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Category: South Asia

Top US diplomat lays out ‘invest, align, compete’ strategy to meet China challenge

Editor08 mins

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday said the United States would employ a threefold strategy of investing at home, aligning efforts allies and partners, and competing with China to counter Beijing’s drive to change the existing rules-based world order. “To succeed in this decisive decade, the Biden Administration’s strategy can be summed up in three words — invest, align, compete,” Blinken said. “The foundations of the international order are under serious and sustained challenge,” he told an audience at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., citing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine posing a “clear and present threat, and China as a long-term challenge. “Even as President Putin’s war continues, we remain focused on the most serious long-term challenge to the international order, and that’s posed by the People’s Republic of China,” he said. “China is the only country with the intent to reshape the international order and increasingly the economic, diplomatic, military and technological power to do it, Blinken said. “Beijing’s vision would move us away from the universal values that have sustained so much of the world’s progress over the past 75 years” since the end of World War II, he said. IPEF & Quad Blinken’s speech came several days after President Joe Biden returned from his first visit to Asia since taking office in January 2021. Biden visited U.S. allies South Korea and later Japan, where he unveiled the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) which 13 other nations signed up to with hopes that it will lead to a free trade agreement in the future. Biden also attended a summit of the Quad, an Indo-Pacific security grouping of the Australia, India, Japan and the U.S. that is widely seen as countering China’s rising influence and assertiveness in the region. Blinken noted that cooperation with China is necessary for the global economy and solving issues such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic and said the U.S. was not looking for conflict or a new Cold War. “To the contrary, we are determined to avoid both,” he said, adding that the U.S. is not seeking to block China or any other nation from growing economically or advancing the interest of their people. “But we will  defend and strengthen international law, agreements, principals and institutions that maintain peace and security, protect the rights of individuals and sovereign nations, and make it possible for all countries, including the United States and China, to coexist and cooperate,” said Blinken. Though China’s rise was possible because of the stability and opportunity that the international order provides, the country is now seeking to undermine those rules, he said. In his 40-minute talk, Blinken touched on hot-button issues like the South China Sea and China’s treatment of the Uyghur ethnic minority in Xinjiang, where Beijing’s heavy-handed policies have been branded genocide by the U.S. and other Western nations. “Under Xi Jinping, the ruling Chinese Communist Party have become more repressive at home and more aggressive abroad,” he said. “We’ll continue to oppose Beijing’s aggressive and unlawful activities in the South and East China Seas,” he said, noting a 2016 international court ruling that found Beijing’s expansive claims in those waters “have no basis in international law.” Uyghur genocide Human rights was another “area of alignment we share with our allies and partners,” said Blinken, who raised Chinese crackdowns on Uyghurs, Tibetans and repression in Hong Kong. “The United States stands with countries and people around the world against the genocide and crimes against humanity happening in the Xinjiang region, where more than a million people have been placed in detention camps because of their ethnic and religious identity,” he said. A leading Uyghur-American official welcomed his remarks, which came as the top United Nations official for human rights was poised to visit Xinjiang, amid expectations that Beijing will so tightly manage the itinerary that the official, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, will not get an accurate view of conditions there. “I was encouraged to hear Secretary’s commitment to align with US allies and partners to respond and stop the ongoing Uyghur genocide and crimes against humanity in the Uyghur homeland,” said Nury Turkel, vice chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. “We stand together on Tibet, where the authorities continue to wage a brutal campaign against Tibetans and their culture, language, and religious traditions, and in Hong Kong, where the Chinese Communist Party has imposed harsh anti-democratic measures under the guise of national security,” Blinken added. “We’ll continue to raise these issues and call for change – not to stand against China, but to stand up for peace, security, and human dignity.” Additional reporting by Alim Seytoff in Munich, Germany.

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North Korea gives Chinese vaccines to soldiers working as construction labor

Editor010 mins

North Korea has begun promoting a vaccination campaign for soldiers working on a high-priority construction project in the capital Pyongyang, marking the first time the government has administered vaccines in large numbers, sources in the country told RFA. The country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, promised to build 50,000 new homes for the residents of Pyongyang by the end of 2025, and tens of thousands of soldiers have been mobilized to help with the project. “They play loud political propaganda messages as the soldiers get injected with the vaccines from China,” a city government official told RFA on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “They are calling it a ‘vaccination of love from the Highest Dignity,’” he said, using an honorific term for Kim Jong Un. Each brigade of soldiers has set up a field sanitation center. On the morning of May 18th, broadcast vehicles began documenting army doctors dressed in protective gear inoculating the soldiers, according to the source. “It was like it was a national political event. All of the officials of the construction command came out to the site, and the atmosphere was all serious,” he said. “The broadcasting car played loudspeaker messages saying, ‘The general secretary has decided to import COVID-19 vaccines in the midst of our nation’s difficult situation. It was repeatedly emphasizing that the vaccines were a gracious gift given to the people from Kim Jong Un,” he said. North Korea is in a state of “maximum emergency” after acknowledging this month that the virus had begun to spread among participants of a large-scale military parade in late April. Prior to that, Pyongyang had denied that anyone in the country had contracted COVID-19, even rejecting 3 million doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine last September, saying that other countries needed them more. ‘Long live Kim Jong Un’ Sources have told RFA that doses for elite members of society have made their way to Pyongyang in small amounts, and that a limited number of soldiers stationed at the Chinese border had also been inoculated. The soldiers in Pyongyang were relieved to learn they would be receiving the vaccine after they heard news that COVID-19 was spreading rapidly in the capital, the source said. “Some of the soldiers were seen raising their hands and giving praise to Kim Jong Un, shedding tears and shouting ‘Manse!,’” said the source, using a Korean phrase usually said during times of overwhelming emotion that directly translates into English as “10,000 years” but effectively means “long live Kim Jong Un” in this context.   “The vaccination campaign conducted that day was only for the soldiers, even though others are helping with the 10,000 homes project. Members of the Korean Socialist Women’s League or local residents who ‘volunteered’ for construction were excluded,” he said. The original plan called for the completion of 10,000 homes in 2021, but the home-building project in the capital fell behind schedule. The government now hopes to meet the target sometime this year and construct an additional 10,000 by the end of the year.  The rapid spread of the coronavirus could upend those plans. Over the past month the virus’s spread has forced the government to shut down entire cities, including the capital. But for now projects like the one in Pyongyang continue. Soldiers mobilized for construction in other parts of the country are also in the government’s vaccination plans, a resident of South Hamgyong province, north of Pyongyang, told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely. “Last week I heard from a friend who works in the medical field that the soldiers who are working on the Ryonpho Greenhouse Farm in Hamju County have received COVID-19 vaccines,” she told RFA Tuesday. “The government is prioritizing soldiers working on national construction projects. “The greenhouse farm is a national construction project which Kim Jong Un ordered to be completed by Oct. 10… The general secretary attended a groundbreaking ceremony there on February 18th. The soldiers who are fighting the construction battle night and day were prioritized for vaccination against COVID-19 with vaccines imported from China,” she said, using militaristic language that North Korea uses to describe communal work projects and public campaigns. ‘Immortal Potion of Love.’ People are angry that the government is not rolling out the vaccine for them, however. “They are saying that the government’s behavior is ridiculous. They are only vaccinating soldiers, and they are using images of these soldiers, saying how thrilled they are that the Highest Dignity is giving them a special consideration, as propaganda,” said the second source. “A broadcast vehicle that appeared at the vaccination site loudly proclaimed the greatness of the general secretary, who prepared for them the ‘Immortal Potion of Love.’ People saw the scenes of the emotional soldiers, singing, weeping and shouting ‘Manse!’ but they looked on emotionless.” Though North Korea has acknowledged that the virus is spreading inside the country, it has only reported a handful of confirmed COVID-19 cases, which 38 North, a site that provides analysis on the country and is run by the U.S.-based Stimson Center think tank, attributed to insufficient testing capabilities. Data published on the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center showed North Korea with only one confirmed COVID-19 case and six deaths as of Thursday evening. The country is, however, keeping track of numbers of people who exhibit symptoms of COVID-19. About 3.1 million people have been hit by outbreaks of fever, 68 of whom have died, according to data based on the most recent reports from North Korean state media published by 38 North. Around 2.7 million are reported to have made recoveries, while 323,300 are undergoing treatment. Washington has offered to give vaccines to North Korea and China, U.S. President Joe Biden announced during a recent visit to Seoul. Neither country has responded to the offer. North Korea has also ignored a South Korean proposal to cooperate in efforts to combat the pandemic. Observers say Pyongyang is unlikely to accept humanitarian aid from the international community because it would be an admission…

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Top U.S. diplomat for Tibetan affairs visits refugees in Nepal

Editor06 mins

Uzra Zeya, the U.S. special coordinator for Tibetan issues, met with Tibetan refugees in Nepal as well as government officials during a recent visit to Kathmandu in the highest-level visit by a U.S. official in a decade, sources in the Himalayan country told RFA. Zeya, who also met with Tibetans in India on her trip, reportedly discussed the refugees’ undocumented status during the meeting. In 1995, Nepal stopped issuing refugee cards for Tibetans who flee across the border from their homeland, which has been under Chinese control since 1951. Nepal is seen by China as a partner in its Belt and Road Initiative to boost global trade through infrastructure investment, and Nepal’s government has cited promises of millions of dollars of Chinese investment as a reason for restricting Tibetan activities in the country. Zeya’s trip from May 20 to 22 was intended to “deepen cooperation on human rights and democratic governance goals, and to advance humanitarian priorities,” the State Department said on its website. “Zeya met with Tibetans in Jawalakhel where they raised the problems they are facing in the absence of proper documentation in Nepal … and deteriorating human rights conditions,” a Nepalese journalist told RFA’s Tibetan Service on condition of anonymity to speak freely. The lack of proper identification cards for the refugees is a result of pressure from the Chinese government, Vijay Karna, Nepal’s former ambassador to Demark, told RFA. “More than 5,000 Tibetan refugees and their families are facing problems regarding their refugee card. Resolving this issue would also be of huge significance to the Nepalese government,” he said. “Zeya’s meeting with the Tibetan community in Nepal during this visit sends a clear message to the Chinese government,” Karna said. “It is high time the Nepalese government resolves the issues of Tibetan refugees in Nepal with obtaining their identity cards.” Sangpo, who works at the Human Rights Organization of Nepal, told RFA that any solution to the ID card problem would have to be practical. “Right now an ID card would act only as an ID card and nothing more. To get a travel document, one must first run around to three or four different offices … and since there are no proper guidelines in place, the government should reconsider this,” Sangpo said. Zeya’s meeting with the Tibetan community in Nepal has been closely watched by China, Santosh Sherma, a co-founder of Nepal Institute for Policy Research, told RFA. “Before the arrival of Uzra Zeya and her delegation in Nepal, the Chinese ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi called on Nepal’s home minister to discuss the One-China Policy and bilateral relations between the two countries to get assurance from Nepal. So, Zeya’s visit has definitely made China anxious,” Sherma said.   Of his meeting with Zeya, Nepal’s Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba tweeted, “It was a pleasure receiving the US delegation led by Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human rights. We exchanged views on Nepal-US relations and matter of mutual interests.” Zeya announced in a tweet on May 21 that the U.S. would provide Nepal with $659 million through the United States Agency for International Development. The United States, U.N. and European Union have urged Nepal’s government to protect the rights of Tibetans living in Nepal and of refugees fleeing Tibet. The recent visit also coincided with the 75th anniversary of the Nepal-US diplomatic ties. Washington-based Freedom House rated Nepal “partly free” in its 2022 annual index of world liberty, with a score of 57 out of a possible 100. China was rated “not free” with a score of 9, while Tibet got an even lower ranking of just 1. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Lao villagers say they got little warning of dam water release

Editor011 mins

Heavy rains in northern Laos forced a hydroelectric dam on the Nam Ou River to release water unexpectedly, panicking downstream residents who said a late warning gave them little time to respond, sources in the country told RFA. The Nam Ou has a cascade of seven dams that have been operating since October 2021. They are part of Laos’ controversial economic strategy of becoming the “Battery of Southeast Asia” by aggressively damming the Mekong River and its tributaries and selling the generated power to neighboring countries. The Nam Ou 4 Dam, owned by the Power Construction Corporation of China, began releasing water on Monday after its reservoir rapidly rose. A district-level office in Phongsaly province issued a warning to its citizens earlier in the day. “The Khoua District of Phongsaly province would like to inform party members, government employees, chiefs of villages and all residents, that heavy rain is causing the Nam Ou River water levels to rise, and the amount of water in the Nam Ou 4 Dam reservoir is rising fast. Therefore, for safety reasons, all residents along the Nam Ou River and Nam Bak River should be extra cautious,” it said. A villager in the district told RFA’s Lao Service that the warning was too late. “The district issued the warning on May 23, and the dam released water the same day. We had no time to prepare for the worst, and we were worried about the possible loss of lives and property,” said the villager, who like all anonymous sources in this report declined to be named for safety reasons. Other villagers in the same district told RFA they were still concerned on Wednesday, two days after the dam began releasing water. “The Chinese company is discharging more water from the Nam Ou 4 Dam,” a resident of Phonxay Neua village, who declined to be named, told RFA. “Right now, the river is not yet at a dangerous level, but we are worried that our homes, land and other properties will be flooded, or will cause landslides.” “The district authorities haven’t informed us about how much water the dam is discharging and how high the water will rise,” the Phonxay Neua villager said. The sudden rise of the Nam Ou is uncharacteristic for this time of year, a resident of Sob Kai village told RFA. “Usually the Nam Ou and Nam Bak rivers in Khoua district rise in August or September, so this year is unusual,” the Sob Kai resident said, on condition of anonymity. “When the dam’s reservoir is full, it’ll release water. Each time, the authorities and the dam developer warn us, but many residents who live in remote areas might not be aware of the warning,” the Sob Kai resident said. Provincial authorities told RFA that their duty was simply to warn citizens and that they had effectively done that. “Our job is to receive the information about the discharge from the Chinese company and then inform our constituents. Measuring the water levels is the responsibility of the company, but we do check and monitor Nam Ou River water levels daily and report them to the province,” an official of the province’s Natural Resources and Environment Department told RFA. Thailand’s Water Department on Wednesday said heavy rains would increase the Nam Ou 4’s discharge from 500 cubic meters per second to 2,400 cubic meters per second from May 23 to May 31. More than half of the Thai-Lao border is demarcated by the Mekong River, which the Nam Ou flows into. “The water will flow down at 6,600 cubic meters [about 233,000 cubic feet] per second to the Mekong River through the Xayaburi Dam in Lao P.D.R. raising water levels downstream between one meter and 1.5 meters today, May 25, 2022, and tomorrow, May 26, 2022,” the statement said. Sustainable Development Thailand has called on the Mekong River Commission (MRC), an intergovernmental organization that works with the governments of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam to jointly manage the Mekong, to be more forthcoming with information prior to making decisions that affect people living along the banks of the river. “The Thai deputy prime minister, [Prawit Wongsuwon] met with the new CEO of the MRC [Anoulak Kittikhoun] and stressed that information sharing is important so that it can be used to warn residents along the river,” Surasri Kittimonthon, secretary-general of the Thai Office of National Water Resources, told RFA Wednesday. “The deputy PM called for sustainable development along the river such that information about the impact should be clear and tangible,” Surasri Kittimonthon said. Any kind of effort to warn people in advance will fail without China’s cooperation, however, an official of the Lao Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment told RFA. “When Chinese dams release more water, they don’t inform us. We have to measure the water levels (of the Mekong River) every day ourselves, then we report them to MRC,” the official said. A representative of the Thailand-based Love Chiang Khong Group, an environmental NGO, told RFA that the notifications from Laos and Thailand were less than useful. “The notification of the water released from the dams is not helpful at all. It won’t solve any of the problems or impacts on the people and the environment in the Lower Mekong River region,” he said. “The right way to solve these problems is for the governments and people to work together to properly manage the Mekong River water. The local people know best about their river, about fish, where they live and how they reproduce,” he said. In a report about Monday’s meeting published on its website, the MRC said China agreed in 2020 to share hydrological data from two of its Mekong River dams not only during the wet season but also in the dry season to help countries downstream plan for any “unusual” rise or fall. The report noted, however, that the agreement never clearly defined “unusual.” Laos has staked its future on power generation, hoping to export electricity…

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UNHCR chief: World must not forget Rohingya refugees amid Ukraine crisis

Editor06 mins

Despite the Ukraine war, the world mustn’t forget about the plight of Rohingya and other refugees as well as the burden of their host countries, the head of the U.N.’s refugee agency pleaded Wednesday as he ended a five-day trip to Bangladesh. The conflict stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its humanitarian fallout is straining resources everywhere, including in supporting the sprawling refugee camps in southeastern Bangladesh along the frontier with Myanmar, said Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. “I am here to remind the international community that there is not just Ukraine. Bangladesh has been bearing the responsibilities for five years and this support cannot decline,” he told a press conference in Dhaka. “I will not accept it. I will put maximum pressure on all donor partners.” “It is very important that the world knows this should not be forgotten …. The risk is there of marginalization of some of the crises because so many resources are absorbed, especially by the Ukraine emergency,” he added. The camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district house about 1 million Rohingya refugees, including 740,000 who fled atrocities during a military offensive in Myanmar’s Rakhine state in 2017. But only 13 percent of the U.S. $881 million needed by humanitarian agencies this year to support the Rohingya refugees in the South Asian nation has been funded as of May. “I am a bit worried… first of all, there are a bit more needs because there is also Bhashan Char, and now in Ukraine, in Afghanistan and a lot of other competing crises, we struggle a bit, but I am here also for that reason,” Grandi said. Bhashan Char is a remote island in the Bay of Bengal where the Bangladesh government has relocated some 26,000 Rohingya refugees since December 2020, ostensibly to ease the burden on the crowded mainland camps in Cox’s Bazar. During his stay in Bangladesh, Grandi visited refugee camps in both Cox’s Bazar and on Bhashan Char. Grandi said the war in Ukraine had added an additional financial burden on the United Nations, which was affecting the Rohingya camps as well. “The Ukraine emergency is posing a problem here as well. We buy liquid gas for … [these] camps. That price has gone up a lot and this is a direct impact of the crisis,” he said. When asked, Grandi acknowledged that funding for the Rohingya refugees would be more difficult than before. “I think the government knows that, we know that, and the donors know that.” The solution to the Rohingya crisis lies in Myanmar, the UNHCR chief said. “The Rohingya refugees I met reiterated their desire to return home when conditions allow. The world must work to address the root causes of their flight and to translate those dreams into reality,” Grandi said. Filippo Grandi (center), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, walks inside the Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar district in Bangladesh, May 22, 2022. Credit: UNHCR. Grandi talked with Rohingya about their situation during his visit to refugee camps earlier this week, said Kin Maung, the founder of the Rohingya Youth Association in Cox’s Bazar. “We hope, following the visit of UNHCR boss, the process of repatriation will get more focus,” he told BenarNews. “We want to return to our homeland with dignity.”

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Japan criticizes ‘provocative’ China-Russia air patrol during Quad summit

Editor09 mins

Japan has described as “provocative” a joint patrol by Chinese and Russian air forces over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea, conducted when Quad leaders met in Tokyo to discuss regional security. At Tuesday’s meeting, the leaders of Australia, India, Japan and the United States declared a “steadfast commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”     Japanese Minister of Defense Nobuo Kishi said after the summit that Japan had “communicated through our diplomatic routes our grave concerns” over the China-Russia joint patrol. “We believe the fact that this action was taken during the Quad summit makes it more provocative than in the past,” Kishi told reporters in Tokyo, adding that it was the fourth such incident since November. The Chinese Ministry of National Defense said in a brief statement that a joint aerial strategic patrol was carried out “in the airspace over the waters of the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea and the western Pacific Ocean.” The two militaries staged the patrol “in accordance with their annual military cooperation plan,” the statement said. The Russian Defense Ministry denied that the joint patrol was aimed against third countries.  It said that during the 13-hour mission Russian and Chinese bombers did not intrude into Japanese and South Korean airspace. South Korea said at least four Chinese and four Russian warplanes entered its air defense zone several times during the day of the patrol, Reuters reported. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, U.S. President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attend an event during the summit of Quad leaders in Tokyo, Japan, May 24, 2022. Credit: Reuters. China-Russia no-limit partnership The Russian ministry maintained that the Russian and Chinese aircraft “ operated strictly in compliance with the provisions of international law.”  It said the patrol included Tu-95MS strategic missile-carrying bombers of the Russian Aerospace Force and Hong-6K (commonly known as Xian H-6) strategic bombers of the Air Force of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). A number of Russian Su-30SM jets provided fighter support for this air task force and at some sections of the route, the bombers were “escorted” by F-2 aircraft of the South Korean Air Force and F-15 jets of the Japanese Air Force, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Japan’s Ministry of Defense Joint Staff confirmed that Japanese fighters “scrambled to cope with a suspected intrusion into Japan’s airspace over the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean.” It said in a press release that Japan identified four Chinese H-6 bombers, two Russian Tu-95 bombers and a Russian Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft. This is the fourth consecutive year that Chinese and Russian air forces have conducted such joint strategic air patrol. The two militaries have also carried out numerous joint exercises on land and at sea. At a briefing on Tuesday, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the latest event demonstrated that the Sino-Russian partnership is “quite alive and well.” Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping held a summit in February, in which they praised the bilateral partnership as having “no limits” and “no forbidden areas of cooperation.” “China-Russia cooperation is driven by strong internal dynamics and valued for its independence. It is not targeted at any third party and will not be affected by others,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on Tuesday. The Russia-initiated war in Ukraine has pushed the two countries even closer and Beijing has so far refused to condemn the Russian invasion. “As the international community responds to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the fact that China took such action in collaboration with Russia, which is the aggressor, is cause for concern. It cannot be overlooked,” Japanese Defense Minister Kishi said, referring to Tuesday’s joint patrol. Containing China The Quad summit on Tuesday, though not mentioning China, did reaffirm the grouping’s “resolve to uphold the international rules-based order where countries are free from all forms of military, economic and political coercion.” Analysts say the four Quad nations share concerns about China’s growing influence and assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific. Beijing has been responding to international criticism by holding military drills and deployments. On Monday, U.S. President Joe Biden said his country is “committed” to defending Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. On the same day, China announced increased naval activities in the two strategically important straits northwest and southwest of Japan.  Japan’s Ministry of Defense Joint Staff said two Type 054A frigates of the PLA Navy – the Xuzhou and the Handan – transited the Tsushima Strait towards the Sea of Japan while the Sovremenny-class destroyer Hangzhou entered the Pacific Ocean after crossing the Miyako Strait from the East China Sea. Meanwhile on Wednesday, the PLA Eastern Theater Command said it has “recently organized joint combat-readiness patrol and real-combat training exercises involving multiple services and arms in the waters and airspace around the Taiwan Island.” “These actions are stern warning against the recent collusion activities between the US and the ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces,” said command spokesperson, Senior Col. Shi Yi. He did not specify the dates when the exercises took place. China considers Taiwan a breakaway province that should be unified with the mainland, by force if necessary. The Eastern Theater Command of the PLA is responsible for Taiwan, Japan and the East China Sea.

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Hong Kong unlikely to see Tiananmen vigil, as Taiwan plans major June 4 event instead

Editor013 mins

Hong Kong’s once-annual candlelight vigil for Tiananmen massacre victims is likely to be suppressed for a third year running, amid ongoing political crackdown under the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and plans are afoot to move the event to democratic Taiwan. The vigil has been banned — ostensibly for public health reasons — for the past two years and the leaders of its organizing group, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, arrested for colluding with foreign powers under a national security law imposed by Beijing from July 1, 2020. The Ming Pao newspaper reported that the Leisure and Cultural Service Department (LCSD), which administers the Victoria Park soccer pitches where the rally used to take place, has suspended any bookings on June 4, the 33rd anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre, although bookings are available on other days in the same month. An LDSD official who answered the phone on Tuesday said that “non-designated bookings” had been suspended at its sports facilities, and that nobody had tried to hire the soccer pitches between June 1 and 5 this year. However, the department’s official website carried a notice dated May 12, announcing that two of the park’s six soccer pitches will be “closed for maintenance” throughout May and early June. The Hong Kong Police said on Monday that they hadn’t received any application to hold a large gathering on Hong Kong Island on June 4. League of Social Democrats spokeswoman Chan Po-ying said the group hasn’t yet decided what, if anything, it will do to mark this year’s anniversary. Former chairman Avery Ng said there are currently no plans for such an event. “The government has used a number of excuses in the past few years to refuse to allow citizens to hold large-scale gatherings,” Ng told RFA. “So I wouldn’t be surprised if any application by other people to hold a June 4 event was turned down this year too.” “Of course, the government keeps hoping that people will forget about June 4, but I don’t think they will,” he said. People attend a vigil commemorating the 32nd anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen square pro-democracy protests and crackdown outside of the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles, California, June 4, 2021. Deeply rooted after 30 years You Weijie, spokeswoman for the Tiananmen Mothers victims’ group said it was a shame that the event couldn’t go ahead in Hong Kong, but said people wouldn’t forget the date, nor the three decades of vigils that had already happened. “The candlelight vigil in Victoria Park went on for more than 30 years, and is deeply rooted in the memories of everyone with a conscience,” You told RFA. “It’s part of the desire to live a free life.” “The candlelight won’t be extinguished; it will just be lit by people of conscience all over the world,” she said. Many of those commemorating those who died when the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) rolled into Tiananmen Square, putting a bloody end to weeks of student-led protests in the spring and early summer of 1989 will likely be on the democratic island of Taiwan. Taiwan’s New School for Democracy has said it will keep up the vigil tradition in support of Hong Kong, which now has around 1,000 political prisoners amid a citywide crackdown on dissent instigated by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the wake of the 2019 protest movement. Chairman Tzeng Chien-yuan said the group will co-host the vigil in Taiwan on the night of June 3-4, now that Victoria Park is no longer an option. “Back when I was growing up, I actually used to envy Hong Kong’s freedoms and rule of law,” Tseng said, in a reference to Taiwan’s peaceful transition from single-party state under authoritarian rule by the Kuomintang (KMT) to a pluralistic democracy with a strong human rights record. “Taiwan’s path to democracy was nourished and supported by Hong Kong, and I think we Taiwanese are duty bound to speak up for Hongkongers and for all Chinese people now that the June 4 event can’t be held there any more,” Tseng said. People hold candles during a vigil in Hong Kong on June 4, 2018, to mark the 29th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown in Beijing. Credit: AFP Pillar of shame The centerpiece of this year’s ceremony will be a smaller replica of the Pillar of Shame sculpture, which was dismantled and removed from public view among other commemorative artworks on Hong Kong university campuses, amid a crackdown on public criticism of the government under a draconian national security law imposed on the city by Beijing. “The rule of law has fallen in Hong Kong, which is so close to Taiwan,” Tseng said. “It means Taiwan is also under great threat from the expansionism, infiltration and encirclement [practiced] by the CCP.” “We have also been through a struggle on the way to democracy … so the Taiwanese people are on a historic mission … to use our democracy as a model,” he said. The Taiwan branch of Amnesty International also plans to premiere “May 35th”, a Hong Kong stage play linked to June 4, in Tainan and Taipei on June 1 and 3 respectively, its secretary general Eeling Chiu told RFA. “The June 4 commemoration has been banned and suppressed in Hong Kong for the past two years,” Chiu said. “We want to bring May 35th to Taiwan … so that more Taiwanese know about June 4.” Chiu said younger Taiwanese are an important political force. “They bring a lot of change … so we are looking forward to reaching more young people.” As the anniversary approached, a U.S.-based rights group said there are now more than 1,000 political prisoners in Hong Kong, compared with a handful at the start of the 2019 protest movement. “The large number of political prisoners is a key indicator of the deterioration of the rule of law, judicial independence, and protections of civil and political liberties, marking Hong Kong’s rapid descent into authoritarianism,” the Hong Kong Democracy Council (HKDC) said in a recent report. “In few places in the world…

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Australia, India, Japan and US end ‘Quad’ summit with eyes on China

Editor09 mins

Leaders of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) met on Tuesday in Tokyo, with China’s increasing influence and assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region looming large over the four-nation summit. They announced the roll out of a major new maritime initiative that is expected to monitor Chinese maritime activities in the region.  Leaders of Australia, India, Japan and the United States said in a joint statement that they convened “to renew our steadfast commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific that is inclusive and resilient.” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and U.S. President Joe Biden reaffirmed “our resolve to uphold the international rules-based order where countries are free from all forms of military, economic and political coercion.” The statement did not mention China but said the Quad leaders opposed “the militarization of disputed features, the dangerous use of coast guard vessels and maritime militia, and efforts to disrupt other countries’ offshore resource exploitation activities” – actions that China has been accused of in the East and South China Sea.  “The Quad members would probably not say so out loud in public, but in private they would all acknowledge that the Quad only exists because all four members are nervous about the authoritarian tilt of an expansionist and assertive People’s Republic of China (PRC) under President Xi Jinping,” said John Blaxland, professor at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University. “By not being explicit about the raison d’être, the Quad countries hope to provide some space for other regional states to continue to engage constructively on security issues with Quad nations,” Blaxland told RFA. The four leaders announced a so-called Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) initiative that would support Indo-Pacific countries to monitor their waters, not only to respond to humanitarian and natural disasters but also to combat illegal fishing, another reference to China’s assertive actions in the regional seas and oceans. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida feed carp before their dinner at Akasaka State Guest House in Tokyo on May 24, 2022, following the end of the Quad leaders’ summit between the US, Japan, India and Australia. Credit: AFP ‘Strategic ambiguity’ on Taiwan  A White House fact sheet said the IPMDA will allow tracking of “dark shipping” and other tactical-level activities. “This initiative will transform the ability of partners in the Pacific Islands, Southeast Asia, and the Indian Ocean region to fully monitor the waters on their shores and, in turn, to uphold a free and open Indo-Pacific.” Asked about the Quad statement, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Beijing “actively upholds the UN-centered international system and the international order underpinned by international law,” and  took a swipe at critics.  “We hope certain countries would not see China through tinted glasses and make unwarranted accusations. Building small cliques and stoking bloc confrontation is the real threat to a peaceful, stable and cooperative maritime order,” he told a news briefing in Beijing Tuesday. The Quad summit came a day after U.S. President Joe Biden attracted much attention and drew criticism from Beijing when he stated that he would be willing to use force to defend Taiwan in the case of any Chinese invasion. China considers the democratic island a breakaway province and vows to “reunify” it with the mainland, by force if necessary. Biden told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday that there was no change to the U.S. policy of “strategic ambiguity” on Taiwan, meaning the U.S. acknowledges the One-China policy but informally supports the island and provides it with defensive weapons. In Beijing, Wang said Washington had “publicly or stealthily incited and endorsed ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist activities” and warned it to stop. “If the U.S. continues to go down the wrong path, there will be irretrievable consequences for the China-U.S. relations and the U.S. will have to pay [an] unbearable price,” he said.. In his opening speech, Biden said the summit was about “democracies versus autocracies, and we have to make sure that we deliver.” The Quad leaders also discussed the war in Ukraine, which Biden said had become “a global issue” and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida said a similar invasion should not happen in Asia. Debut of Australia PM Albanese Without mentioning Russia, as Quad member India has so far refused to condemn Moscow, the four leaders said they “reiterated our strong resolve to maintain the peace and stability in the region” at a time of profound global challenges. This is the fourth meeting of the leaders of the Quad, but the second in person because of the Covid pandemic. This is also the first summit for Australia’s new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who was sworn in just a day ago. Australia has been spooked by China’s growing presence in the Pacific islands, especially after Beijing signed a controversial security pact with the Solomon Islands that may allow China to deploy troops in Australia’s back yard. “The new Prime Minister has made clear that in terms of broad security policy choices, he is aligned with the previous government,” said Professor Blaxland from the Australian National University. “The difference lies in the rhetoric, Albanese probably will have a softer line.” “It also lies in some of the substance on the issue of the environment. Addressing the felt need of nervous small Pacific Island nations is now seen as being of fundamental importance,” Blaxland said.

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More than a dozen Rohingya die when boat capsizes off Myanmar coast

Editor09 mins

More than a dozen people, including women and children, died on Saturday when a boat carrying at least 90 Rohingya from western Myanmar’s Rakhine state to Malaysia capsized and sank in the Bay of Bengal during a storm, Myanmar residents and rescue workers said. The passengers, refugees from deadly crackdowns on Rohingya Muslims by Myanmar troops that have driven nearly a million people into camps in Rakhine and neighboring Bangladesh, had paid U.S. $1,500-2,500 each to traffickers to take them to Malaysia, where they hoped to find employment, some of the Rohingya survivors told RFA. More than 50 other passengers remain missing, and more than 20 survivors, mostly men, have been detained by local authorities at the Shwe Thaung Yan township police station in Pathein district of Ayeyarwady region, the sources said. “Ninety people were said to be on the boat, 23 were arrested, and 14 dead bodies have been found so far, most of them children around 11 or 12 years of age,” said a Shwe Thaung Yan resident who declined to be named for safety reasons. RFA has not been able to independently confirm the figures. Seven bodies were recovered after they washed ashore Sunday near the popular Shwe Thaung Yan beach, local rescue workers said. Six others were found earlier in the afternoon in the Wetlet area, and another body washed up on the shore in Shwe Thaung Yan’s ward No. 1. The bodies were not found on the resort side of the beach, one local said. One rescue worker said the bodies were buried Sunday night with the help of Muslim religious leaders from Pathein. “The bodies were buried yesterday,” he said. “The leaders of their religious group came and buried them. We found another dead body in Shwe Thaung Yan No. 1 ward at about 5.30 p.m. The Muslim leaders buried it too. They came from Pathein.” The passengers were trying to reach Malaysia from displacement camps in Rakhine’s Sittwe, Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships, locals said. The ward administrator said that the traffickers and some people about 20 years of age were found alive. “The single body found in our ward was that of a 10-year-old girl,” he said. He speculated that the boat may have been sunk in a cyclone. “The sea around here is very scary. Storms come unannounced sometimes,” he said. Traffickers apprehended Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, spokesman for Myanmar’s ruling junta, said that the boat capsized about five nautical miles west of Thapyay Hmaw Island near Shwe Thaung Yan. “A search was carried out and found 14 Bengalis dead. The rest will be deported as usual,” he said. Authorities captured five “suspects” in Shwe Thaung Yan’s Thae Gone village at about 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Zaw Min Tun said. “We checked them and found them to be human traffickers. They were bringing these Bengalis from [Rakhine’s] Rathedaung [township] by boat to go to Yangon and then to Malaysia,” he said, using a derogatory term for Rohingya, who in Myanmar are considered illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. In addition to tens of thousands of Muslim refugees in Rakhine, more than 740,000 Rohingya have been sheltering since a 2017 crackdown at refugee camps in southeastern Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar, where they are fenced in and not allowed to work outside their confines. Rohingya in the camps and those still in western Myanmar pay traffickers to transport them to Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand to find work and a better life. Groups of Rohingya have also packed into boats and sailed off in search of asylum in other countries, often only to be denied entry. Tin Hlaing from the Rohingya displacement camp in Thetkeibyin village, Sittwe township, said many have tried to leave Myanmar with the help of traffickers, which in most cases has not ended well. “They left because there are a lot of difficulties in the refugee camps here,” he said. “About 90% of them had financial problems. Jobs are scarce. In some cases, children have grown up. … That’s why they leave.” The Rohingya often ignore warnings of camp administrators about the risks of paying traffickers to transport them, Tin Hlaing said. “About 35 out of 100 people make it,” he said. “They have to pay a lot of money to the traffickers and now they are losing their lives.” “The latest tragedy shows once again the sense of desperation being felt by Rohingya in Myanmar and in the region,” Indrika Ratwatte, director of the regional bureau for Asia and the Pacific at the U.N.’s refugee agency (UNHCR), said in a statement issued Monday. “It is shocking to see increasing numbers of children, women and men embarking on these dangerous journeys and eventually losing their lives.” At least 1,000 Rohingya have left internal displacement camps in Rakhine’s Buthidaung, Maungdaw and Sittwe township s every year in an effort to eke out a living elsewhere. They usually must pay traffickers 3 million-5 million kyats (U.S. $1,600-2,700) per person to be smuggled. Nay San Lwin, co-founder of the Rohingya Liberation Coalition, said Rohingya hoping for a better future in Malaysia have been repeatedly deceived by traffickers “People are not allowed to travel, [and] their working rights are restricted, so they try to flee, thinking that if they go to Malaysia, they will find a brighter future,” he said. RFA could not reach Maung Maung Than, social affairs minister of Ayeyarwady region, for comment. Myanmar police arrested 41 Rohingya in Shwe Taung Yan’s Nwe Nyo Chaung village on March 22 after their boat broke down and was stranded on the beach. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane for RFA’s Myanmar Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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Biden unveils US Info-Pacific economic plan after summits in Japan, South Korea

Editor09 mins

U.S. President Joe Biden wound up his visit to South Korea and Japan Monday with the announcement of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF), drawing more Southeast Asian involvement than previously anticipated. A statement by the White House said the U.S.-led regional economic initiative includes a dozen initial partners: Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam; together representing 40% of the world’s GDP. Earlier this month, diplomatic sources said that only two of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – Singapore and the Philippines – were expected to be among the initial countries joining negotiations under IPEF. One of the reasons for hesitancy is the U.S. Indo-Pacific plans are considered to be designed to counter China’s rising influence in the region, and ASEAN countries, especially small- and medium-sized, may wish to stay neutral. It appears that the situation has changed after the special U.S.-ASEAN summit in Washington in mid-May, with Brunei, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam also signing up.  “The U.S. is finally re-engaging economically in the Indo-Pacific region,” said Norah Huang, associate research fellow at Prospect Foundation, a Taiwanese think tank. “The delay says there have been difficulties of the political climate back home and in this part of the world,” she said.  Indo-Pacific economic power Details remain vague but it is understood that IPEF is not a free-trade agreement, but an economic cooperation seeking to establish trade rules across “four pillars” – trade resiliency, infrastructure, decarbonization and anti-corruption. The White House said it will “enable the United States and our allies to decide on rules of the road that ensure American workers, small businesses, and ranchers can compete in the Indo-Pacific.” With U.S. direct investment in the region totaled more than U.S. $969 billion in 2020, the U.S. “is an Indo-Pacific economic power, and expanding U.S. economic leadership in the region is good for American workers and businesses — as well as for the people of the region.” China has been critical of the U.S. involvement in the region. On Sunday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said “the so-called ‘Indo-Pacific Strategy’ is bound to fail.” Speaking in Guangzhou after talks with visiting Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. Wang said the strategy “is causing more and more vigilance and concern” because it is “attempting to erase the name “Asia-Pacific” and the effective regional cooperation architecture in the region.” IPEF “should promote openness and cooperation instead of creating geopolitical confrontation,” Wang said. The U.S. is “politicizing, weaponizing and ideologizing economic issues and using economic means to coerce regional countries to choose sides between China and the United States,” according to the Chinese Foreign Minister. Regional reaction Regional economic powers Singapore and Malaysia were the first to welcome the IPEF.  Malaysian International Trade and Industry Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali tweeted on Monday that IPEF “serves as an impetus for economic diplomacy between USA and the Indo-Pacific region.” “I am optimistic that this cooperation acknowledges that our economic policy interests in the region are intertwined, and deepening economic engagement among partners is crucial for continued growth, peace, and prosperity.” Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong last week said that he encouraged more ASEAN participation in the IPEF which he said “needs to be inclusive and provide tangible benefits.” “To get India and Indonesia signed up will be important to up the game and could serve as catalyst for hesitant actors to come off fence,” said Norah Huang from the Taiwanese Prospect Foundation. Staunch U.S. allies South Korea and Japan, which President Biden has visited since Saturday, both supported the IPEF as “they clearly support any U.S. engagement within the region,” said Stephen Nagy, senior associate professor at the Department of Politics and International Studies, International Christian University in Tokyo. Before the IPEF launch, Biden held a meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, their first formal face-to-face.  Quad meeting On Tuesday, the U.S. President will attend a summit of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, with leaders of Japan, India and Australia. The meeting will “focus on a rules-based order, enhancing infrastructure and connectivity in the region and in general, providing public goods to the broader region,” said Nagy. “The leaders will also discuss security in the maritime environment, primarily secured through cooperation within the Quad, as well as peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” the analyst said. Taiwan has not been invited to IPEF, a decision called “regrettable” by Taipei. “As an important economy that plays a crucial role in the global supply chain, Taiwan is definitely qualified for inclusion in the IPEF,” the Taiwanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement. In Tokyo on Monday, however, President Biden said he would be willing to use force to defend Taiwan in the case of a Chinese attack. “We agree with a one-China policy. We’ve signed on to it and all the intended agreements made from there. But the idea that, that it can be taken by force, just taken by force, is just not, is just not appropriate,” Biden said in Tokyo, adding that it was his expectation that such an event would not happen or be attempted, Reuters news agency reported. China swiftly expressed its “strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition” in comments by Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry. “On issues concerning China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and other core interests, there is no room for compromise,” Wang told a daily briefing in Beijing.

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