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Category: South Asia

Unvaccinated North Korean soldiers told to use saltwater, mugwort smoke when sick

Editor07 mins

With a shortage of vaccines in North Korea, the government is telling unvaccinated soldiers to rely on unproven folk remedies if they come down with coronavirus symptoms, sources in the country told RFA. North Korea has been importing Chinese vaccines for use among the military and has held widely publicized vaccination campaigns involving soldiers. But not every member of the military has been fortunate enough to receive the so-called “potion of love” from the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un. Instead, they have been told to turn to unproven folk remedies if they get sick. “Fever continues to emerge among soldiers who could not be vaccinated due to a lack of vaccines,” a resident of South Hwanghae province, on the peninsula’s western coast, told RFA’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “Military authorities are recommending folk remedies such as indoor disinfection using mugwort smoke and gargling with salt water,” she said. According to the source, only soldiers working off base were vaccinated due to an insufficient amount of vaccine inventory imported from China. “The vaccinations were limited to the soldiers of the military police squadron who perform crackdowns against other soldiers, the communication battalion, the divisional medical office, and the rear support battalion. Even so, soldiers within those units who are on ordinary guard duty, are known to have been excluded from the vaccination,” she said. “Unvaccinated troops and soldiers were excluded from rural support or community service. Last year, soldiers helped rice planting and harvesting at a nearby farm. But, this spring, the authorities banned the unit from rural support activities due to fear of the spread of COVID-19,” said the source. In North Hamgyong province, in the country’s northeast, only the coast guard, the military police and staff of military hospitals are vaccinated, a resident there told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely. “The military authorities are designating units and soldiers to be vaccinated separately as there is a shortage of COVID-19 vaccines. Only officers and soldiers who have been vaccinated are permitted to engage in outside activities,” the second source said. “Most soldiers who did not get vaccinated were instructed not to leave the barracks and to prevent COVID-19 with folk remedies such as mugwort smoke disinfection and gargling salt water,” she said. Soldiers tending two salmon farms, one of which Kim Jong Un once visited to provide guidance on its operations, were also excluded from vaccination, according to the source. Places visited by the country’s leaders are usually given special considerations long after the trip, so it is somewhat surprising that the fish-raising soldiers did not receive vaccines. “There are complaints within the military over what authorities have implemented. The authorities have declared a national emergency and even implemented nationwide lockdown measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, but they have failed to secure enough COVID-19 vaccines,” said the second source. “Very few soldiers have been vaccinated. However, some soldiers are rather fortunate in that they were not mobilized for rural support labor because they are not vaccinated,” she said. RFA reported in May that the North Korean government began a vaccination campaign for soldiers working on a high-priority construction project in Pyongyang. The event was filmed and used as propaganda, complete with soldiers weeping at receiving Kim Jong Un’s “Immortal Potion of Love.” Citizens who saw the propaganda complained that the government only secured enough vaccines for the military, not for the general public. After two years of denying the pandemic had penetrated its closed borders, North Korea in May declared a “maximum emergency” and acknowledged the virus had begun to spread among participants of a large-scale military parade the previous month. Though North Korea has not been tracking confirmed coronavirus cases, possibly due to lack of testing equipment, state media has been publishing daily figures of people who report fever symptoms. As of Monday, 4.65 million people have come down with fever, nearly 99.4 percent of whom have recovered, according to data published by the state run Korea Central News Agency. Translated by Claire Lee and Leejin J. Chung. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Protestant family of 13 expelled from their village

Editor012 mins

A family of 13 in Vietnam’s Nghe An province say they are being persecuted by local authorities for religious reasons. They told RFA at least one child was denied a birth certificate because the parents refused to renounce Protestantism. On June 15, Xong Ba Thong, from Na Ngoi commune in Ky Son district, sent a report to the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (Northern region). The report said his family faced persecution in Ka Bottom village even though it had been granted approval to join a legal religious organization. Expelled for following Christianity According to RFA research, the family of 26-year-old Xong Ba Thong has lived in this area for generations. The ethnic Hmong family had traditionally followed the local custom of ghost-worshiping. Thong said that around 2017, his entire family including his parents, younger siblings and himself voluntarily converted to Protestantism after learning about the religion through radio broadcasts. Around 2019, local authorities began demanding that the family renounce Protestantism and forced them to return to the local custom. “They said that here in Ky Son district, Na Ngoi commune and the whole of Nghe An province, no one followed a religion, but they said it was against the law to follow another religion. They also said that [by following Protestantism] we have greatly affected national unity,” Thong said. The family wanted to be officially converted to Protestantism and applied to join the Vietnam Evangelical Church (Northern) General Assembly. The application was approved in April this year. Instead of acknowledging the church’s approval and allowing Mr. Thong’s family to convert, local authorities increased pressure on them to try to force them to give up their religious beliefs. Local officials repeatedly visited their house to try to persuade family members to renounce Protestantism. They also repeatedly summoned Thong to the commune headquarters for “work”, including spending time with the cadres of Ky Son district on May 17. Thong said the “work” revolved around the request for his family to renounce Protestantism. “The day I met the district delegation, I read the law on belief and religion to them all and showed them all, but they said the law has no effect here, has no effect in the district, this province,” Thong said. Threats and sanctions for following a religion As well as putting pressure on the family, commune authorities also applied punitive measures. Sources told RFA local officials confiscated the family’s plow, which had been donated by the state for farming. They said local authorities took the plow because the family refused to renounce Protestantism and also confiscated some of the wood that the family had been planning to build a house with. Although the family has more than one hectare of rice fields, they are afraid to cultivate it due to threats. They have now abandoned it fearing any crops they grew there would be destroyed. The local government has also cut off the electricity to their house for more than a week. “It’s true that I can raise cattle here, but when it comes to trading, they don’t let merchants come and buy anything from the family,” Thong said. “Now our money has gone, we don’t have enough to eat and drink. In hard times we can use rice as a reserve but there is no electricity to grind it.” The campaign against the family culminated on June 4, when the government held a vote to expel Xong Ba Thong’s family from the locality. According to Thong, no one dared to vote against the decision. As a result of the vote the government no longer considers the family to be local citizens, does not allow them to use public services and even refuses to issue citizenship and birth certificates to some family members. RFA made repeated calls to the party secretary and chairman of Na Ngoi commune to verify the information, but no one picked up the phone. RFA then contacted Tho Ba Re, Vice Chairman of Ky Son district, who had previously directly campaigned for Mr. Thong’s family to renounce their religion. After RFA mentioned the family’s situation he refused to comment saying he was not authorized by the district president. An RFA reporter also sent an email to the General Assembly of the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (North) to verify the information, but did not immediately receive a reply. The government mobilizes people “not to follow other religions” On May 1, Nghe An newspaper published an article about the An Dan model in Phu Kha 1 village, Na Ngoi commune, Ky Son district near the border with Laos. It was co-written by the Ky Son District Committee for Mass Mobilization and the Commanding Committee of District Military, Na Ngoi Border Guard Station, Na Ngoi Commune Party Committee. Phu Kha 1 village is located not far from Ka Bottom village, where Thong’s family live. According to the article the An Dan model steering committee aims to encourage families living in Phu Kha 1 village to abide by the law and the village’s covenant, which is not to listen to or follow “bad” propaganda. It also instructs them not to follow other religions but only the long-standing beliefs and customs of the Hmong people. A Hmong Protestant pastor in Lao Cai province who is currently taking refuge in Thailand, told RFA the expulsion of ethnic Hmong Protestants from their locality for refusing to renounce their religion is quite common “This kind of case happens a lot, and has happened for many years,” he said. “There have been many such cases and when an appeal is made to higher authorities such as the province and the central government, they answer that it is because the commune or village authorities do not understand the law or the constitution about religion. They say superiors will investigate but many households have asked their superiors to solve it and, in the end, nothing came of it.” The pastor also said that if households do not leave the locality after formal expulsion it will…

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Social media comments express ‘shock’ over Tangshan police’s treatment of reporters

Editor08 mins

Authorities in the northern Chinese city of Tangshan have been obstructing state media journalists after they tried to follow up on a crackdown on organized crime in the city, sparked by thugs beating up women at a barbecue restaurant earlier this month, social media reports said. In one video on Weibo, a woman faces the camera in the style of a news anchor and introduces a video clip of a Guizhou journalist who tried to cover the anti-gangs campaign in Tangshan, known as Operation Thunderstorm. “I am a reporter,” the woman says. “According to the Regulations on News Reporters, journalists who carry a press card are protected by law when carrying out their reporting duties. Individuals and organizations are prohibited from interfering or harassing a reporter or a news organization in carrying out legal reporting activities.” “Despite this, journalists who go to Tangshan to cover the campaign against organized crime, are running into obstructions at the hands of the campaign itself.” In the video clip, the Guizhou journalist said he was shoved around and manhandled by police. “A police officer yelled at me, twisted my neck, roughly pressed my hair, told me to kneel, and put my hands behind my back,” the man says in the video clip. “Four or five police officers surrounded me and searched me.” “They confiscated my cell phone, power bank and other items.” He added: “When I showed my press card a policeman came into the interrogation room where they were holding me and yelled at me … calling me unqualified … and ignorant.” Reporter targeted Weibo user @Brother_He,_Shaanxi commented that such behavior was more appropriate when “catching criminals.” “But sadly, the police in Tangshan did not target the underworld forces this time, but a reporter who had a press card,” the user wrote. “According to various media reports … it is very difficult to enter Tangshan now. When you arrive at Tangshan Station, you cannot move around freely. You need to take a designated vehicle, and you must take a photo with the car before leaving,” the post said. The woman in the video also cited a Phoenix news reporter as saying that authorities in Tangshan had deleted all of his video footage, claiming he was there to “make money.” “What’s even more shocking is that you might think that they would take a bit more care of [state broadcaster] CCTV, but that several CCTV news vehicles have been smashed up,” she says. “Yes, that’s right. CCTV news vehicles. Pretty outrageous, huh?” @Albert_Qiang commented: “Tangshan is rebelling!” while @Cai_Xukun’s_mother-in-law wrote: “Isn’t it a bit of a joke asking the police to go after criminal gangs? They are a criminal gang.” “Operation Thunderstorm is blocking the news with its thunder,” user @Hongru_hrh quipped, while @JOHN-976 added: “If you can’t solve the problem, then go after the people asking about the problem.” The reports prompted criticism of the journalists from professor Liu Qingyue of the media studies department of Beimin University in the central province of Hubei, who wrote on the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-backed account Jinri Toutiao that “a press card isn’t an access-all-areas pass.” Social media backlash Liu said the journalists should reflect on their own behavior in traveling to a sensitive area, prompting an angry backlash on social media. Veteran journalist Cheng Yizhong, who edited the once cutting-edge Southern Metropolis Daily newspaper, said Liu was just acting as a “mouthpiece” for what is CCP policy. “What this professor said strikes exactly the same tone as the CCP propaganda department,” Cheng told RFA. “She is just a mouthpiece.” “The CCP has already eradicated all … possibility of freedom of the press in China … and journalism departments in universities have been brought totally in line [with the government],” he said. Cheng said all news stories are seen as political in the eyes of the CCP. “After an incident like Tangshan happens, local news agencies will receive a ban from the local authorities, usually communicated by phone call or verbally, warning news organizations not to do any reporting on their own, but to rely on approved copy circulated by the centrally controlled news media,” Cheng said. Current affairs commentator Johnny Lau, who once worked as a journalist in Beijing, said the reactions to Liu’s comments indicate growing public dissatisfaction with official controls on free speech. “The CCP controls the media and public speech, not only through its machinery of suppression, but also through its public opinion management … which means that it controls a group of people who will endorse official policy,” Lau told RFA. “The backlash [against Liu’s comments] is part of public dissatisfaction with the entire CCP public opinion industry,” he said. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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North Korean marketplaces go from bustling to empty during pandemic

Editor013 mins

In the photo of Sinpo Market in Sinuiju, taken on November 2019 (top), the market was crowded with merchants and customers, but in March 2021 (middle) the market seems noticeably quieter after blockade of the NK-China border. / Source: Google Earth. On the other hand, the satellite image that was taken on May 30th 2022 (bottom) shows no vehicles or people around the market due to full lockdown to prevent the spread of Covid. / Source: Planet Labs PBC Commerce in North Korea’s once bustling marketplaces has slowed to a trickle thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, raising questions about the long-term prospects for Kim Jong Un’s experimental effort to give citizens a bit more economic freedom. Marketplaces, called jangmadang in Korean, had dramatically expanded under the watchful eye of the North Korean dictator, who has sought to kick start the beginnings of a market economy in the communist country. But those plans took a hit when Beijing and Pyongyang closed the Sino-Korean border and suspended all trade in January 2020 in response to the pandemic. The lack of imported goods to trade meant fewer things to sell at markets. The border closure has devastated the country’s economy, which had already suffered under international sanctions aimed at depriving Pyongyang of resources it could funnel into nuclear and missile programs. While a resumption of rail freight with China earlier this year had brought on hopes of recovery, the “maximum emergency” declared by Pyongyang after officials announced that the virus was spreading among participants of a massive April military parade killed activity at the markets altogether, satellite images show. ‘Chaeha Market’ in Sinuiju, North Pyongan Province, North Korea. In the photo taken on October 7, 2016 (above), cars were parked in the parking lot, but in the photo taken on March 17, 2021 (below), the parking lot is empty and there is no activity./ Google Earth Jacob Bogle, curator of the Access DPRK blog, which uses satellite imagery in its analysis of North Korea, told RFA’s Korean Service that the markets have seen a massive downturn since the pandemic. According to Bogle, an analysis of satellite images shows that there are at least 477 markets in North Korea, of which 457 are official markets recognized by North Korean authorities.  Markets have continued to grow in North Korea since Kim Jong Un came to power. At least 39 markets have opened and 114 markets have expanded since 2011, Bogle said. But the growth stopped once the pandemic hit, he said. The chart shows the total area of the new markets constructed each year. / Source: Jacob Bogle (AccessDPRK.com) “In 2019, there was over 23,000 square meters of new market space built around the country. By 2021, it was only 630 square meters of new space,” Bogle said. “I think there’s a clear connection with market activity and the impacts of COVID and shutting down trade that it greatly impacted the economy,” he said. The import ban had its biggest impact on those markets near the border, Joung Eunlee of the Seoul-based Korea Institute for National Unification told RFA. “It seems that the market has contracted more because supply has decreased a lot due to the COVID-19 situation, “ Joung said. The border closure did not completely kill off the markets, though. Most were able to continue in some capacity with domestically made products. The coronavirus outbreak has taken a “decisive blow” on the North Korean economy, Lim Eul Chul, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University in South Korea’s southeast. Markets in North Korea / Source: Jacob Bogle (AccessDPRK.com) “Mobility must be guaranteed for a market to a certain extent, but since mobility is not guaranteed, the market inevitably shrinks. Second, raw materials, fuel, and various subsidiary materials must be smoothly supplied from China,” Lim said. “Without these, market activities shrink. North Korea under COVID-19 is in an environment that is difficult to control. The situation itself can only result in a shrinking market,” he said. The apparent end of the emerging free market in North Korea may be permanent, Jiro Ishimaru, the founder and editor-in-chief of the Osaka-based Asia Press news outlet that specializes in North Korea, told RFA. “At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, controls rapidly tightened. First of all, they continued to put pressure on food sales, and gradually introduced a system to sell food through state-run food vendors,” he said. “It was then that people started saying that they felt like the era of free trade and free economic activity in the market is coming to an end,” Ishimaru said. Ishimaru said that the state could be using the pandemic to assert more control over the economy and the people. At the 8th Party Congress in January 2021, Kim Jong Un emphasized that the country and the people would have to get through the pandemic and its accompanying economic crisis through strict adherence to the principle of self-reliance, harkening to the country’s founding Juche ideology. Lim said this was the beginning of the state exerting more control on the market. “The national self-reliance is a more orderly self-reliance, that is, the market will also be led by the state. It aims for marketization that is managed and led by the state. As a result, the market is bound to contract,” he said. North Korea’s Tongil Market / AP Even with a market contraction and policy changes, North Koreans still want to conduct business, a North Korean refugee who now lives in Seoul, identified by the pseudonym Kim Hye Young, told RFA. Kim was a trade worker in North Korea prior to her escape. She says that a middle class used to higher living standards has developed in the country. “The demographic composition of North Korea has also changed to favor the jangmadang generation,” she said, referring to the generation that came of age after the marketplaces had become entrenched — in other words, millennials. “The younger generations are doing things that…

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Rohingya refugees are stuck in limbo a decade after violence forced them to flee

Editor011 mins

More than 130,000 Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar’s Rakhine state remain stuck in makeshift camps that are often short of food and opportunity, unable to return to their homes after sectarian violence with Buddhists forced them to flee a decade ago. The communal fighting with ethnic Buddhists in Rakhine began on June 8, 2012, and spread across the state in western Myanmar, leaving more than 200 people dead and the communities of tens of thousands of Muslims burned. The refugees were forced to live in squalid settlements scattered around the state, including ones on the outskirts of Sittwe on the Bay of Bengal coast. Rohingya again faced mass violence in August 2017 when Myanmar forces brutally attacked communities in northern Rakhine. The attacks triggered an exodus of more than 740,000 people into neighboring Bangladesh, where they have also lived in sprawling settlements. Moe Moe An Ju, 37, who lives in Sittwe’s Thae Chaung camp, said she and her family do not get enough to eat and she cannot afford to send her five children to school. “There is no work here,” she told RFA. “When things went awry, I had to pawn my rations book the relief team had given me. We cannot live without eating, right? If we had curry one day, we’d have fish the next day. We have beef just once a month. Even for that, we have to try very hard. I can’t send my children to school because there is no money. How can we do that?” Before the violence of 2012, Moe Moe An Ju and her husband worked as bamboo traders in Sittwe’s Setyonzu industrial zone.   Many families have struggled like hers to make ends meet since they were forced to take refuge at the Thae Chaung internally displaced persons (IDP) camp, surviving on 500 kyats (27 U.S. cents) per person a day from the World Food Program.  Successive governments ruling Myanmar, a Buddhist-majority country of 54 million people, have ignored the plight of the Rohingya, despite calls by the members of the minority group to solve the problem. This includes the military junta that seized control from the elected government in a February 2021 coup. Fighting in Rakhine between the Myanmar military and the ethnic-Rakhine Arakan Army, as well as with People’s Defense Force militias battling junta forces following the coup, have left the Rohingya stuck in a no-man’s land. Those living in the camps say they are subject to a system of apartheid, sealed off from the rest of the country with barbed wire fencing and security checkpoints. Viewed by Myanmar as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, they are prohibited from leaving even though the camps lack jobs, educational opportunities and humanitarian aid. ‘We are still waiting’ Ten years since the 2012 violence, prospects for the Rohingya living in the camps have not improved, with many saying they continue to experience shortages of food and shelter. Faysal Mauk said he could not find work on his own because the authorities do not allow the Rohingya to travel freely. “We are facing much hardship here,” he said. “We could at least find something to do in the old place, but not here. We could have food only if we went out to sea. Otherwise, we’d have nothing to eat.” “We could find some kind of work if we went to a Rakhine village, but after living here for 10 years, I no longer feel like going there,” he said. “We are so used to living in the camp now. When we can find something, we can have food. If not, we don’t.” Before June 2012, Fayzal and his family lived in Setyonzu, one of the areas along with Mingan and Magyee-myaing wards in Sittwe that were destroyed.  The Thae Chaung camp has more than 2,700 refugee households and a population of over 14,000. Other displaced Muslims from Thetkei-byin, Darpaing, Mawthinyar and Sanpya wards, west of Sittwe, are spread among 14 settlements.  After their homes were torched during the 2012 communal violence, ethnic Rakhines, who are predominantly Buddhist, moved into the communities abandoned by the Rohingya. Refugees said government officials have ignored their pleas to address this issue, along with other hardships they face. Kyaw Hla, who is in charge of the Thae Chaung camp, said the Rohingya still hope to return to their original places of residence one day. “Nothing has been done for more than 10 years now, but we are still waiting,” he said. “We will go back to our areas, our villages, and live again like we did before — just as we had lived and worked in the past, both Rakhines and non-Rakhines together. We still have our hopes, though it has not happened yet.” In the meantime, some Rohingya are borrowing money to pay traffickers to transport them via land or sea to Muslim-majority Malaysia where they believe a better life awaits, but more than 600 have been caught and arrested in the past six months.   RFA could not reach the military regime’s spokesmen for comment. ‘They have no future’ Rohingya political activist Nay San Lwin, cofounder of the Free Rohingya Coalition, said Myanmar leaders have done nothing to help the Rohingya. “The main important thing is the goodwill of the rulers of the country, [but] they just want to oppress the Rohingya,” he said. “They just want to hurt them. They do not even recognize the Rohingya as human beings.” “People in the IDP camps in Sittwe are not refugees from other countries,” he said. “Their homes and belongings were set on fire. Their land was confiscated. These people have now been locked up in refugee camps for more than 10 years. They have no opportunities. They have no future, so I don’t think we need to talk further about how their human rights are being violated.” The situation for the Rohingya is unlikely to improve under the current military regime, said New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW).  “The Myanmar junta’s unyielding oppression of the Rohingya people…

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ASEAN Special Envoy won’t meet Suu Kyi during Myanmar visit

Editor07 mins

ASEAN Special Envoy Prak Sokhonn will not be allowed to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi on his second visit to Myanmar, military council spokesman Gen. Zaw Min Tun told RFA. The National League for Democracy leader and State Counsellor has been detained since the Feb.1, 2021 coup. Suu Kyi has been sentenced to 11 years in jail on 19 counts and faces further charges that could keep her in prison for as long as 100 years. When asked about possible meetings with Suu Kyi, and former Myanmar president Win Myint, the spokesman said the ASEAN Special Envoy was only scheduled to meet with ethnic armed groups currently holding peace talks with the junta. “At this time, meeting with the appropriate and deserving people will be on schedule,” he said. “The people who deserve to be met do not include those who are being prosecuted and are on trial.” Sokhonn, who is also Cambodia’s Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, is scheduled to make his second visit to Myanmar as ASEAN Special Envoy on June 29 and 30. The focus of his visit will be the urgent need for humanitarian assistance in Myanmar but ASEAN leaders, including Cambodia’s Prime Minister, have called for meetings with Suu Kyi and officials from the shadow National Unity Government (NUG), considering talks with them to be key to resolving the conflict. The military council scheduled meetings between Sokhonn and some members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) during the Special Envoy’s first visit in March this year but cancelled meetings with some NLD members due to political opposition from NLD MPs who have left the country. Political analyst Ye Tun said the trip could not be considered a success if the ASEAN Special Envoy was not allowed to meet with Suu Kyi at a time when the situation in Myanmar is deteriorating. “He would be even more disappointed if he was not allowed to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi and if the military does not comply the Cambodian Prime Minister’s request not to impose the death penalty on former NLD MP Phyoe Zeya Thaw, and others,” he said. “Cambodia stands by the pressure being applied by ASEAN. If it comes to nothing during the trip the feeling will be that the Special Envoy cannot do anything effectively in his visit.” A file photo of Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, who serves as ASEAN Special Envoy to Myanmar. CREDIT: AFP Cambodia is the current chair of ASEAN and, in a call with Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing on May 1, Prime Minister Hun Sen urged Myanmar’s junta chief to allow the special envoy to meet with Suu Kyi. He also asked the military leader to take further steps to implement the five-point consensus for Myanmar, reached with ASEAN’s foreign ministers in April 2021. Failure to achieve all the points in the consensus in more than a year has led to growing criticism at home and abroad and Sokhonn will use his second visit to focus on the sticking points in the agreement. Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah has spoken up in global summits, calling for specific talks between the Special Envoy, Suu Kyi and NUG leaders, arguing that the five-point consensus includes an agreement to hold a dialogue with all stakeholders in Myanmar. Aung San Suu Kyi will spend her 77th birthday on June 19 in detention. During her 34-year political career she has been repeatedly arrested and prosecuted by successive military governments, spending 17 of her birthdays in detention. Pro-democracy activists are expected to mark the Nobel Laureate’s birthday on Sunday with nationwide protests, according to Crisis24. “The largest protests will probably occur outside government buildings and in other popular protest sites, such as public squares, in major cities like Yangon and Mandalay. Hundreds to thousands of people will probably participate in larger demonstrations,” the global security consultancy said in an alert on Thursday. Authorities are likely to step up security, causing disruption to transport and businesses, it said. Crisis24 also warned of the likelihood of clashes between protestors and security forces and the risk of explosions targeting security personnel and facilities, both in the countryside and in cities including Yangon, Mandalay, and Naypyidaw.

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UK investigates Vietnamese billionaire’s funding of Oxford University college

Editor04 mins

The British government is investigating a £155 million (U.S.$191 million) grant to Oxford University’s Linacre college by a Vietnamese billionaire. Education Minister Michelle Donelan told the House of Commons that the ministry would give an update in the next few days after looking into the grant from VietJet founder Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao. Donelan’s comments came in response to questions from a fellow Tory MP as the House of Commons considered the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill on Monday, British media reported. Conservative MP Julian Lewis asked Donelan whether she was concerned at conditions set by the Vietnamese billionaire such as renaming Linacre ‘Thao College,’ considering Vietnam is a country where people seldom enjoy freedom of speech Dr. Nguyen Quang A, co-founder and former director of Vietnam’s Institute of Development Studies, told RFA businesses that want to prosper in countries such as Vietnam need to have a good relationship with the government. “In Vietnam and China officials use political power to make money from citizens and business owners. The relationship between businesses and the government is the crystallization of corruption. One party uses money to gain political influence and to enrich themselves while the official uses his power to enrich himself. That is corruption. This relationship is reciprocal,” he said. Responding to RFA’s questions by text, human rights activist Nguyen Thi Hai Hieu, a fifth-year student studying in the UK, said the British government’s suspicions were completely justified. She said she agreed with the decision to investigate the donation, adding that she suspects it to be a money-laundering case involving the Vietnamese government. Hieu said she believed that investing in colleges or supporting scholarships for Vietnamese students was a good idea but not necessary even though she considered the British education system to be better than Vietnam’s. She said Vietnam should prioritize investment in its own education system because there are many disadvantaged areas in the country, where equipment and facilities in schools are still limited. Thao signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Linacre College on October 31, 2021. After signing the MoU and receiving the first £50 million of the agreed funding, Linacre College said it would approach the Privy Council, a group of politicians who advise the Queen, to ask to change the school’s name to Thao College. Critics say that changing the school’s name would lose the history of the collage, named after Thomas Linacre, a British scholar, humanities researcher and physician. Linacre used to treat ‘Utopia’ author Sir Thomas More, along with Cardinal Wolsey, chief advisor to King Henry VIII.

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Britain investigates Vietnamese billionaire’s funding of Oxford University college

Editor04 mins

The British government is investigating a £155 million (U.S.$191 million) grant to Oxford University’s Linacre college by a Vietnamese billionaire. Education Minister Michelle Donelan told the House of Commons that the ministry would give an update in the next few days after looking into the grant from VietJet founder Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao. Donelan’s comments came in response to questions from a fellow Tory MP as the House of Commons considered the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill on Monday, British media reported. Conservative MP Julian Lewis asked Donelan whether she was concerned at conditions set by the Vietnamese billionaire such as renaming Linacre ‘Thao College,’ considering Vietnam is a country where people seldom enjoy freedom of speech Dr. Nguyen Quang A, co-founder and former director of Vietnam’s Institute of Development Studies, told RFA businesses that want to prosper in countries such as Vietnam need to have a good relationship with the government. “In Vietnam and China officials use political power to make money from citizens and business owners. The relationship between businesses and the government is the crystallization of corruption. One party uses money to gain political influence and to enrich themselves while the official uses his power to enrich himself. That is corruption. This relationship is reciprocal,” he said. Responding to RFA’s questions by text, human rights activist Nguyen Thi Hai Hieu, a fifth-year student studying in the UK, said the British government’s suspicions were completely justified. She said she agreed with the decision to investigate the donation, adding that she suspects it to be a money-laundering case involving the Vietnamese government. Hieu said she believed that investing in colleges or supporting scholarships for Vietnamese students was a good idea but not necessary even though she considered the British education system to be better than Vietnam’s. She said Vietnam should prioritize investment in its own education system because there are many disadvantaged areas in the country, where equipment and facilities in schools are still limited. Thao signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Linacre College on October 31, 2021. After signing the MoU and receiving the first £50 million of the agreed funding, Linacre College said it would approach the Privy Council, a group of politicians who advise the Queen, to ask to change the school’s name to Thao College. Critics say that changing the school’s name would lose the history of the collage, named after Thomas Linacre, a British scholar, humanities researcher and physician. Linacre used to treat ‘Utopia’ author Sir Thomas More, along with Cardinal Wolsey, chief advisor to King Henry VIII.

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Split between opposition leaders could solidify Hun Sen’s rule in Cambodia

Editor011 mins

The split between Cambodian opposition leaders Kem Sokha and Sam Rainsy could help Prime Minister Hun Sen and his ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) hold power, sources in the country told RFA. Kem Sokha, while on trial Wednesday on unsubstantiated charges of treason, declared that his alliance with his Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) co-founder Sam Rainsy was over, seemingly confirming rumors that the country’s top opposition partnership of the past decade had ended. Sam Rainsy, who has been living in self-imposed exile in France since 2015, attributed Kem Sokha’s statement to the legal pressure he faces and said that there was no change in their relationship. Such a split, if genuine, could help the CPP in general elections next year, and all but ensure a smooth transition of power from Hun Sen to his son, Han Manet, exiled political analyst Kim Sok told RFA’s Khmer Service. Hun Sen has ruled the country since 1985. “Hun Sen will transfer power to his son because he has seen sign of split between the opposition leaders,” he said. Mey Chandara, coordinator for the Phnom Penh-based Cambodia Youth Network, told RFA that the split will cause a rift in supporters of the opposition at a time when they should be unified to challenge the ruling party. “We don’t want to see them separate. We want the opposition’s voices to demand justice in the upcoming election,” he said. Sam Rainsy founded the Candlelight Party under a different name in 1995. In 2012, supporters from his party and Kem Sokha’s Human Rights party merged to form the CNRP, which was dissolved by Cambodia’s Supreme Court five years later after it performed well in the country’s 2017 communal elections. Candlelight, as a separate party from the CNRP, was technically not affected by the ban and has risen to become the largest opposition party in the country. Sam Rainsy has thrown his support behind Candlelight, whereas Kem Sokha believes that its participation in what he viewed as a compromised election earlier this month only serves the CPP and its claims of winning the elections in a landslide. Seng Sary, a political analyst, said the divide between the two opposition leaders was real, and not initiated for strategic purposes. He said that the split was initiated by Kem Sokha, who did not support the opposition Candlelight Party in this year’s local commune elections.  CPP spokesman Chhim Phalvorun dismissed the idea that the CPP would benefit from the split between Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha. CPP will stay in power because it has the support of the people, he said. “When a wife and husband get a divorce, it is their issue. It has nothing to do with outsiders,” he said. If the rift in the opposition can be described as a divorce, it is not an amicable one, at least as far as Kem Sokha’s daughter, Kem Monovithya, is concerned. She wrote scathing criticism of Sam Rainsy on her Facebook account, accusing him of allowing Hun Sen and the CCP to use him to attack her father. “We think the ruling party wants to destroy the opposition party as a whole, especially the [Cambodia] National Rescue Party,” she wrote. “[The CPP] is doing two things. It is destroying Sam Rainsy through threats to arrest him, so he fled. At the same time, it is destroying Kem Sokha by using Sam Rainsy’s hands to attack him because he hasn’t fled,” Kem Monovithya wrote. “We think the ruling party and Sam Rainsy’s faction think that if Kem Sokha dares to defend himself or express any different ideas [from Sam Rainsy’s], his popularity will decline,” she said.   Kem Sokha is now more popular than when he started the Human Rights Party in 2007, Kem Monovithya added. “Kem Sokha has been the main leader since 2007, so we will continue our courage and speak the truth, even if the truth hurts Sam Rainsy’s faction or the ruling party,” she said. “In simple language, we will fight both.” Activist yet to meet lawyer Cambodian American activist Theary Seng, who on Tuesday was arrested while she protested a mass trial that convicted her and more than 50 other democracy advocates for their associations with the CNRP, has still not been allowed to meet with her lawyer in prison. By forbidding him to meet with his client, the lawyer, Choung Choy Ngy, told RFA that Phnom Penh’s Prey Sar Prison was breaking Cambodian law, which specify that prisoners be allowed to meet with legal counsel to discuss appeals. He said he was preparing a complaint to the Ministry of Interior, seeking intervention from Minister Sar Keng to allow him to meet Theary Seng. “Theary Seng wasn’t at the announcement of the court verdict, so she doesn’t [officially] know what the verdict is, so my intention was to inform her and explain her rights to appeal,” Choung Choy Ngy said. “I am sad that prison officials didn’t allow me to meet her.” Prison Department spokesman Nuth Savna told RFA that officials have designated her as a special case, so they have worked to ensure her safety, so for the time being the prison will not allow visitors. “We didn’t allow the visit due to safety and security factors,” he said, adding that prison officials received information that there is a plan by Theary Seng supporters to protest in front of the prison. The prison should allow her to meet with her lawyer, otherwise it is a violation of Theary Seng’s rights, Am Sam Ath of the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights told RFA.  The U.S. State Department said it was “deeply concerned” about Tuesday’s verdict in a statement published Wednesday evening. “The sentencing of these opposition activists, many of whom are associated with the disbanded Cambodia National Rescue Party, is the latest instance in an alarming pattern of threats, intimidation, and persecution of opposition political leaders and parties. These actions undermine multiparty democracy and the rule of law,” department…

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China balancing close ties with Russia and distance from Ukraine war: analysts

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Chinese leader Xi Jinping is struggling to balance his country’s geopolitical interests with his support for Russia in the wake of president Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, analysts said following a call between the two leaders. China’s foreign ministry said Xi had told Putin that Beijing would work with Moscow on bilateral cooperation, but struck a cooler note on Ukraine. “China is willing to work with Russia to continue supporting each other on their respective core interests concerning sovereignty and security, as well as on their major concerns,” it paraphrased Xi as saying. “China is also willing to work with Russia to promote solidarity and cooperation among emerging market countries and developing nations, and push for the development of the international order and global governance towards a more just and reasonable direction,” Xi told Putin. But he called for a “responsible” approach to the war in Ukraine. “Xi emphasized that China has always independently assessed the situation on the basis of the historical context and the merits of the issue, and actively promoted world peace and the stability of the global economic order,” the foreign ministry statement said. “All parties should push for a proper settlement of the Ukraine crisis in a responsible manner,” it quoted Xi as saying in a phone call marking his 69th birthday. According to the Kremlin, the two leaders discussed “increasing economic cooperation, trade and military-technical ties between China and Russia.” The Chinese statement made no mention of military or technical cooperation. There was also no mention of a trip by Putin to China, suggested by Xi during a phone call on March 4. “[Beijing] is worried about U.S. sanctions, but covertly supporting Russia won’t satisfy Putin, so they need to talk to each other personally,” current affairs commentator Lu Nan told RFA. “Actually, what Xi Jinping does will be a long way from want Putin wants.” A photo of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the Russian Embassy in Santiago, Chile is defaced in a protest in support of Ukraine, February 26, 2022. Credit: AFP Marriage of convenience Xi and Putin last met in person just before Russia invaded Ukraine, vowing to boost ties during the February 2022 Winter Olympics. China has refused to describe the Ukraine war as an invasion, nor to condemn Russia’s military action in Ukraine, blaming eastward expansion by NATO for stoking security tensions with Russia and calling for the issue to be resolved through negotiation. Chinese has repeatedly said there is “no upper limit” on bilateral cooperation, but vowed to play a “constructive role” to normalize the situation in Ukraine. Liu Hsiao-hsiang, associate researcher at Taiwan’s Institute for the National Defense and Security Research (INDSR), said the relationship between Beijing and Moscow remains a marriage of convenience. “China and Russia have no choices right now,” Liu told RFA. “China knows very well that even if it supports the West and the United States on Ukraine, that won’t win it the goodwill of the U.S.” “Russia is its natural support base … but when calculating how to support [Russia], they will always prioritize their own national interest,” he said. The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday it sees China as a close Russian ally. “China claims to be neutral, but its behavior makes clear that it is still investing in close ties to Russia,” a U.S. State Department spokesperson said in a statement shortly after Xi and Putin’s call, adding that Washington is monitoring Chinese activity closely. “China is still standing by Russia. It is still echoing Russian propaganda around the world. It is still shielding Russia in international organizations,” the spokesperson said. “And it is still denying Russia’s atrocities in Ukraine by suggesting instead that they were staged.” “Nations that side with Vladimir Putin will inevitably find themselves on the wrong side of history,” the statement said. “It’s in the best interests of the United States for it to dampen China’s support for Russia with verbal threats and actions of appeasement,” Lu said. “China won’t overtly challenge Washington, but it will carry on quietly buying grain and natural resources from Russia, so as to meet its own domestic needs and also appear to be supportive of Putin,” he said. CCP ‘word games’ Liu said that when the two leaders last spoke in March, the war in Ukraine had barely begun, and both likely underestimated the strength of Ukrainian military resistance. “How the geopolitical situation changes in future will be the decisive factor,” Liu said of the bilateral relationship. “The relationships between the major powers will shift along with the changes in the way the war is going.” The call came as Xi issued a new directive setting out guidelines for the use of the Chinese military for “non-war operations.” The Chinese government has previously defined non-war military operations as actions to create military deterrence, international peacekeeping, anti-terrorist activities, anti-smuggling, anti-drug operations, and martial law. The full text of the outline has not yet been published. Germany-based analyst Wu Wenxin said the move has parallels with Putin’s “special military operations” against Ukraine, and indicate that the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is trying to create a legal basis to invade the democratic island of Taiwan. “There are two reasons for this. One is that Xi Jinping’s status is threatened [due to the zero-COVID policy], and he wants to stabilize support from the military … ahead of the 20th CCP National Congress [later this year],” Wu told RFA. “The other is that Xi Jinping may want to invade Taiwan,” said. “But starting a war looks very negative, so he has come up with the phrase ‘non-war military operation’.” “The CCP is playing word games,” Wu said. Akio Yaita, Taipei bureau chief for Japan’s Sankei Shimbun and an expert on China, said the move is in keeping with Beijing’s insistence that the Taiwan Strait is part of China’s territorial waters. “Everyone is still very worried about whether Xi Jinping will use this kind of ‘non-military action’ as justification when he launches…

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