems as a purely internal concept.” “The basis for [Hong Kong’s economic and social] achievements was the original political system, which has been destroyed by Xi Jinping,” Wu said. “He’s now saying that all sources of chaos have been eradicated, Hong Kong has returned to stability, and that everyone can start working hard to improve the economy,” he said. “But the institutional basis for that has been destroyed.” Wu said even the Taiwanese business community, which has typically been happy to overlook the CCP’s worst failings in the pursuit of greater profits, is now getting out of China and Hong Kong. “This isn’t about ideology; it’s about the very practical aspects of money,” Wu said. “These people were once more enthusiastic about making money than they were about their own country.” “They invested huge amounts in China because it was profitable, but now, faced with various deteriorating factors, they are getting out of China fast,” he said. Meanwhile, invitations were circulating overseas for people to attend a “Funeral for Hong Kong’s Lost Freedoms” in cities across the U.S., including New York, Washington and San Francisco. Hong Kong protest rallies were also planned in the U.K., Canada and Japan. A participant at the New York rally who gave only the nickname A Wai said the protest was over the CCP’s failure to deliver on its promises. “We’re only halfway through the 50 years during which Hong Kong was supposedly not going to change, and everyone can now see through the lie that is one country, two systems,” A Wai told RFA. “That’s why we chose July 1 to stand up … Hong Kong people are still angry about the crackdowns on protesters on June 12, 2019, July 21, 2019 and Aug. 31, 2019, and we can express all of that on July 1,” he said. Former 2014 Occupy Central leader Alex Chow said everyone will be wearing black — the color of the 2019 protest movements, but also the color of mourning in some cultures — and that protesters would lay funeral wreaths to signal the death of Hong Kong’s freedoms. “The situation in Hong Kong and the mainland is full of turmoil and tears,” Chow told RFA. “Behind the facade of prosperity, there is a lot of political in-fighting, and Hong Kong is one of the places where sacrifices are being made.” “That’s why Hong Kongers overseas who have enough freedom to do so … feel the…

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‘Hong Kong must not become chaotic again,’ China’s Xi warns on handover anniversary

Editor010 mins

Chinese leader Xi Jinping swore in a new, security-focused government in Hong Kong on Friday, 25 years after Britain handed the city back to China, saying the current arrangements — which have seen a citywide crackdown on peaceful dissent and political opposition — are here to stay. “For this kind of good system, there is no reason at all to change it. It must be maintained over the long term,” Xi said in a speech at the inauguration ceremony. “After experiencing wind and rain, everyone can painfully feel that Hong Kong cannot be chaotic, and must not become chaotic again … Hong Kong’s development cannot be delayed again, and any interference must be eliminated,” Xi said. “Power must be in the hands of patriots,” Xi said. “No country or region in the world will allow unpatriotic or even traitorous or treasonous forces and figures to hold power.” “In the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, power is firmly in the hands of patriots, which is an inevitable requirement to ensure long-term stability in Hong Kong, and it will be unshakable,” he said. Xi also swore in former security chief and ex-cop John Lee, who has been sanctioned by the United States for his role in implementing the national security law, as chief executive. Police outside ran a massive security operation that included no-sail and no-fly zones, as well as roadblocks around the Convention and Exhibition Centre where Xi gave his speech. Xi’s defense of Chinese rule in Hong Kong came after British prime minister Boris Johnson and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Beijing of failing to meet its handover commitments. China’s line is that the national security law ended months of mass protests for full democracy and official accountability in 2019, which saw some protesters fight back with makeshift weapons against riot police wielding batons, tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannon and even live ammunition. China’s President Xi Jinping (R) standing with Hong Kong’s new Chief Executive John Lee (L) after Lee was sworn in as the city’s new leader, during a ceremony to inaugurate the city’s new government in Hong Kong on July 1, 2022. Credit: Hong Kong’s Information Services Department. ‘New era’ Uniform decorations declaring a “new era” of stability were seen across many districts, including red lanterns and the Chinese national flag, and the Hong Kong regional flag. “Hong Kong has of course also encountered various challenges, including the global financial crisis, the unlawful occupy movement in 2014, the Mong Kok riots in 2016, the riots and violence in 2019 together with the interference in Hong Kong’s affairs by external forces which threatened our national security, and the COVID-19 pandemic,” Lee told the inauguration ceremony, thanking the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for its support. Lee also lauded the national security law for “bringing order out of chaos,” and new election rules under which he was selected as the only candidate for the city’s top job in May 2022. “It is therefore imperative that we should cherish and uphold the system for a long time to come, and we should make good use of it to effect sound governance,” Lee said, sounding the death knell for any hope of democratic development under the new regime. Chinese political scientist Chen Daoyin said Xi’s tone in the speech was condescending and parental, and that late supreme leader Deng Xiaoping’s promise that Hong Kong would remain unchanged for 50 years was already dead in the water. “What [Xi] talked about what different from what Deng Xiaoping proposed,” Chen said. “Deng said Hong Kong would be like mainland China after 50 years, and maybe not at all.” “Xi has a new view on Hong Kong, which he calls a new starting point, making the point that Hong Kong has been brought to order out of chaos,” Chen said. Current affairs commentator Sang Pu said Xi has deliberately distorted the meaning of “one country, two systems.” “If he admits that one country, two systems is over, that would be tantamount to inviting opposition from Europe and the U.S.,” Sang told RFA. “It would also make it look as if he has failed.” “Instead, he is repackaging it as a new beginning.” Sang said Xi’s mention of cooperation between Hong Kong’s judiciary and that of mainland China was worrying, suggesting that the authorities may start requiring “patriotism” from judges as well as from lawmakers and civil servants. Dutiful congratulations Across the internal border in mainland China, the CCP-controlled state media focused on a highly choreographed “welcome” for Xi in Hong Kong, and on praising Beijing’s governance of the city. “Some media didn’t report it at all, so we can see that Hong Kong isn’t a priority for the government, and that nobody cares if Xi or anyone else goes there,” a Chinese scholar surnamed Shen told RFA. “Hong Kong can never be given too much prominence in the Chinese media.” Official media reports on the anniversary garnered a few dozen comments, most of them dutifully congratulatory, on social media. Only one comment on an article by the China Youth Daily, the official newspaper of CCP’s Youth League, opined: “I wish Hong Kong a better tomorrow.” Current affairs commentator Johnny Lau said Xi’s promise of science and technology cooperation between Hong Kong and neighboring Guangdong province had likely been behind his visit to the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park on Thursday. “Hong Kong’s high-tech R&D is good, but there is a shortage of production capacity and talent,” Lau said. “Through cooperation with the mainland, we can ‘reap the east wind’.” Xi was likely taking the opportunity to try to reboot Hong Kong’s international reputation as a trading and financial center in the wake of the national security crackdown and the COVID-19 pandemic, Lau said. Xi was declaring to the rest of the world that he has confidence in Hong Kong’s future and its economic policies, to exiting foreign investors to return, he said. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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