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“Glory to Hong Kong”, protest anthem of HongKong protests got played as China’s national anthem

Editor06 mins

Was it intentional or a simple mistake? In a scene that went viral on social media in Hong Kong, the unofficial anthem of Hong Kong’s 2019 pro-democracy protests was blared over the sound system before a rugby match between Hong Kong and South Korea played just outside of Seoul on Sunday. The song, “Glory to Hong Kong,” which calls for democracy and liberty, rose to prominence during the widespread protests in Hong Kong in 2019 against increasing encroachment on civil liberties by mainland Chinese authorities.  Normally, China’s national anthem, which praises communism, is played whenever Hong Kong sports teams play internationally.  China controlled Hong Kong’s government demanded an investigation into the incident. The song is highly symbolic to the people of Hong Kong, who have pushed back against the growing constraints on expressions of free speech and press imposed on them by the Hong Kong government, which is largely doing Beijing’s will. “The song pokes right at the sore spot of the Hong Kong government. It reminded the government of the fact that it does not truly govern Hong Kong,” said former legislative council member Ted Hui, who is in exile overseas.  “The Hong Kong government is aware that it is a weak and unpopular government,” Hui said. “It fears that the pro-democracy movement will be revived, and that the momentum may grow stronger again.”   This is the clip when “Glory to Hong Kong,” the protest anthem, was played at the Asian Rugby Seven Series in South Korea: https://t.co/o02abNBQ5y pic.twitter.com/kB8lr5i6CV — Kris Cheng (@krislc) November 13, 2022 Human error?   The Seoul-based Korea Rugby Union said that the gaffe was a result of human error and had no political motivations, and that it had apologized to the Asia Rugby Union, and both the Hong Kong and Chinese teams participating in the tournament.   But Ronny Tong, a member of Hong Kong’s Executive Council, said the incident was likely not human error and must have had Hong Kong-based accomplices. Tong said that those responsible may have violated several laws, including by committing sedition under the Crimes Ordinance, separatism or collusion with foreign forces under the National Security Law of Hong Kong, or conspiracy to contravene under the National Anthem Ordinance. Tong said that the Hong Kong government should conduct a thorough investigation in accordance with the law, rather than simply protesting and demanding an apology.  But Hong Kong current affairs commentator and lawyer Sang Pu told Radio Free Asia on Monday that Tong’s legal analysis made no sense, saying it was impossible to apply Hong Kong law in South Korea. Tong had no proof of his assertion, Sang said. “[He] claimed that it was an individual in Hong Kong who plotted to have someone meddle with the Chinese national anthem. This is pure imagination. Why not consider other possibilities?” Similar anthem gaffes have occurred on many occasions over the years. In 2017 Russian gold medal winners at the biathlon world championship in Austria saw their flag raised to the tune of the Yeltsin-era Russian anthem. After a Kazakh athlete won a gold medal at an international shooting competition in Kuwait in 2012, the organizers played a fake version of the Kazakstan anthem made for the comedy movie Borat.   Hong Kong won Sunday’s match against South Korea 19-12. The third leg of the Asian Rugby Seven Series is scheduled for Nov. 26-27 in Amjan, UAE.   Translated by Min Eu. Written in English by Eugene Whong. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

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Analysis: Biden-Xi summit delivers calmer tone, reminders of US-China fault lines

Editor011 mins

Highly anticipated yet viewed with low expectations, the summit Monday between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping improved the tone in bilateral contacts after years of tensions while underscoring how Taiwan looms over efforts to keep a strategic rivalry from spiraling into conflict. After three hours of talks at a resort hotel on the Indonesian island of Bali on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit, Biden said he and Xi were “very blunt with one another,” while a Xi spokesperson described the meeting as “in-depth, candid and constructive.” Those phrases–diplomatic speak for airing sharp differences—came after both leaders, in their first face-to-face meeting since Biden took office nearly two years ago, acknowledged global expectations that the superpowers keep the numerous U.S.-China disputes from deteriorating into conflict. “The Biden-Xi meeting exceeded low expectations, with both leaders clearly expressing a desire to manage differences and work together on urgent global issues,” said Patricia Kim of the John L. Thornton China Center and the Center for East Asia Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution. The White House said Beijing and Washington also “agreed to empower key senior officials to maintain communication and deepen constructive efforts” in areas like climate talks and other global issues, including resuming long-frozen discussions by joint working groups. “The fact that the two sides agreed to reinitiate working level discussions in transnational challenges including climate change, public health and food security is quite promising,” Kim told Radio Free Asia, adding that much hard work remained. Although Biden and Xi go back more than a decade to when they were both vice-presidents, they have spoken only by phone since Biden took office. Face-to-face talks between the leaders of the two powers have value in themselves. “This was the first face-to-face meeting between President Biden and President Xi in about five years, and it occurred at a tense time in the US-China relationship,” said Sheena Chestnut Greitens, the Jeane Kirkpatrick Visiting Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. “In my view, the buildup in Chinese military and nuclear capabilities, combined with a relative lack of dialogue to understand China’s intentions and lack of robust crisis management mechanisms, pose significant risks to stability in the U.S.-China relationship,” she told RFA. President Joe Biden and China’s President Xi Jinping meet on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, Nov. 14, 2022. Credit: Reuters Neither ‘more confrontational (nor) more conciliatory’ Among other useful opportunities, Biden was able to size up Xi just weeks after he was reappointed for a norm-busting third term as leader at Chinese Communist Party. “I didn’t find him more confrontational or more conciliatory,” Biden told reporters after their summit. “I found him the way he’s always been, direct and straightforward.” The U.S. president added: “I am convinced that he understood exactly what I was saying and I understood what he was saying.” Among contentious issues Biden raised with Xi were concerns over China’s crackdown since 2019 in Hong Kong, harsh policies against minorities in Xinjiang and Tibet, trade and Russia invasion of Ukraine, the White House said. Although there were no expectations of big policy breakthroughs and there was no joint statement, Biden appeared to make headway in winning oblique Chinese criticism of Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats against Ukraine. Xi is an ally of Putin in a relationship that undercuts China’s claim to be neutral in the Ukraine war. “President Biden and President Xi reiterated their agreement that a nuclear war should never be fought and can never be won and underscored their opposition to the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine,” the White House said. Chinese statements excluded mention of this. “While this particular line did not appear on the official Chinese readout, the fact that the White House readout clearly noted that both leaders affirmed this statement was significant and a critical communication of redlines to Putin,” said Kim of Brookings. Looming largest was Taiwan, the self-ruling island democracy that Beijing views as an inalienable part of China and a domestic affair that no other country has the right to interfere in. Washington has longstanding security ties with Taipei, even as it officially recognizes only the government in Beijing under a one China policy. At their meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit, Nov. 14, 2022, President Joe Biden told China’s President Xi Jinping that the U.S. had not changed its one China policy, the White House said. Credit: AFP ‘The core of China’s core interests’ On Taiwan, Biden told Xi that the U.S. had not changed its one China policy, and “opposes any unilateral changes to the status quo by either side,” the White House said. Biden “raised U.S. objections to (China’s) coercive and increasingly aggressive actions toward Taiwan, which undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the broader region, and jeopardize global prosperity,” it said. Xi described Taiwan as “the core of China’s core interests,” and “the first insurmountable red line in U.S.-China relations,” and called for the U.S. leader to stick to his commitment in not supporting Taiwanese independence. Beijing has repeatedly accused Washington of giving support to “separatist forces in Taiwan” and retaliated by freezing climate talks and sharply increasing military activities around the island after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited in August.  Biden’s denial that there has been any change in U.S. policy follows his statements that Washington would help Taiwan defend itself and comes amid moves by American lawmakers to increase military assistance to Taiwan and expedite current arms contracts. To Beijing, such U.S. actions raise doubts about Washington’s commitment to the status quo, said Chang Teng-chi, head of political science at National Taiwan University in Taipei. “Ultimately … there is no trust between the two sides, so all they can hope to do is dynamic crisis management,” he told RFA. Monday’s meeting in Bali nonetheless left the U.S. “in a better position now than we were before,” said Oriana Skylar Mastro, Center fellow…

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Biden gets political boost on eve of key meeting with Xi

Editor08 mins

Leaders of half the world’s population gathered in Phnom Penh on Sunday but for the traveling White House press corps the big news was breaking half a world away as President Joe Biden’s Democrat Party re-secured control of the Senate in mid-term elections. That provided a political boost to Biden ahead of Monday’s face-to-face meeting in Bali, Indonesia, with China’s President Xi Jinping, which the American leader predicted would be defined by straight-talking between leaders of two rival powers. While the Democrats are still expected to lose control of the lower House of Representatives, which will make it more difficult for the Biden administration to get things done, the outcome was better than expected for the party. Speaking to reporters before attending Sunday’s East Asia Summit at a hotel in the Cambodian capital, Biden acknowledged that domestic politics has an impact on his international standing. The U.S. president’s trip to the region is all about signaling Washington’s commitment to the Indo-Pacific. “I know I’m coming in stronger, but I don’t need that,” Biden said. “I know Xi Jinping. I’ve spent more time with him than any other world leader. I know him well. He knows me. We have very little misunderstanding. We’ve just got to figure out where the red lines are and what are the most important things to each of us.” “There’s never any miscalculation about where each of us stand. And I think that’s critically important in our relationship,” Biden added. Although Biden had extensive in-person meetings with Xi during the Obama administration, and several phone calls with the Chinese leader since becoming president two years ago, Monday’s meeting will be their first face-to-face of his presidency. There are still many issues for him to raise, including China’s recent military exercises off Taiwan, its disputes with neighboring nations over the South China Sea, the crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong, trade and new U.S. restrictions on semiconductor technology. The meeting will take place on the sidelines of the Group of 20 Summit, which is the second installment of November’s Asian summit season. The first chapter ended on Sunday in Cambodia, which was hosting as the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations – a position that will now be taken for the next year by Indonesia. The East Asia Summit is a gathering of ASEAN’s key dialogue partners in the Indo-Pacific. It comprises the 10 members of ASEAN, along with Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia and the U.S. That accounts for about 53% of the world’s population and last year, nearly 60% of global gross domestic product worth an estimated $57.2 trillion, according to the Australian government. The diplomatic impact of Sunday’s summit was diluted by the absence of Xi – China was represented by Premier Li Keqiang – and Russian President Vladimir Putin who sent Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Biden arrived late to the summit on Sunday morning, but later sat at the same table as Lavrov. There was no audio on the official feed of the meeting monitored by a journalist from the RFA-affiliated network, BenarNews, making it difficult to discern immediately if there were sharp exchanges over the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But on Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to discuss the issue. “The Secretary discussed the United States’ unwavering commitment to assist Ukraine in mitigating the effects of Russia’s continued attacks on critical infrastructure, including with accelerated humanitarian aid and winterization efforts,” the State Department said. The two also talked about renewing the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which expires on Nov. 19 to support global food security and Ukraine’s battlefield continued effectiveness. Blinken told Kuleba the U.S. considers the timing and contents of any negotiations with Russia are entirely Ukraine’s decision. Also Sunday, Biden was holding separate meetings with South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to discuss the nuclear threat from North Korea and other regional stability issues, the White House said. The U.S. has military bases in both countries. Biden’s presence at the summit gave him the opportunity to try to win over more countries into supporting the U.S. Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, an attempt to counter China’s economic and political influence in the region. Biden heads back to Washington after the G-20 while Vice President Kamala Harris takes his place at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, better known as APEC, in Thailand between Nov. 16-19.

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Biden steps up engagement with ASEAN amid China rivalry and global conflict

Editor012 mins

UPDATED AT 06:15 p.m. ET OF 11-12-2022 U.S. President Joe Biden offered rare praise for Cambodia’s authoritarian premier as he encouraged diplomatic support for ending the war in Ukraine and bringing peace to Myanmar at a summit with Southeast Asian leaders on Saturday. Although the control of U.S. Congress lies in the balance back in Washington, Biden signaled commitment to the region by attending an annual gathering of leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. His appearance in Phnom Penh, a day after attending a climate change conference in Egypt, serves as a prelude to the first face-to-face meeting of his presidency with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, which will take place in Bali, Indonesia, on Monday. The U.S. and China vie for influence in Southeast Asia. Although Cambodia has faced some stiff criticism from the U.S. over its suppression of democracy, Prime Minister Hun Sen welcomed the president saying the meeting showed the Biden administration’s commitment to “ASEAN centrality and a rule-based regional architecture to maintain peace and stability in the region.” “We support the engagement of the U.S in our ASEAN community building process as truly important, especially in the context of bolstering ASEAN’s recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, promoting regional resilience as well as addressing many pressing issues such as climate change, food and energy security,” he said, adding that ASEAN planned to extend relations with the U.S. to a comprehensive strategic partnership. That will put the U.S. on level-pegging with China, which already has that status. Cambodia is hosting the summit as it holds the rotating chairmanship of the 10-nation ASEAN bloc. Indonesia takes the chair after this week’s summits. Biden stressed the importance of the partnership, saying the U.S administration would build on the past year’s U.S. $250 million in new initiatives with ASEAN by requesting a further $850 million for the next 12 months. He said it would pay for more Southeast Asian projects such as an integrated electric vehicle ecosystem and clean energy infrastructure to reduce carbon emissions. “Together we will tackle the biggest issues of our time from climate to health security, defend against significant threats to rule-based order, and to threats to the rule of law, and to build an Indo-Pacific that’s free and open, stable and prosperous, resilient and secure,” Biden said.  The linchpin of the U.S. push in Southeast Asia is the Indo-Pacific Economic Partnership (IPEF) that is intended to intensify America’s economic engagement in the region. ASEAN is America’s fourth-largest trading partner. Whether the members of ASEAN will be impressed by what the U.S. has to offer is another matter. “I don’t think ASEAN states are much sold on IPEF. It contains parts that are anathema to them and yet isn’t really a trade deal, and does little to actually further regional economic integration. It’s a fairly weak package overall,” said Joshua Kurlantzick, senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations. “China is already by far the region’s dominant economy and trade partner and the U.S. isn’t going to materially change that. Southeast Asian states are stuck with China as their dominant economic partner. “For some Southeast Asian states [there is] a desire to build closer strategic ties with the U.S, but the U.S. is not going to now replace China as the region’s dominant trade partner.” CAPTION: U.S. President Joe Biden meets with 2022 ASEAN Chair and Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen at the ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Nov. 12, 2022. CREDIT: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque In a comment that would have raised some eyebrows among critics of the Cambodian government’s human rights record, Biden on Saturday thanked Hun Sen – for critical remarks about the war in Ukraine and for co-sponsoring U.N resolutions.  Earlier this week, Hun Sen met with the Ukrainian foreign minister. He’s also expressed concern about recent attacks on Ukrainian cities and civilian casualties. Russian President Vladimir Putin has skipped the ASEAN summit and sent Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in his place. However, Biden did call for transparency over Chinese military activities at Ream Naval base on Cambodia’s southern coast, and urged Hun Sen “to reopen civic and political space ahead of 2023 elections,” and release Theary Seng, an imprisoned U.S.-Cambodian lawyer and activist. The other conflict that Biden mentioned in his public comments to ASEAN leaders was Myanmar, whose military leader was not invited to the summit. Biden said he looked forward to the return of democracy there. Human rights groups have assailed the Southeast Asian bloc for its failure to put more pressure on Myanmar to end the civil war that followed a February 2021 military coup against an elected government. On Friday, ASEAN leaders took a marginally tougher stand, calling for measurable progress toward the goals of its Five Point Consensus that include restoring democracy and delivering humanitarian aid. On Saturday Antonio Guterres voiced his support for the plan, saying “the systematic violation of human rights are absolutely unacceptable and causing enormous suffering to the Myanmarese people.” Cambodia, which has jailed opposition politicians and environmentalists, was not spared criticism by the U.N. secretary general. “My appeal in a country like Cambodia is for the public space to be open and for human rights defenders and climate activists to be protected,” he said. Biden attends the East Asia Summit on Sunday, also hosted by Cambodia, where he plans once again to discuss ways to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine and limit the global impact of the war in terms of fuel and grain shortages that are fueling global inflation.    The U.S. president is also holding talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol expected to focus on North Korea’s recent barrage of missiles fired into the seas off the Korean peninsula — including one that passed over Japan. North Korea is also reported to be planning a nuclear test. Biden then heads to the Indonesian island of Bali to attend the Group of 20 leaders’ summit. Ahead of the G20, on…

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Well-heeled Chinese plan to flee amid COVID lockdowns, economic shift

Editor016 mins

A growing share of wealthy and middle class Chinese are making plans to leave the country, citing the government’s stringent zero-COVID policies and a perceived return to the planned economy of the Mao era under leader Xi Jinping, according to online data and Chinese nationals with experience of the phenomenon. The WeChat Index, which publishes search statistics from the social media giant, on Thursday showed around 38.3 million searches using the keyword “emigration.”  While the #emigration hashtag wasn’t blocked on Weibo on Thursday, the number of views was in the tens of thousands, with much of the content focusing on the disadvantages of living overseas, suggesting some kind of intervention by the ruling Communist Party’s “public opinion management” system.  At their peak, search queries for the keyword “emigration” hit 70 million several times during the Shanghai lockdown between March and May, and 130 million immediately afterwards. The same keyword also showed peaks on Toutiao Index, Google Trends and 360 Trends between April and the end of June 2022.  Two highly educated Chinese citizens told RFA in recent interviews that they and their friends are either leaving or planning to leave soon, as the grueling zero-COVID program of rolling lockdowns, compulsory mass testing and tracking via the Health Code smart phone app have taken their toll on people’s mental and physical health, not to mention their livelihoods and the economy as a whole. Gao, a Shanghai-based financial executive who asked for his full name to be withheld for fear of reprisals, said that lately he has been binge-watching YouTube videos in Mandarin from consultants promising to offer Chinese nationals a better life — in the Pacific nation of Vanuatu, in Moldova, even war-torn Ukraine — anywhere, in short, but China. The phenomenon even has its own code name using a Chinese character playing on the English word “run.” “I strongly and strongly encourage everyone to run!” gushes one immigration consultant on a YouTube video viewed by RFA.  “Today I will be sharing how easy it is to emigrate to the United States,” the YouTuber promises. “It is very likely that after watching this video, you will start re-examining your life and making plans.” ‘Lost all hope for the future’ Gao, who had absorbed a number of such videos before speaking to RFA, said he has been looking for somewhere else to live for some time now. “The current situation isn’t looking very good,” he told RFA. “Since the 20th party congress [last month], everyone has lost all hope for the future.” “Everyone has looked at their ideas, their values, their policies, the stringency of the zero-COVID policy, the return to a planned economy and heavy-handed suppression [of dissent], and come to their own conclusions,” Gao said, adding that he and his high-earning friends all share the same view. “The fact that we are facing economic collapse — there’s nothing left worth staying on for,” he said. “Everyone is taking a risk-averse approach to planning their future, because the risks associated with staying are getting bigger and bigger.” The night market in Chiang Mai, Thailand. One Chinese activist visited an emigre Chinese arts and cultural community in the town. “There are a lot of cultural types who have congregated there … and who aren’t going back,” she says. Credit: AFP Chinese social activist He Peirong, who has nearly 40,000 followers on Twitter, said she had just left for Japan. “I had been preparing to leave the country since July, but I didn’t let anyone on WeChat know that I was leaving,” she told RFA. “I spent more than 10,000 yuan on home renovations, and I left halfway through.” “China has set off an immigration wave,” she said. “A lot of people are now heading off to live in Japan, Europe and the United States. Where people go depends on their economic situation.” She said she had also visited an emigre Chinese arts and cultural community in Chiang Mai, Thailand. “We would eat, drink and perform together every day; everyone was very happy,” she said. “There are a lot of cultural types who have congregated there … and who aren’t going back.” Before she left, He Peirong had been a vocal critic of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, and was instrumental in aiding the daring escape from house arrest and subsequent defection of blind Shandong activist Chen Guangcheng. She later took supplies to Wuhan to support citizen journalists reporting from the front line of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. She said she decided to leave China after being barred from the railway ticketing system owing to a poor “social credit” rating. “In the fall of 2018, I was blacklisted by the ministry of railways, so I filed a lawsuit against them,” she told RFA. Long waiting lists There are currently very long waiting lists for people hoping to emigrate to Europe, the United States, Canada or Australia, while price tags for investment visas in those countries are also fairly high. Southeast Asian nations are seen as too risky, due to their close ties with China, and willingness to deport Chinese nationals wanted by the authorities back home. Rights groups say China currently engages in illegal, transnational policing operations across five continents, targeting overseas Chinese for harassment, threats against their families back home and “persuasion” techniques to get them to go back, according to a recent report.  Hong Kong, itself in the grip of a citywide national security crackdown and mass emigration wave following the 2019 protest movement, is also no longer a safe springboard to overseas residency, Gao said. Gao is now looking at Ukraine, where he already has a friend. “Ukraine is war-torn right now, but that won’t go on for long … there is all kinds of hope and vitality in the future of this country,” he said. “I have a friend living in the westernmost part of the country, where there’s no fighting, and they are living quite peacefully.” “People have told me that you can apply for a…

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Collateral damage and secondary victims: the social impact of zero-COVID

Editor018 mins

China’s zero-COVID policy has been marked by rolling, grueling urban lockdowns, constant demands for mass testing in affected areas and round-the-clock tracking of residents’ movements and test status via the Health Code smart-phone app. On Friday, the Chinese government released a package of 20 new policy measures aimed at “optimizing” the country’s pandemic response, including slightly relaxed quarantine requirements for new arrivals, but is unlikely to result in China opening up measurably in the next few months. Officials are now ordered to drop attempts to identify secondary contacts, while many people will be ordered to quarantine at home rather than in a camp if they return to their homes from a “high-risk” area. There will now only be high or low-risk areas, with medium-risk no longer a recognized category, the new regulations said. Close contacts of confirmed cases will still be required to stay in quarantine facilities for five days, rather than seven, followed by three days’ monitoring at home. The move marks a relaxation of the zero-COVID policy, espoused by Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping as the only way forward when it comes to containing the virus, has also led to a number of secondary disasters, prompting growing public dissatisfaction with the policy and widespread censorship of dissenting voices. But commentators told Radio Free Asia that zero-COVID is far from being just a stringent set of public health measures. It’s a political project close to Xi’s heart, and includes many layers of control over people’s movements and access to vital goods and services. “The pandemic measures were originally a professional matter involving public health management and medical measures to prevent the spread of disease,” veteran rights activist Yang Jianli said. “In today’s China, disease control and prevention is no longer professional: it’s political, and has given rise to [a series of] man-made disasters.” Reiterating commitment Xi recently reiterated his commitment to the zero-COVID policy, saying in his speech to the party congress last month that the government must “unswervingly stick to the zero-COVID policy.” The all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee reiterated this commitment on Nov. 10, a day before the quarantine requirements were relaxed. A worker in a protective suit guides people to scan health QR code at a COVID-19 test booth in Beijing, China, Nov. 11, 2022. Credit: Reuters The announcements came after months of reports of collateral victims of the policy, which first started to emerge during the April 2022 lockdown in Shanghai, when pandemic enforcers wearing full-body PPE were shown dragging children away from their parents, to send them to segregated quarantine camps outside of town. In one report from Reuters at the time, a 2 ½-year-old child was taken away from his parents at the Jinshan district public health clinic after testing positive for COVID-19. A viral video of the children’s segregated quarantine facility at the Jinshan Public Health Clinical Center showed dozens of children lying in iron cots, many of them disheveled and crying, amid a general lack of care and treatment. The hospital said the video was filmed at a time when the children’s ward was being moved to “improve the hospital environment” and free up more space for infants and young patients who tested positive. Eventually, public anger over the forced separation of children from parents grew, prompting the French Consulate in Shanghai to issue a letter to the city government on behalf of 24 EU member states, calling for a total ban on the separation of parents and children “under any circumstances.” Psychological toll Wang Yaqiu, China researcher at the New York-based Human Rights Watch, said the incident was one example of many harms caused by the zero-COVID policy. “We don’t know how serious the psychological trauma has been for people,” Wang said. “Even if you don’t die due to lack of treatment, you can still be in a state of extreme anxiety, which has long-term psychological effects [on a person].” “It won’t be visible now,” he said, “but it will become so later.” Neighbors stand at the entrance of a compound in lockdown in the Changning District in Shanghai, Oct. 8, 2022. Credit: AFP In August 2022, the internet once more reacted angrily to a video showing a quarantine bus used to haul people off to isolation camps equipped with just a plastic bucket for passengers’ toilet needs. “Are we livestock? Is this what you are treating us like — pigs?” shouts a passenger angrily on a video from that time, as two pandemic enforcers refuse to allow them to get off the bus and order the driver to close the bus doors. A couple of weeks later, residents of apartment blocks in the southwestern city of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, found they were locked into their buildings despite running outside for their safety during a 6.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Luding county on Sept. 5, with the tremors strongly felt in Chengdu. Residential compounds were locked, some fire escapes were blocked, while pandemic enforcers refused to open the doors to let people leave. Meanwhile, reports emerged in the eastern province of Jiangxi that a 12-year-old girl was raped in her own home after being left alone when both parents were sent to separate isolation camps. Police later confirmed they had arrested a man surnamed Liu who it later emerged was the village party secretary and a member of the Guixi Municipal People’s Congress. Worsened social problems Wang said the zero-COVID policy has tended to make existing social problems worse. “There are a lot of social problems in normal times to begin with,” she said. “One is that China lacks an independent judiciary, so your rights can be violated, and if you try to take the government to court, you will definitely lose.” “Secondly, there is no press freedom, so you can’t go to the media to tell them about some injustice that happened to you, and there is no internet freedom any more,” she said. “[Under zero-COVID], these social injustices and rights violations get exacerbated.” By October,…

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ASEAN leaders call for measurable progress on Myanmar peace plan

Editor08 mins

ASEAN leaders called Friday for measurable progress in their peace plan for Myanmar, amid growing criticism over the Southeast Asian bloc’s failure to stem the deepening conflict in one of its 10 member states. Meeting at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Cambodia, the group reaffirmed their commitment to the Five Point Consensus that was agreed to in April 2021 and aims to bring peace and restore democracy to Myanmar following the military coup against the elected government that has spawned a deepening civil conflict. A statement emerging from the summit in Phnom Penh called on ASEAN Foreign Ministers to establish a specific timeline for implementation of a plan that includes “concrete, practical and measurable indicators” of progress. ASEAN reserved the right to review Myanmar’s representation at its meetings.  The call for tangible progress comes as human rights groups assail ASEAN’s failure to pressure the Myanmar junta, which has largely ignored the Five Point Consensus and resisted dialogue with representatives of the civilian administration it ousted. Instead, the military has dubbed many of its key political opponents as terrorists or outlaws and waged a scorched earth campaign in the Burmese heartland. Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo speaks to the media during ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Friday, Nov. 11, 2022. CREDIT: AP/Apunam Nath Earlier Friday, Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo expressed “deep disappointment” about the worsening situation in Myanmar. Indonesia is set to take over the rotating chairmanship of ASEAN from Cambodia, which is nearing the end of its 12-month stint. Myanmar’s coup leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing was excluded from the summit, and Widodo told reporters he wanted to extend a ban on Myanmar junta representatives, who are barred from meetings of ASEAN leaders and foreign ministers, The Associated Press reported.  Friday’s statement, however, stopped short of barring the junta from attending other ASEAN meetings. “Indonesia is deeply disappointed the situation in Myanmar is worsening,” Widodo said. “We must not allow the situation in Myanmar to define ASEAN.” Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. also called on Myanmar to abide by and implement the Five Point Consensus. Analysts say there are clear fault lines among ASEAN’s 10 members on how to deal with the Myanmar crisis – with Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore reportedly taking a tougher line than nations such as Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. Nevertheless, as Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen kicked off Friday’s proceedings, he asserted: “Our Motto ‘ASEAN: One Vision, One Identity, One Community’ still holds true to its values today.”   He was speaking at the opening ceremony of what were actually two summits in one day. ASEAN is required to hold two leaders’ meetings a year but countries that don’t have the cash to pay for separate meetings are allowed to hold them back-to-back. Also on the agenda were security issues, regional growth and geopolitics. Marcos seemed to urge caution over global powers gaining further influence in the region. Leaders of strategic rivals the U.S. and China – President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Li Keqiang – are joining summit meetings in Phnom Penh this week. “It is imperative that we reassert ASEAN Centrality. This in the face of geopolitical dynamics and tensions in the region and the proliferation of Indo-Pacific engagements, including the requests of our dialogue partners for closer partnerships,” he said. Marcos’ comments came a day after top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, Daniel Kritenbrink, said Saturday’s ASEAN-U.S. Summit would try to promote the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, whose signatories include the Philippines. That framework is widely seen as Washington’s effort to counter China’s investment in infrastructure and industry in Southeast Asia and beyond. “ASEAN is clearly at the center of the region’s architecture, and the U.S.’s strategic partnership with ASEAN is at the heart of our Indo-Pacific strategy,” Kritenbrink said. The 10 ASEAN members will still need international trade and investment partners as the world recovers from the impact of COVID-19. Hun Sen was cautious about expectations of a strong post-pandemic recovery. “While we are now enjoying the fruits of our efforts and moving towards sustainable growth we should always be vigilant as the current socio-economic situation in ASEAN as well as in the whole world remains fragile and divided,” he said. But he cited forecasts that economic growth in ASEAN would reach 5.3% this year and 4.2% in 2023, which he called “impressive compared to the rest of the world.” ASEAN leaders also held talks Friday with China, South Korea and the United Nations. On Saturday they meet with India, Australia, Japan, Canada and the U.S. Next week, there will be further summits of leaders of the G-20 in Indonesia, and APEC in Thailand. Indonesia is next to take the ASEAN chair and it may be hosting an 11th member. Leaders issued a statement Friday saying they agreed in principle to East Timor joining the bloc.

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Cambodian asylum-seekers in Thailand fear forced repatriation ahead of APEC summit

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Cambodian asylum-seekers in Thailand fear they could be forcibly repatriated as Thai authorities tighten security ahead of next week’s APEC summit in Bangkok, they told Radio Free Asia. “If the Thai government supports the cause of democracy…, they should help protect us, which means that they are also protecting their own country,” said Sao Pulleak, who once led the former main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party’s operations in Banteay Meanchey province. Sao Pulleak has been seeking refuge in Thailand the past four years after Cambodia’s Supreme Court dissolved the party in 2017 and Prime Minister Hun Sen began a crackdown on opponents of his ruling Cambodian People’s Party. He and other asylum seekers who fled persecution for their pro-democracy political views are worried that Thailand could determine that they are undocumented immigrants and send them back to Cambodia, where they would face Hun Sen’s wrath. “We dare not to go outside as we please, because we fear arrest by Thai immigration,” said Chhorn Sokhoeun, another activist seeking asylum. Thai police recently arrested 10 refugees from Vietnam’s Khmer Krom minority, – ethnic Cambodians living in Southern Vietnam – and they remain in custody, so Chhorn Sokhoeun said he is increasingly worried for the safety of his wife and three children. Thailand doesn’t recognize asylum-seekers or refugees because it hasn’t ratified the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention, so obtaining refugee status and carrying an ID card from the United Nations refugee agency, the UNHCR, won’t protect an individual against being detained or deported by the police. Chhorn Sokhoeun brought five dependent family members with him to Thailand when he fled in 2019 after threats from authorities over his support of a plot by Hun Sen’s chief political rival Sam Rainsy to return to Cambodia from France, where he has been living in exile since 2015. For Chhorn Sokhoeun, supporting his family in Thailand has been almost impossible because of his UNHCR ID scares employers away. He has therefore been jobless and his children have had to drop out of school because he had no money to support them. Thai authorities sometimes demand bribes, Khun Deth, a refugee from Cambodia’s Pursat province, told RFA. He said Thai police extorted about 8,000 baht (about U.S. $220) from him during an ID search, threatening to send him back to Cambodia unless he agreed to pay. “As a refugee who is actively involved in politics, if I am arrested and sent back to Cambodia, my life will not be spared,” Khun Deth said. “Cambodian authorities may kill me by dropping me into a crocodile pond. Or if not that, maybe they will shoot me. I think the Cambodian authorities will send me to jail only as a last resort.” Cambodia is increasingly becoming an authoritarian society with rampant nepotism and corruption, said Sao Pulleak. It is heading toward dynastic rule as Hun Sen, who has ruled the country since 1985, has been preparing to anoint his son Hun Manet as ruler after he steps down. RFA was not able to contact Katta Orn, spokesperson for the Cambodian government’s human rights committee, for comment. Cambodian refugees should receive encouragement and support from the authorities  when they are in third countries instead of more persecution, said Dy Thehoya, program officer for the Phnom Penh-based Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights.   “If we look into the law and the facts regarding each of their cases, they are the victims of a political system or political environment in Cambodia,” said Dy Thehoya.  Translated by Sovannarith Keo. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Putin confirms he won’t travel to Bali for G20 summit

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Russian President Vladimir Putin officially confirmed he won’t be coming to Bali to attend the G20 summit next week, a senior official of host country Indonesia said Thursday, adding the decision was for “the best for all of us.” Minister Luhut Pandjaitan was echoing analysts’ comments that Putin’s presence could cause tensions with Western leaders who oppose Russia’s war in Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will go to Bali in Putin’s place, said Luhut, the coordinating minister of maritime and investment affairs “We have been officially notified that the Russian president will not come,” Luhut told reporters, according to BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service. “We have to respect it. Whatever happened to Russia’s decision, it is for our common good and the best for all of us.” Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” said this week that 17 leaders had confirmed their participation at the summit, including the American and Chinese presidents. Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy will likely participate in the Bali summit via a video link, a local television channel quoted the presidential spokesman as saying on Tuesday. Ukraine is not a G20 member and its president will be participating as an observer. Last week, Zelenskyy said he would not attend the Bali summit if Putin were present. In March, U.S. President Joe Biden urged Jokowi to invite Ukraine as a guest if Russia was not expelled from the Group of Twenty for invading its smaller neighbor in late February. As this year’s holder of the rotating G20 presidency, Jokowi has sought unity within the grouping of industrialized and emerging economies ahead of the summit. Western countries have condemned Russia for invading Ukraine while other G20 members including China, Indonesia and India have refused to follow suit and maintain ties with Moscow. Russian setback in Ukraine Putin’s decision not to attend the summit in person came a day after the withdrawal of Russian troops from Kherson, the city on the Dnipro River that is the front line of fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces. A potential stalemate in fighting over the winter could give both countries an opportunity to negotiate peace, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday, the Associated Press news agency reported. Indonesian Minister Luhut did not give a reason for Putin’s absence from the summit, merely saying “maybe it’s because President Putin is busy at home, and we also have to respect that,” AP reported.  Political analysts, however, attribute other motives for the Russian president’s decision to stay home. “Putin’s absence from the G20 meeting in Bali is a net positive – every party stands to benefit,” Greg Barton, a professor at Deakin University in Australia, told BenarNews. “Putin is fearful of a Kremlin coup – leaving Moscow at the moment is just too risky,” he said, adding that many members of the Russian elite wanted to see him go. Radityo Dharmaputra, a political analyst at Airlangga University, echoed Barton’s observation. “There are many considerations. There may be elements seeking to overthrow him because he hasn’t won the war,” he told BenarNews. BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news service.

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Police arrest 7 farmers in land-use dispute in Vietnamese highlands

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In the latest clash over land-use rights in Vietnam, police have detained seven residents in the Central Highlands for trying to prevent men from cutting down a farmer’s coffee and durian trees amid a contract dispute, residents said. The five men had been sent to cut down the trees because the farmer, identified as Nguyen Thanh Giang, hadn’t given Thang Loi Coffee Joint Stock Co., the company he was leasing the land from, the amount of coffee beans stipulated in his contract.  Since 2019, Giang had refused to hand over any beans due to bad weather and a plunge in coffee prices. After that, a court had ordered him to pay the company nearly 5,200 kilograms (11,500 pounds) of fresh beans as rent for the 2018-19 season. The farmer filed an appeal, but the appellate court upheld the earlier decision.  In Vietnam, citizens must obtain permission from the government for use of land. If the state grants parcels of land to state-owned companies or other businesses, then local farmers are at their mercy. Early Monday, after hearing the men sawing down the trees in the dark, neighbors helped Giang chase them away. They caught three of the men and held them near the Hoa Dong commune in Krong Dak district of Dak Lak province, a resident told RFA. When word of the incident reached authorities in town, they sent 20 vans with up to 500 police officers to the scene to rescue the trio and arrest 25 people.  After interrogations, police released 18 and sent the remaining seven to a temporary detention center, charging them with “resisting enforcement authorities” and “illegally holding people,” state media reported.  Giang’s orchard had about 30,000 coffee trees and more than 100 durian trees, the latter of which would begin bearing fruit in 2023, the resident said. Giang later posted on his Facebook page that about two-thirds of the trees in his orchard had been chopped down. More than 1,000 households in Hoa Dong commune now face similar situations because they all rent agricultural land. In 1998, the families bought trees on the leased land and began sharing ownership with Thang Loi Coffee which held a 51% stake, said the resident.   When Thang Loi changed its name and became a joint stock company, it forced the families who rented its land to buy company’s shares at preferential prices. But Giang and others did not purchase them because they believed the company’s move was not legal. Disgruntles residents petitioned the President’s Office, which directed the Dak Lak People’s Committee to resolve the matter, though it has not been settled, the source said. Hundreds of local households that have leased a total of 2,300 hectares (5,700 acres) of land from the company are at risk of losing all of their assets — coffee and durian trees, said the resident.  RFA could not reach Do Hoang Phuc, chairman of the board of directors and general director of Thang Loi Coffee Joint Stock Company, for comment. Hoang Thi Thu Ha, deputy general director in charge of sales, declined to answer questions. RFA also could not reach Krong Pak Police for comment.  Translated by Anna Vu for RFA Vietnam. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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