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Category: World

China fires ballistic missiles into the sea off Taiwan

Editor014 mins

Unprecedented Chinese live-fire maritime drills got underway on Thursday with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) launching ballistic missiles into the waters around Taiwan, the Taiwanese defense ministry said. The Chinese military “launched a number of Dongfeng ballistic missiles into the waters surrounding northeastern and southwestern Taiwan at about 13:56 p.m.,” the ministry said without specifying the range. Matsu, Wuqiu, Dongyin and some other outlying islands have been put on heightened alert after the PLA fired long-range rockets in the surrounding areas, the ministry added. Before the launch, the PLA threatened to fire missiles over Taiwan and enter the island’s territorial waters for the first time, in a scenario that analysts describe as ‘The Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis.’ Chinese military helicopters fly past Pingtan island, one of mainland China’s closest point from Taiwan, on August 4, 2022, ahead of massive military drills off Taiwan. CREDIT: AFP China’s ‘irrational action’ Chinese international state broadcaster CGTN said “military exercises and training activities including live-fire drills around Taiwan island” have begun. The PLA “conducted long-range live-fire shooting training in the Taiwan Straits on Thursday at around 1:00 p.m. and carried out precision strikes on specific areas in the eastern part of the Taiwan Straits,” CGTN added. The state-supported Global Times said the Chinese military “conducted long-range artillery live-fire shooting drills in the Taiwan Straits, striking targets on the eastern side of the Straits and achieving the expected outcome.” Taiwan’s defense ministry said it has activated relevant defense systems, and strengthened combat readiness.  “The Ministry of National Defense condemned this irrational action that undermines regional peace,” it said in a statement. The maritime drills at six locations around Taiwan, that started on Thursday and last until Sunday, are set to be larger in scale than those in 1996 during the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis, and also unprecedented in many ways. For the first time, Chinese troops are expected to enter the 12-nautical-mile (22 kilometers) waters around Taiwan which, according to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, serve as the island’s sovereign territorial waters.   Conventional missiles are expected to be test-launched from naval vessels that are sailing to the east of Taiwan and from the mainland, according to the PLA Eastern Theater Command.  Chinese analysts, quoted by state media, said the missiles “would fly over the island.”  “We need to recognize that we are in a major militarized crisis, and start calling it by its name: the Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis,” said Christopher Twomey, a China military expert at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School who spoke to RFA in a personal capacity. “What will get the most attention are missile tests, particularly if they land close to Taiwanese claimed waters or fly over Taiwanese territory,” he said. Newspapers in Beijing on Wednesday, reporting Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan and showing maps of locations where the PLA will conduct military exercises and training activities including live-fire drills. CREDIT: Reuters High level of attention In the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis (1995-1996), a series of missile tests was conducted by the PLA in the waters surrounding Taiwan and the PLA live ammunition exercises led to intervention by the U.S., which staged the biggest display of American military might in Asia since the Vietnam War. “The six areas in which the PLA will execute its live-fire drills until Sunday clearly delineate a military encirclement of Taiwan. To me, it looks like a prelude or preparations for a future scenario that is not primarily focused on amphibious assault, but on blockade,” said Nadège Rolland, a senior fellow at the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR), a U.S. private think-tank. “If this is the case, it will not only choke Taiwan, but also directly impact Japan’s security, and the region’s civilian transit as several Asian airlines have already canceled their flights over the broader area,” said Rolland, who previously served as a senior advisor on Asian and Chinese strategic issues at the French Ministry of Defense. “The exercises will generate a high level of attention from both Taiwan’s military and that of the United States. Both will want to ensure that the exercises are not a cover for an even more offensive action, but also will want to learn about Chinese capabilities and operational practices,” Christopher Twomey said. The maritime drills that see PLA troops entering an area within 12 nautical miles of Taiwan were announced on Tuesday evening when Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi landed in Taipei for a brief but highly symbolic visit. Pelosi is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the democratic island in the last 25 years. Beijing has repeatedly condemned the visit as a “grave violation” of China’s sovereignty and integrity, and threatened the “strongest countermeasures.” ‘Irresponsible drills’ Taiwan’s defense ministry said in a statement that by announcing air-naval live-fire drills around the island, Chinese leaders “made it self-evidently apparent that they seek a cross-strait resolution by force instead of peaceful means.” U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in a media interview on Wednesday called the drills “irresponsible” and they would “make the chance of an incident real.” “The actors involved are certainly the same as for the three crises in 1954, 1958 and 1995-96, but the geostrategic context is very different,” said NBR’s Nadège Rolland. “In each of the three previous crises, the U.S. intervened militarily and the military tensions between the PRC [People’s Republic of China] and the ROC [Republic of China] were prolonged but diffused after a rapid initial escalation,” said Rolland, referring to China and Taiwan by their official names. “It remains to be seen whether the U.S. will get involved this time,” she said, noting that if the survival of Taiwan and Japan is at stake, “it will be impossible for the U.S. not to intervene at a minimum to safeguard the freedom of the sea lanes on which transit the majority of international commerce.” On Thursday morning, the U.S. Air Force dispatched an RC-135S reconnaissance aircraft to observe the drills but the USS Ronald…

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Smallpox outbreak rips through displaced persons’ camp

Editor04 mins

Smallpox, which was thought to have been eradicated in 1977, is spreading quickly across the population of an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Myanmar’s Kayah state. Aid workers say more than 20 children have caught the disease, which has existed for 3,000 years and caused millions of deaths according to the World Health Organization. Karenni Human Rights Group (KNHRG) spokesman Ko Ba Nyar, said the children have been sick and feverish since the end of last month. “It happened in the west side [of Demoso Township],” he said “It is the rainy season and drinking water is difficult to access, especially clean water. The children might possibly have been infected because they are living together.” The children who have been infected with smallpox are not in a serious condition, Ko Ba Nyar told RFA. He said the camp is being monitored so the disease will not spread. A health care worker at the camp, who did not wish to be named, said the infection broke out because there is not enough clean water and the children don’t practice good personal hygiene. “It’s cramped living here and the parents of the children don’t have much health awareness,” the health worker said. “It starts with people getting sick and vomiting, then the rash comes out. It can be transmitted to another person through these blisters. Right now, we are treating the infected children with medicine in the camp.” The rash appeared on the faces, abdomens and backs of the infected children, according to people who are assisting with the medical treatment. More than 1,400 displaced people from 11 villages in Demoso township are sheltering in the IDP camp. If the displaced people have any health issues, they cannot easily go to government hospitals due to the ongoing conflict between the junta and People’s Defense Forces. Health facilities in the IDP camp are not good enough to cope with a smallpox outbreak. Demoso township was the first place to take up arms against the junta forces following the coup on February 1, 2021. Since then more than half of Kayah State’s population, some 200,000 people, have fled their homes due to the fighting and crackdowns by the military junta. 

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China may fire missiles over Taiwan as part of live-fire drills

Editor07 mins

Unprecedented Chinese live-fire maritime drills got underway on Thursday with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) threatening to fire missiles over Taiwan and enter the island’s territorial waters for the first time in a scenario that analysts describe as “the Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis.” Chinese international state broadcaster CGTN said “military exercises and training activities, including live-fire drills around Taiwan island” have begun. Conventional missiles are expected to be test-launched from naval vessels that are sailing to the east of Taiwan and from the mainland, according to the PLA Eastern Theater Command. Chinese analysts, quoted by state media, said the missiles “would fly over the island.”  Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said it is closely monitoring the situation, strengthening military alerts, and “will respond appropriately.” The ministry said that unidentified aircraft, probably drones, were spotted over Taiwan’s Kinmen islands on Wednesday night. During the day, 22 Chinese military aircraft also crossed the median line dividing the Taiwan Strait, it said.  On Thursday morning, the U.S. Air Force dispatched a RC-135S reconnaissance aircraft to observe the drills but the USS Ronald Reagan, the U.S. Navy’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier, seems to have moved north towards Japan, according to a Beijing-based think-tank that has been tracking regional military movements. “USS Ronald Reagan and her strike group are underway in the Philippine Sea continuing normal, scheduled operations as part of her routine patrol in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” a U.S. Navy Seventh Fleet spokesperson was quoted by Reuters as saying. The maritime drills that see PLA troops entering an area within 12 nautical miles (22 kilometers)  of Taiwan were announced on Tuesday evening when Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi landed in Taipei for a brief but highly symbolic visit. Beijiing has repeatedly condemned the visit as a “grave violation” of China’s sovereignty and integrity, and threatened “strongest countermeasures.” Pelosi is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the democratic island in 25 years. Taiwan’s defense ministry said in a statement that by announcing air-naval live-fire drills around the island, Chinese leaders “made it self-evidently apparent that they seek a cross-strait resolution by force instead of peaceful means.” U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, in a media interview on Wednesday, called the drills “irresponsible” and said they would “make the chance of an incident real.” Chinese military helicopters fly past Pingtan island, one of mainland China’s closest point from Taiwan, on August 4, 2022, ahead of massive military drills off Taiwan. CREDIT: AFP Joint military exercises The PLA’s Eastern Theater Command already conducted a number of military exercises around Taiwan after the U.S. House Speaker’s arrival. The joint naval-air exercises, which started on Tuesday and continued on Wednesday, were carried out in the north, southwest and southeast waters and airspace off Taiwan, according to the PLA Daily. Maj. Gen. Gu Zhong, deputy chief of staff of the PLA Eastern Theater Command was quoted by the newspaper as saying the Chinese troops conducted “targeted training exercises of joint blockade, strikes on land and maritime targets, airspace control operations as well as the live firing of precision-guided munitions.” “This round of joint military operations is a necessary response to the dangerous move made by the U.S. and Taiwan authorities on the Taiwan question,” Gu was quoted as saying. The maritime drills, that started on Thursday and last until Sunday, have attracted the most attention, not least because they are set to be larger in scale than those in 1996 during the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis but also unprecedented in many ways. For the first time, Chinese troops are expected to enter the 12-nautical-mile waters around Taiwan which, according to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, serve as the island’s sovereign territorial waters.   “We need to recognize that we are in a major militarized crisis, and start calling it by its name: the Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis,” said Christopher Twomey, a China military expert. “What will get the most attention are missile tests, particularly if they land close to Taiwanese claimed waters or fly over Taiwanese territory,” he told RFA. In the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis (1995-1996), a series of missile tests were conducted by the PLA in the waters surrounding Taiwan. The PLA live ammunition exercises led to the U.S. intervening by staging the biggest display of American military might in Asia since the Vietnam War.

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Vietnamese garment manufacturers struggle to comply with U.S. ban on Xinjiang cotton

Editor05 mins

Vietnam’s heavy reliance on cotton imports from China could lead it to fall foul of a U.S. ban on cotton produced by forced labor in Xinjiang province. Vietnamese manufacturers say it is hard to prove where the fabric in their garments comes from. The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) came into force on June 21, after being signed into law by U.S. President Joe Biden last December. The move has reportedly led fashion chains such as Japan’s United Arrows to stop selling clothes made from Xinjiang cotton. According to the Business and Human Rights Resource Center (BHRRC) countries such as Vietnam and Bangladesh, the world’s second and third largest garment exporters, still depend heavily on imports of Chinese fabric and yarn, particularly high-end materials. “As a result, campaign groups and some Western politicians have accused manufacturers of “cotton laundering” in places such as Vietnam and Bangladesh, for serving as intermediaries in cotton garment production,” the center said. Last month the Bangladesh Garment Buying House Association asked its members to be careful where they sourced their raw materials to avoid falling foul of the new U.S. regulations. Last year Bangladesh’s garment exports to the U.S. earned it $7.18 billion. Vietnam’s garment exports to America brought in more than double that, at $15.4 billion, according to the U.S. Office of Textiles and Apparel. The BHRRC said that one Chinese garment manufacturer who owns a factory in Vietnam said proving the origin of fabrics and threads involved a lengthy due-diligence process. “It is hard to distinguish the cotton products entering Vietnam from different sources because they may have been mixed together while being transported at sea. Suppliers may do this so they can deceptively label Xinjiang cotton as coming from elsewhere, to circumvent the US law,” the manufacturer told the center. RFA spoke with the director of an apparel firm in Vietnam’s northern Nam Dinh province. “My company is producing apparel products for a China-based company which uses materials from its country and exports to the U.S.,” he said. “Due to the UFLPA it has ordered less from us. It seems that our Chinese partner cannot sell its products so it has stopped ordering [so much] from us.” The Vietnam Cotton and Spinning Association referred RFA to comments given by Vice President Do Pham Ngoc Tu to China’s Global Times. He told the newspaper that Vietnamese garment manufacturers will have to ‘wean themselves off’ raw materials produced in Xinjiang if they want to continue exporting to the U.S. One fifth of the world’s cotton comes from Xinjiang, making it hard for manufacturers to find adequate supplies from countries that do not use forced labor. Ignoring the ban would mean falling foul of the world’s biggest garment importer. The U.S. ships all but 5% of its apparel from overseas.

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ASEAN ratchets up criticism of Myanmar junta as Russian FM visits Naypyidaw

Editor013 mins

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ratcheted up its criticism of member state Myanmar’s junta on Wednesday, as Russia’s top diplomat visited Naypyidaw despite international outrage of the regime’s execution of four prominent democracy activists. In a speech delivered at the opening ceremony of the 55th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Phnom Penh on Wednesday, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, whose nation holds the rotating chair of the bloc, acknowledged that no progress has been made on Myanmar’s political crisis, despite junta chief Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing’s pledge to end violence in April last year. Hun Sen said that if the junta continues to execute its political opponents he would be forced to “reconsider ASEAN’s role” in mediating Myanmar’s conflict. “The situation is now very volatile with the execution of the four opposition activists, and can be said to be worse than before the Five-Point Consensus (5PC),” he said, referring to the agreement Min Aung Hlaing made with ASEAN in April 2021 during an emergency meeting on the situation in Myanmar. “ASEAN is deeply shocked and horrified by the execution of these opposition activists.” ASEAN’s 5PC called for an end to violence, constructive dialogue among all parties, the mediation of such talks by a special ASEAN envoy, the provision of ASEAN-coordinated humanitarian assistance and a visit to Myanmar by an ASEAN delegation to meet with all parties. Even Min Aung Hlaing acknowledged that the junta had failed to hold up its end of the bargain on the consensus in a televised speech on Monday in which he announced that the junta was extending by six months the state of emergency it declared following its Feb. 1, 2021 coup. He blamed the coronavirus pandemic and “political instability” for the failure and said he will implement “what we can” from the 5PC this year, provided it does not “jeopardize the country’s sovereignty.” Frustration with the junta boiled over last week after it put to death veteran democracy activist Ko Jimmy and former opposition lawmaker Phyo Zeya Thaw, as well as activists Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw, despite a direct appeal from Hun Sen to Min Aung Hlaing. The executions prompted protests in Myanmar and condemnation abroad, including from outspoken ASEAN member-state Malaysia, which said “no Myanmar military regime representative” should be allowed at any meeting of the bloc, including this week’s gathering of foreign ministers from ASEAN countries and nearly 40 ASEAN partner nations. Wednesday’s comments sounded a different tune for Hun Sen who, on assuming the ASEAN chair earlier this year, predicted that he would use his skill as a negotiator to resolve the situation in Myanmar.  Hun Sen’s decision in January to become the first foreign leader to visit Myanmar following the coup was widely panned by the international community as conferring legitimacy on the junta and he has since remained relatively quiet while the crisis has worsened. Call for stronger measures Speaking to RFA Khmer, observers said ASEAN stakeholders should not remain silent on the junta and suggested that the bloc call on the United Nations to intervene in Myanmar if it is unable to resolve the crisis on its own. Cambodian political analyst Em Sovannara said that refusing the junta a seat at the table for ASEAN gatherings doesn’t go far enough. “For example, the ASEAN Chair should start talking to Myanmar’s [shadow] National Unity Government (NUG), not the military government,” he said. Similarly, Soeung Senkaruna, spokesman for the Cambodian rights group Adhoc, said ASEAN should review its 5PC and, if unable to resolve the crisis, seek assistance from the U.N. “There should be strong measures in place to punish the abuse and killing of innocent people,” he said. “We think that with no such measures, Myanmar’s dictatorial leaders will continue to persecute their opponents in any way they see fit.” Attempts by RFA to reach Cambodian Foreign Ministry spokesman Chum Sontory for comment on the situation in Myanmar went unanswered on Wednesday. Long lines of vehicles wait at a filling station in Yangon, April 19, 2022. Credit: AP Photo Russian visit While many Western governments have sought to punish Myanmar’s junta for killing what rights groups say is at least 2,148 civilians over the past 18 months, Russia has continued to support the regime both diplomatically and militarily. Moscow reiterated that support on Wednesday when, ahead of attending the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Phnom Penh, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Naypyidaw and met with Min Aung Hlaing and junta Minister of Foreign Affairs Wunna Maung Lwin. Details of the meetings remain unknown, but in a post on Twitter Russia’s foreign ministry cited Lavrov as saying that Moscow “appreciate[s] the traditionally friendly nature of our partnership, which is not affected by any opportunistic processes,” apparently in reference to efforts by the international community to sanction the junta. The junta’s foreign ministry said Lavrov and Wunna Maung Lwin “cordially exchanged views on promotion of bilateral relations and cooperation and reaffirmed their commitment to enhance cooperation between the two countries in the multilateral arena based on mutual trust and understanding.” RFA Burmese was unable to reach junta Deputy Information Minister Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for further comment on the meetings Wednesday. Lavrov’s visit comes two weeks after Min Aung Hlaing traveled to Russia on an unofficial trip, which political analyst Ye Tun described as part of the junta’s bid to secure weapons from Moscow. “The frequent back-and-forth visits between the leaders and the Russian foreign minister’s current visit all point to expanded economic ties between Russia and Myanmar and the effort to obtain military assistance – especially military equipment – from Russia,” he said. Lavrov said in a press release on Tuesday that his trip sought not only to promote bilateral relations, but also strengthen economic cooperation and defense and security ties. Amid the uptick in cooperation between Russia and Myanmar since the coup, the two countries’ relationship has become increasingly complex. Complex relationship Myanmar-based political analyst Than Soe Naing said the…

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North Korean authorities try to stop rise in street prostitution in cities

Editor08 mins

North Korean authorities are scrambling to deter a rapid rise in prostitution in the country’s major cities as a dire economy pushes more women into the sex trade, sources inside the country said. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered authorities to act to prevent prostitution from spreading in the reclusive and impoverished nation, a resident of the northeastern city of Chongjin in North Hamgyong province told RFA on Monday. The Ministry of Social Security and the Socialist Patriotic Youth League, which is the country’s main youth organization under the direct control of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of North Korea, are moving in cities such as Chongjin and Hamhung to stop young women from selling themselves. “The crackdown began when a central official in Pyongyang submitted a proposal after he saw some women propositioning men on the street for prostitution at night,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity for safety reasons.   “Kim Jong Un signed onto the proposal of the official and ordered the Social Security Department and the Socialist Patriotic Youth League to take action,” he said. Though illegal, prostitution is generally tolerated in North Korea, with occasional crackdowns by local authorities looking to extract bribes from those they catch.  But North Korea’s economic paralysis due to the authoritarian regime’s extreme measures to battle the COVID-19 virus and the effects of ongoing international economic sanctions have left ordinary citizens under extreme financial distress. The Ministry of Social Security and the Socialist Patriotic Youth League are jointly conducting intensive crackdowns on prostitution and providing ideological education for young people to ensure they adhere to socialist mores, the Chongjin resident said. The two organizations have mobilized day and night patrols to surveil places where the crime occurs, such as train stations and parks. Additionally, the Socialist Patriotic Youth League is increasing its ideological education for young people in an effort to deter them from selling their bodies for money, the resident said. On July 30, district-level organizations divided league members into groups and gathered them together for lectures, he said.  “Kim Jong Un’s message to reject decadent reactionary thought and culture and not get involved in antisocialism was delivered,” the source said. Also on July 30, the Socialist Patriotic Youth League held a meeting in Chingjin’s Sunam district to publicly criticize several young female prostitutes.  “The meeting was a form of public shaming, with each of the eight women on the stage revealing their names, ages, home addresses, and their jobs, and forcing them to criticize themselves. “More than half of the women caught in several intensive crackdowns are reportedly from other regions. It seems that women, whose lives have become difficult due to lockdown measures and movement control for three years, have been forced to engage in prostitution for themselves and their families,” he said.  Doing anything for money A resident of the city of Hamhung in the eastern province of South Hamgyong told RFA on Monday that local officials from the Ministry of Social Security and the Socialist Patriotic Youth League were searching train stations, parks and streets for suspected prostitutes. “About 30 women were arrested on the first day of the crackdown around Hamhung Station, held jointly by the Ministry of Social Security and the Youth League last week,” said the source who declined to be named for safety reasons. Most of the women were in their 20s, but several were teenagers who were recent high school graduates, she said. Many women have become prostitutes due to financial hardship, and more and more of them are begging men to pay for sex as they wait for the train at Hamhung Station at night, the woman said. Some men arrange to use the services of prostitutes under the pretext of staying overnight while waiting for a train, she added. Prostitutes in Hamhung usually are paid 80,000-50,000 won (U.S. $11.40-$21.40) for their services, though some women at the train station get as little as 30,000 won (U.S. $4.30), she said.  “Even during daylight, I often see women roaming around crowded places like train stations for prostitution,” the second source said. “Most of the women who go into prostitution are people in need, but there are cases where this is not the case,” the resident said.  “As our society gradually transforms into a society where anything is possible with money, the interest in earning money is growing,” she added. “I am worried that there is a growing tendency among residents who do not hesitate to do anything for money.” In August 2020, RFA reported that more than 50 female students of two prominent Pyongyang performing arts colleges were sent to a labor camp for their alleged involvement in a prostitution ring that catered to the capital city’s elites. Many of the young women were driven into prostitution by poverty brought on by endless demands from their highly selective schools for fees, North Korean sources said. Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee and Leejin J. Chung for RFA Korean. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. 

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English Football League reviewing files linking Cambodian diplomat to soccer club

Editor09 mins

Evidence linking Cambodian diplomat Wang Yaohui to Birmingham City Football Club is now in the possession of the English Football League, RFA has learned. The EFL last month successfully applied to Singapore’s Supreme Court to access records in a case brought against one of Wang’s companies, according to sources familiar with the court’s ruling who asked not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak about it publicly. The application was made as part of an ongoing investigation by the league into allegations that Wang secretly controls a substantial portion of Birmingham City’s shares, in contravention of EFL regulations. One of the defendants in the Singapore court case is a company registered in the city state, Gold Star Aviation Pte Ltd. Corporate records show that Gold Star Aviation’s sole shareholder is a British Virgin Islands company called Dragon Villa Ltd, which also controls 12.81 percent of Birmingham City’s shares. Among the court files obtained by the EFL is a sworn affidavit given by one of Wang’s most trusted lieutenants, Jenny Shao, who is also a defendant in the case and has enjoyed power of attorney over Wang’s affairs for more than a decade. In the affidavit, which RFA has seen, Shao states that, “Gold Star’s sole shareholder is Dragon Villa Ltd (“DVL”) and DVL is beneficially owned by Mr Wang.” As an EFL member playing in the league’s highest division, Birmingham City is obligated to disclose the identity of any individual controlling more than 10 percent of its shares. While Dragon Villa features in the club’s ownership statement, Wang does not. The disclosure describes Dragon Villa instead as being “controlled” by an individual named Lei Sutong, who is a director or shareholder at multiple Wang-linked companies. The discrepancy between Shao and Birmingham City’s descriptions of Dragon Villa’s ownership could have serious repercussions for the club, including potential misconduct charges or point deductions. A club spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment, but RFA understands that Birmingham City’s management is standing by its existing ownership disclosure. Birmingham City’s assurances do not seem to have satisfied the league, which confirmed in a statement to RFA that its investigation is ongoing.  “As a result of our ongoing investigations into the ultimate beneficial ownership of Birmingham City Football Club, we are not in a position to comment,” an EFL spokesperson told RFA via email, commenting anonymously in line with the league’s policies. Wang Yaohui’s first Cambodian diplomatic passport bearing his Khmer name Wan Sokha. The passport was granted to him in 2015 in recognition of his role as an advisor to Prime Minister Hun Sen. The league launched its probe into Wang’s ties to the club in early June, following an RFA investigation, which found the Chinese-born Cambodian diplomat and advisor to Prime Minister Hun Sen controlled a large but undeclared stake in the club through a series of proxies and shell companies. Birmingham City is one of England’s most storied soccer teams and currently competes in the nation’s second-highest tier, just below the elite Premier League. That the EFL now holds the Singapore court files may explain why a putative takeover of the club has stalled in recent weeks. Long beset by financial troubles and with its stadium in need of serious repairs, many Birmingham City fans are hankering for new ownership. They may have thought their prayers had been answered when a bid was submitted last month by former club director Paul Richardson and retired professional soccer player Maxi Lopez. Before any transfer of ownership can take place at a soccer club playing in one of the EFL’s three divisions, the league must approve the sale. In order to do so, it requires information from both the buyer and the seller about what the club’s ownership structure will be after the sale. Writing in The Athletic last week, soccer journalist Matt Slater reported the EFL’s chief executive Trevor Birch as saying the league hadn’t received enough information “to even consider” Richardson and Lopez’s bid. While the EFL has not elaborated on exactly what information it is yet to receive, Slater suggested the data deficit lies with the club’s current owners. “The Athletic understands that Richardson and Lopez have submitted as much information as they can at this stage,” he wrote. “But the club and their current owners have not yet provided full answers to the league’s standard set of takeover questions.” An RFA analysis last month calculated that Wang and a close relative named Vong Pech control more than half of Birmingham City’s shares between them. While Vong’s name does appear in the club’s official ownership disclosures, as well as stock exchange filings by its Hong Kong-listed parent company, Wang’s does not. Birmingham City’s owners are now in a bind. It appears that the EFL will not allow them to sell until they offer some more transparency about who exactly the owners are. But if they do, they risk sanctions from both the league and the authorities in Hong Kong.

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China arrests Taiwanese man for ‘separatism’ as Pelosi departs democratic island

Editor014 mins

As U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi left Taiwan Wednesday after a stopover that angered China, authorities in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang announced the arrest of a Taiwanese man under its national security law, accusing him of engaging in “separatist” activities and supporting formal independence for the democratic island. Yang Chih-yuen was arrested by state security police in Zhejiang’s Wenzhou city, state broadcaster CCTV cited a police statement as saying, accusing Yang of having founded the pro-independence Taiwan National Party, with the aim of “promoting Taiwan to join the United Nations as a sovereign and independent country.” “For some time, a very small number of ‘Taiwan independence’ die-hards have colluded with external forces, tried to split the country … [and] tried their best to incite cross-strait confrontation,” the report said. “State security police will make resolute use of legal weapons like the Anti-Secession Law and the National Security Law to severely punish ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists … [who] reject unification,” it said. Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping has repeatedly said that Taiwan must be “unified” with China, and refused to rule out the use of military force to annex the island. Taiwan has never been ruled by the CCP,  nor formed part of the 72-year-old People’s Republic of China. But Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen, who was re-elected in a 2020 landslide after vowing to stand up to China on the issue, has repeatedly said that Taiwan’s 23 million population have no wish to give up their sovereignty, a view that is borne out by repeated opinion polls. Beijing has a track record in making political arrests as a form of diplomatic statement, in what has been termed “hostage diplomacy,” and Yang’s arrest appears to be a way for China to register its displeasure with Pelosi’s trip, during which she reaffirmed U.S. support for Taiwan’s “flourishing democracy.” Taiwanese democracy activist Lee Ming-cheh, who served a five-year sentence in China for “incitement to subvert state power,” said during a meeting with Pelosi that the Chinese government shouldn’t use “national security” as an excuse to jail political prisoners. Lee, who may not have read the news of Yang’s arrest at the time of speaking, called for an end to “residential surveillance at a designated location,” which enables the authorities to deny visits from lawyers or family members for six months where the person has been accused of a “national security” offense. A man watches a CCTV news broadcast about joint military operations near Taiwan by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theatre Command, at a shopping center in Beijing, China, August 3, 2022. Credit: Reuters ‘Unnecessary’ China reaction Pelosi said during her meeting with Tsai on Wednesday that Taiwan, which made a transition to full democracy in the 1990s from authoritarian rule under the Kuomintang (KMT), that the island had “created a flourishing democracy” out of its challenging history. “Now more than ever, America’s solidarity with Taiwan is crucial,” Pelosi said. “America’s determination to preserve democracy here in #Taiwan and around the world remains ironclad.” China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) stepped up military exercises in the vicinity of Taiwan ahead of and during Pelosi’s trip, a move that both Pelosi and Tsai termed “unnecessary.” “Facing deliberately heightened military threats, Taiwan will not back down. We will… continue to hold the line of defense for democracy,” Tsai said during the meeting. “Military drills are unnecessary responses. Taiwan has always been open to constructive dialogue,” she said. Tsai also presented Pelosi with a Taiwanese honor: the Order of Propitious Clouds. Pelosi said she wasn’t sure why Beijing “made a big fuss” over her Taipei trip, though she speculated it may have been because she was the House speaker, Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) reported. The military drills could also be the result of “certain insecurities on the part of the president of China as to his own political situation that he’s rattling the saber,” the agency quoted her as saying. Pelosi said in an official statement that her trip in no way represented a shift in U.S. policy on Taiwan, which involves not offering the island formal diplomatic recognition while pledging to help it defend itself from the CCP. “Our visit is one of several Congressional delegations to Taiwan – and it in no way contradicts longstanding United States policy, guided by the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, U.S.-China Joint Communiques and the Six Assurances,” the statement said. “The United States continues to oppose unilateral efforts to change the status quo.” But it added: “America’s solidarity with the 23 million people of Taiwan is more important today than ever, as the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy.” Pro-China supporters tear a U.S. flag during a protest against U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan outside the Consulate General of the United States in Hong Kong, China, August 3, 2022. Credit: Reuters Important regional message Lo Chih-cheng, a member of the foreign affairs and defense committee at Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan, said the meaning of Pelosi’s trip was largely symbolic. Coming as it did under pressure of Chinese threats and warnings, Pelosi’s trip sent an important message to the entire Asia-Pacific and Indo-Pacific region that “the United States and democracies will not yield to Chinese threats and pressure,” Lo told RFA. Taiwanese military analyst Chieh Chung said the PLA exercises had made deep incursions into Taiwan’s territorial waters during Pelosi’s visit. The exercises are taking place east of the central line of the Taiwan Strait, further diluting the tacit understanding of the median line formed by the military on both sides of the strait since 1999, Chieh told RFA. Soong Kuo-cheng, a researcher in international relations at Taiwan’s National Chengchi University, said China’s response had made the international community more aware of the island’s importance of Taiwan, and placed it in the international spotlight. “The CCP displayed a highly violent and irrational reaction to this visit by Pelosi, which has woken the rest of the world up to Taiwan’s…

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Hong Kong to pursue Canada-based political activists under national security law

Editor08 mins

Authorities in Hong Kong said on Wednesday they will pursue three Canada-based activists who recently announced they would set up a Hong Kong parliament-in-exile under a draconian national security law that applies anywhere in the world. The city’s security bureau said it “severely condemns Yuan Gong-yi, Ho Leung-mau and Leung Chung-hang and others for forming a so-called ‘Hong Kong Parliament’ overseas.” It said the activists are now suspects under Article 22 of the law, which bans “subversion of state power.” Forty-seven former opposition lawmakers and democracy activists are currently behind bars awaiting trial on the same charge for their involvement in a 2020 democratic primary election aimed at maximizing the number of opposition seats in LegCo. Soon after the primary, the government postponed the LegCo elections and rewrote the rules to force candidates to undergo vetting by a committee overseen by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and national security police, effectively barring any pro-democracy candidates from running. “The Security Bureau appeals to the public to dissociate themselves from individuals contravening the Hong Kong National Security Law, and the illegal activities those individuals organized, so as to avoid bearing any unnecessary legal risks,” a spokesman said in a statement. Yuan, Ho and Leung are part of a group that announced the parliament-in-exile plan in Canada on July 27, along with plans to hold the first election under universal suffrage in late 2023. Leung, who is also known by the English names Baggio and Sixtus, was expelled along with five other newly elected Legislative Council (LegCo) members after China’s National People’s Congress ruled their oaths of allegiance invalid in 2016. Ho is a journalist and political talk-show host, while Yuen is a current affairs commentator. Security guards block pro-independence legislator-elect Baggio Leung from retaking his oath inside the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, China, Nov. 2, 2016. Credit: Reuters Wider immigration eligibility The announcement came after the British government said it would broaden eligibility for Hongkongers seeking to flee the current crackdown on dissent and settle in the U.K., allowing younger people more likely to be targeted for taking part in the 2019 protest movement to apply under the British National Overseas (BNO) visa scheme. “The U.K. has a historic and moral commitment the people of Hong Kong,” home secretary Priti Patel said via her official Twitter account on Aug. 1. “That’s why I am extending our BN(O) route to allow young people born after the handover of Hong Kong with at least one BN(O) parent to live, work, study and build their lives in the U.K.,” the tweet said. The changes will take effect in November 2022, and are expected to benefit around 10,000 younger Hongkongers. Ngan Hei-yin, 19, is currently seeking political asylum in the U.K., a far more difficult route to settlement that risks deportation if the claim is denied. He told RFA that he will be eligible for the BNO route instead, and won’t need to wait for his asylum application to be approved. But he said many who do apply for asylum wouldn’t meet the financial requirements of the visa, so could still be excluded for that reason. “Some people applying for political asylum are receiving government subsidies and don’t have much in the way of assets,” Ngan said. “So there would need to be some supporting measures to help them, if they are going to apply for the BNO route.” “I hope the government will provide them with support, and also support to make it easier for young Hongkongers to integrate and develop in the U.K.,” he said. Red tape in Taiwan The BNO route requires applicants to show that they can meet their own living expenses for at least six months, but few younger applicants would be able to do this. Authorities on the democratic island of Taiwan have adopted measures that will allow Hong Kong pro-democracy activists to apply for citizenship five years after seeking asylum in the country, the island’s official Central News Agency (CNA) reported on July 30. Under the scheme, Hongkongers who entered Taiwan under the government-run ‘Hong Kong Humanitarian Aid Project’ since June 2020 can obtain Taiwan citizenship after a five-year stay, the agency cited sources as saying. Taiwan’s safe-haven scheme has been criticized by Hongkongers on the ground as opaque and mired in bureaucratic dead-ends, with departments failing to act together to ensure the scheme works for individual applicants. Some applications from former government employees have been denied amid growing fear of CCP infiltration of the island. Some 11,000 Hong Kongers got residence permits in Taiwan last year, according to Taiwan’s National Immigration Agency, and 1,600 were granted permanent residency. By contrast, the U.K. approved 97,000 applications under the BNO route last year. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Tibetan festival allowed by China to resume after 20-year ban

Editor04 mins

A Tibetan community festival, banned for 20 years after the arrest of a popular religious leader, has been allowed by Chinese authorities to resume with no  explanation given for the sudden lifting of control, Tibetan sources say. The annual event held in Nyagchuka (in Chinese, Yajiang) county in Sichuan’s Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, formerly a part of historic Tibet, features horse races and picnics, a Tibetan living exile told RFA, citing local sources. “But since 2002, the year when Tulku Tenzin Delek was arrested on a charge of bombing a public square, the Chinese authorities had barred Tibetans in the region from celebrating the annual event,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We don’t know why the authorities have suddenly allowed the festival to be held again,” the source said. Authorities had hoisted Chinese flags around the festival grounds before allowing the event to be held, though, he added. “In earlier years, when Tulku Tenzin Delek was there, people were forbidden to indulge in alcohol, smoking or taking drugs at the picnic, but this year everything was allowed,” the source said. The annual festival was a major gathering in the region even before the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1950, the source said. “But it became even grander after Tulku Tenzin Delek lived there. During the picnic, religious teachings were given and plays were performed on the life of the Tibetan yogi and poet Milarepa.” “There was so much respect for Tulku Tenzin Delek.” Mysterious death in prison Tulku Tenzin Delek, 65, died under mysterious circumstances on July 12, 2015, 13 years into a 22-year sentence following what rights groups and supporters called a wrongful conviction on a charge of bombing a public square in Sichuan’s provincial capital Chengdu in April 2002. Widely respected among Tibetans for his efforts to protect Tibetan culture and the environment, he was initially sentenced to death, but his sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. An assistant, Lobsang Dondrub, was executed almost immediately, prompting an outcry from rights activists who questioned the fairness of the trial. Chinese authorities now remove all references to Tulku Tenzin Delek from official histories of the region and in January seized a life-size statue of the religious leader that was being taken into Tibet, arresting those involved in the statue’s manufacture and transport, sources told RFA in earlier reports. Formerly an independent country, Tibet was invaded and incorporated into China by force more than 70 years ago. Chinese authorities maintain a tight grip on Tibetan areas of western China, restricting Tibetans’ political activities and peaceful expression of cultural and religious identity, sources say. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA Tibetan. Written in English by Richard Finney.

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