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Aung San Suu Kyi sentenced to 6 more years in prison

A Myanmar military court on Monday sentenced former national leader Aung San Suu Kyi to six years in prison following her conviction on corruption charges that critics say are without merit. Suu Kyi, 77, now faces a total of 17 years in prison, with today’s 6-year term added to an 11 years already imposed following trials in other cases brought by Myanmar’s military leaders, who overthrew her democratically elected civilian government in a Feb. 1, 2021 coup. The three cases heard on Monday were tied to the acquisition of land in the capital Naypyidaw by the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, which was named after Aung San Suu Kyi’s late mother, and to the construction of a building on that land and of foundation headquarters in Yangon. Naypyidaw Mayor Myo Aung, Deputy Mayor Ye Min Oo, and Naypyidaw Municipal Committee Member Min Oo, who were also charged in the cases, were each given 2-year terms. The sentences imposed by a prison court in Naypyidaw were themselves unlawful, however, as Myanmar’s now-ruling military had seized power illegally, Bo Bo Oo—a former Yangon lawmaker for the National League for Democracy. “This case has been all wrong right from the start,” said the former parliamentarian, whose party’s government was overthrown by Myanmar’s military last year. “To begin with, the military coup was carried out in violation of the law, so it’s silly for them to say that they are now on the side of the law. I don’t recognize their authority,” he said. Calls seeking comment from junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun received no response, but a veteran legal expert told IJ-reportika that Aung San Suu Kyi should not have been prosecuted on corruption charges for a project done for the country’s benefit. Junta allegations that national funds had been lost by the land’s sale at a low price should not have been filed. “When action is taken against nationally beneficial projects like the La Yaung Taw project just because they are connected to Aung San Suu Kyi, this will cause other projects to be stopped that could be helpful to citizens in the future,” he said. “This is just another example of how the junta deals with political problems in Myanmar not by using political means but through hatred and animosity,” agreed Arakan National Party chairman Tha Tun Hla. “People who are tied to political cases should not be punished and imprisoned,” he added. Aung San Suu Kyi now faces charges in 9 more cases, including a case brought under Section 3(1)[c] of the Official Secrets Act, that also carry long prison terms, sources say. ‘Methodical assault on human rights’ Myanmar political observer Than Soe Naing said that by arresting and jailing Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s military is carrying out its goal of removing her entirely from the country’s political life. “However, history will show that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has never bribed anyone or committed financial fraud. Her virtue, integrity and dignity can never be damaged, even a little,” he said. Elaine Pearson, acting Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said on Monday that the Myanmar military junta’s conviction and sentencing of Aung San Suu Kyi is “part of its methodical assault on human rights around the country. “The junta’s fabricated trials, torture of detainees, and execution of activists highlights its broader disregard for the lives of Myanmar’s people. “The United Nations, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), European Union, United States, and other concerned governments should press for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all those wrongfully imprisoned,” Pearson said. “This verdict should push them to undertake urgent action against the junta to ensure there’s justice for its victims and a reckoning for its crimes.” Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Richard Finney.

Hong Kong exodus continues as rights groups pinpoint leaders’ overseas property

Editor3 years ago3 years ago09 mins

Hongkongers are continuing to leave the city in droves amid an ongoing crackdown on dissent under a draconian security law imposed by Beijing. Recent figures from the city’s census and statistics department showed the city’s population has fallen for the third year running, with net departures of permanent residents totaling 113,000 during 2022 alone, and around 121,000 compared with the same time last year. “This is pretty unprecedented,” Chinese University of Hong Kong business school researcher Simon Lee. “[Before this] we saw population growth for a long period.” “Many of these people leaving are young and strong, and it’s too early to tell whether they will come back or not,” Lee said. “This is a blow to our economic recovery in the short term, because fewer people means less economic activity and less consumption.” A social activist who gave only the nickname Peter said it is increasingly difficult for people in Hong Kong to get information about what is happening to those who leave. “There is less news out there, no more Apple Daily, Stand or Citizen News,” Peter said. “In one sense, to a certain extent the government … wants to force people to leave, so they can’t stand together.” Peter said he has started a letter-writing program to allow overseas Hongkongers to support people currently behind bars for their role in the 2019 protest movement or held as part of subsequent political crackdowns. “Everyone has to live their own lives, because it’s hard to even think about the [protest movement] if you don’t do that,” he said. “But while we’re doing that, we can use some of our leftover energy to reconnect [with everyone else].” “Whenever I have time to write a letter, I remind myself why I can’t go back to Hong Kong,” he said. “I can’t go home.” People lie in hospital beds with night-time temperatures falling outside the Caritas Medical Centre in Hong Kong on Feb. 16, 2022, as hospitals become overwhelmed with the city facing its worst COVID-19 wave to date. Credit: AFP Foreign property owners Peter’s initiative has seen letters pour in from the U.K., Norway, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, among other countries, and the democratic island of Taiwan, which has offered immigration options to Hongkongers fleeing the crackdown. The U.K.-based rights group Hong Kong Watch has also called on governments to step up sanctions on the city’s officials, many of whom own property overseas. The group said it had identified property belonging to four Hong Kong officials in the U.K., Canada, and Australia. Health secretary Lo Chung-Mau owns a flat in London, while non-official executive councilors Margaret Leung, Moses Cheng and Eliza Chan own property in Sydney, London and Toronto, the group said. “It beggars belief that Hong Kong officials who denounce Western countries so gleefully are destroying their fellow citizens’ basic freedoms and rights [and] continue to own property in the U.K., Australia, and Canada,” the group’s advocacy director Sam Goodman said. The group called on the governments of the U.K., Canada, and Australia to join the U.S. in introducing Magnitsky-style sanctions targeting the assets of Hong Kong officials who are “complicit in gross human rights violations.” Meanwhile, international arrivals have fallen sharply in Hong Kong amid the city’s COVID-19 quarantine restrictions. Passenger volumes have plummeted, with 18 times fewer passengers arriving in Hong Kong via the airport this summer — just over two million per month in July and August 2022 — compared with pre-pandemic figures. People lie in hospital beds with night-time temperatures falling outside the Caritas Medical Centre in Hong Kong on Feb. 16, 2022, as hospitals become overwhelmed with the city facing its worst COVID-19 wave to date. Credit: AFP Losing to Singapore Lee said the recent easing of quarantine requirements for inbound passengers was unlikely to improve things. “With regard to tourists, people won’t come unless they have to for business, because they have a lot of choices for leisure travel,” he said. “Why would they come to Hong Kong? They would only come if they like Hong Kong a lot.” While the government recently eased restrictions in a bid to kickstart the city’s flagging economy, the number of flights arriving in the city is still far lower than those destined for Singapore, which lifted quarantine requirements for arrivals in April. We counted 61 flights arriving at Hong Kong International Airport on Aug.12, compared with 289 flights arriving at Singapore’s Changi Airport, nearly five times as many. The Singapore Tourism Board estimates between four and six million visitors will arrive in the city this year for tourism purposes, with 543,000 inbound tourists in June compared with 418,000 in May, and the figures have been rising for five months in a row. Lee said Hong Kong’s COVID-19 policy had hit its status as an international aviation hub, and the city would struggle to catch up with its main competitor. “It is a short-term phenomenon, but other places returned to normal six months ago,” Lee said. He said the development would likely mean people get out of the habit of booking flights routed through the city. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

Police in China’s Chengdu raid Sunday meeting of banned church members, detain one

Editor3 years ago08 mins

Authorities in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan have once more raided a gathering of Early Rain Covenant Church members in the the provincial capital, Chengdu, detaining one of them, RFA has learned. Christian writer and translator Xing Hongwei was detained in Chengdu on Sunday after a teahouse gathering of church members was raided by around 30 uniformed officers and plainclothes state security police, church members said on Monday. The group of more than 50 church members was accused of holding an “illegal gathering” at a teahouse in Chengdu’s Wuhou district, and Xing was detained for allegedly “assaulting a police officer,” and is being held in criminal detention, they said. While the church’s premises were raided and forcible shut down during police raids in December 2018, the authorities have continued to target the church’s members, amid tightened restrictions on religious groups in recent years under ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping. A church member surnamed Wang who was at the teahouse said police surrounded the group and took their personal details including ID card numbers, one by one. “About 50 brothers and sisters attended,” Wang said. “At around 10.30 a.m., about 22 or 23 uniformed police officers and about eight or nine plainclothes police surrounded us.” “They surrounded us in two circles; one circle around our group, and another around the entire [teahouse] courtyard,” he said. A second church member who declined to be named said the raid was led by the state security police chief for Wuhou district, who said the Chengdu police department was taking a “zero tolerance” approach to the gathering. Early Rain Covenant Church pastor Wang Yi and his wife are shown in an undated photo. Credit: Early Rain Covenant Church Violent police response Officers said the church was an “illegal organization,” that had already been banned, the church member said. “Brother Xing’s wife Zhao Qing and their daughter came yesterday, while he waited for them outside [due to ill-health],” the church member said. “The police went out to check his ID card too, and he asked them why he was being pulled into this as he wasn’t even at the meeting.” Xing’s questioning of the police was met with a violent response. “The police hit Xing Hongwei because he was unwilling to cooperate when asked for his personal details, and then there was a physical altercation,” a church member surnamed Li told RFA. “The police pushed Xing Hongwei to the ground saying he had assaulted a police officer and took him away,” Li said. “We later heard that Xing Hongwei had been detained on suspicion of assaulting a police officer.” Xing was taken to a different police station from the local one, and hadn’t emerged by 11.00 p.m. on Sunday. An employee who answered the phone at the Jitou police station in Wuhou district hung up the phone when contacted by RFA on Monday. Bob Fu, president of the U.S.-based Christian rights group ChinaAid, said the police raid had deprived the Early Rain church members of their religious rights. “Chengdu Early Rain Covenant Church was founded by Pastor Wang Yi, who gave a sermon from the pulpit calling on Xi Jinping to stop violating the Chinese constitution with the crackdown on religious freedom,” Fu said. “This raid on the Early Rain Sunday meeting was yet another serious form of persecution,” he said. Dangerous foreign import Wang Yi was jailed on Dec. 30, 2019 by the Chengdu Intermediate People’s Court, which found him guilty of “incitement to subvert state power” and of “running an illegal business” in a secret trial. Wang was detained by police in Sichuan’s provincial capital Chengdu on Dec. 14, 2018, alongside dozens of church members in a raid that prompted an international outcry. Some Early Rain Covenant Church members who were detained in raids on Dec. 9 and 10, 2018, and later released said the police had beaten them, and one detainee described being tied to a chair and deprived of water and food for 24 hours, rights groups reported at the time. The CCP under general secretary Xi regards Christianity as a dangerous foreign import, with party documents warning against the “infiltration of Western hostile forces” in the form of religion. The party, which embraces atheism, exercises tight controls over any form of religious practice among its citizens. State security police and religious affairs bureau officials frequently raid unofficial “house churches” that aren’t members of the CCP-backed Three-Self Patriotic Association, although member churches have also been targeted at times. China is home to an estimated 68 million Protestants, of whom 23 million worship in state-affiliated churches under the aegis of the Three-Self Patriotic Association, and some nine million Catholics, the majority of whom are in state-sponsored organizations. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

Four local fighters shot dead in Sagaing region’s Tabayin township

Editor3 years ago03 mins

Junta forces arrested five members of the People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) in Myanmar’s Sagaing region. They shot four of them, while the other is still missing, residents told RFA. Three of the dead were named as Zaw Oo, Khing Lin and Min Than, according to locals. The other man was not identified. They were shot by troops in Hpoke Tan Taw village. A local resident, who declined to be named for security reasons, told RFA a military column with nearly a hundred soldiers has been stationed in Hpoke Tan Taw village since last Tuesday. They arrested the PDF members who snuck into the village to assess the situation on Saturday evening “The four people who were shot were hit in their head and their heads were crushed. They were heavily tortured and finally shot in the mouth. When we entered the village this morning, we found dead bodies next to the entrance of the Shwe Gu Gyi pagoda. The four who died are estimated to be aged between 18 and 25,” a local told RFA. This morning, he said the military convoy returned to two villages northwest of Hpoke Tan Taw causing hundreds of residents to flee. More than 800 residents of Hpoke Tan Taw village, which as nearly 300 houses, fled to nearby villages and forests in the past week according to residents. RFA has not been able to independently verify the locals claims. Military columns with hundreds of soldiers have entered villages in Tabayin township since August 2, and arrested more than 50 residents, locals said.

U.S. lawmakers visit Taiwan amid renewed Chinese military drills

Editor3 years ago3 years ago09 mins

China conducted a fresh round of military drills around Taiwan on Monday as another U.S. Congressional delegation visited in Taipei and met with President Tsai Ing-wen, just 12 days after the controversial stopover by Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi. When Pelosi, the most senior U.S. official to visit Taiwan in 25 years, arrived in Taipei, Beijing responded by launching an unprecedented week-long military exercise around the island. The Chinese military said Monday’s drills were “a serious deterrent to the continued ‘political tricks’ played by the United States and Taiwan,” Reuters reported. A Chinese state newspaper called the two-day visit by the U.S. delegation led by Democratic Senator Ed Markey “sneaky” and “provoking tensions” in the Taiwan Strait. On Friday, Deputy Assistant to the U.S. President and Coordinator for the Indo-Pacific Kurt Campbell said Beijing used Pelosi’s visit as a “pretext to launch an intensified pressure campaign against Taiwan.” “China has overreacted, and its actions continue to be provocative, destabilizing, and unprecedented,” Campbell told a press briefing in Washington D.C., adding that the U.S. will be “conducting standard air and maritime transits through the Taiwan Strait in the next few weeks.” U.S. support for Taiwan Markey and four other U.S. lawmakers are making the Taiwan visit as part of a “larger visit to the Indo-Pacific region,” the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) – the U.S.’s de facto embassy in Taipei – said in a press release. “The delegation will have a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen and visit the Taiwanese Legislator’s Foreign and National Defense Committee,” it said. The meeting with Tsai has already taken place. “The visit is not a challenge to China but to re-state what Biden administration officials and Biden himself have told their Chinese counterparts: U.S. Congress members have the right to visit Taiwan,” said Norah Huang, associate research fellow at the Prospect Foundation, a Taiwanese think-tank. “The visit is important as to reiterate the U.S. support to Taiwan, that the U.S. is implementing its One China Policy and isn’t intimidated,” Huang told RFA. Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan has been operating in the waters east of Taiwan, likely to offer support to U.S. activities including the Congressional visit. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the carrier and its strike group to “remain on station” in the area to monitor the situation in the wake of Pelosi’s visit. 4,900 sailors aboard the USS Ronald Reagan have been rehearsing to “maintain the ship’s warfighting readiness,” said the U.S. 7th Fleet in a press release. On Sunday, 22 Chinese aircraft entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) with half of them crossing the median line dividing the Taiwan Strait, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense. An ADIZ is an area where foreign aircraft are tracked and identified before further entering into a country’s airspace. Since the latest military drills, Chinese aircraft have crossed the median line, which serves as the de facto boundary between Taiwan and China’s mainland, daily. Taipei calls it an act of “unprovoked intimidation.” ‘Repeated provocations’ Taiwan’s Foreign Ministryុំ in an welcome statement to the U.S. lawmakersុំ said: “As China is continuing to escalate tensions in the region, the U.S. Congress has again organized a heavyweight delegation to visit Taiwan, demonstrating a friendship that is not afraid of China’s threats and intimidation, and the U.S.’s strong support for Taiwan.” Senator Ed Markey currently serves as Chair of the East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “Markey is a seasoned China hawk, who often chides China on human rights issues,” noted China’s mouthpiece Global Times, recalling that in March 2020, the Senator co-introduced a bipartisan resolution calling on the International Olympic Committee to move the 2022 Winter Olympics out of China. Taiwan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Yui (right) greets U.S. Senator Ed Markey at Taoyuan Airport on Aug. 14, 2022. CREDIT: Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs The U.S. Congressional visit “shows that the U.S. has ignored China’s stern warnings and will have to face severe punishment due to its egregious provocations,” Zhang Tengjun, an analyst at the China Institute of International Studies, was quoted as saying. The delegation’s visit, which “was only made public at the last minute when they arrived in a sneaky and stealthy manner, exposed their diffidence in triggering anger from the Chinese mainland,” Zhang told the paper. Markey’s office, meanwhile, said the delegation “will reaffirm the United States’ support for Taiwan as guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, U.S.-China joint communiques, and six assurances, and will encourage stability and peace across the Taiwan Strait.” Before the visit, Biden’s Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell said that the U.S. and Taiwan are “developing an ambitious roadmap for trade negotiations, which we intend to announce in the coming days.” “This is not something super sensitive but a trade agreement is important for Taiwan as it could have a sampling effect for other countries which are interested in negotiating trade deals with Taiwan,” said Norah Huang from the Prospect Foundation.

‘Most of us are worse off’

Editor3 years ago014 mins

More than four years after a dam collapse in southern Laos triggered the country’s worst flooding in decades much of the farmland that was underwater remains unusable, leaving some survivors still struggling to scratch out a living. Residents of four villages in Attapeu’s Sanamxay district told RFA they cannot plant rice in their old fields because their land remains covered with mud and debris from the flood, while new land set aside on high and sandy ground cannot sustain rice paddies. “Our lives are now unstable and unsustainable because we lost the most valuable property; that is, our rice fields,” one Thasengchanh villager who asked not to be identified told RFA. Thasengchanh is one of four villages in the district where flood survivors live. The others are Dong Bak, Hinlad and Samong Tai. “Some places are covered by up to one meter of mud and sand, and some other places look like lakes,” the villager said. “They should clean up the mess for us. They’ve swept the surface of some rice fields, but then they stopped, saying they didn’t have any more money to continue the work.” Billions of cubic feet of water from a tributary of the Mekong River poured over a collapsed saddle dam at the Xe Pian-Xe Namnoy (PNPC) hydropower project in Champassak province on July 23, 2018. The water surge washed away homes and flooded villages downstream in Attapeu province, killing 71 people and displacing 14,440 others when it wiped out all or part of 19 villages. Those who lost their homes were relocated to other villages. More than 4,160 hectares (10,280 acres) of land, including farmland, was affected by the disaster, with over 1,000 hectares (2,471 acres) being severely damaged, 2,263 hectares (5,592 acres) moderately damaged, and 900 hectares (2,224 acres) slightly damaged. The Lao government, which continues to plan and build hydropower dams at blistering speed, despite grappling with crushing debt, has yet to rectify the problem, survivors of the dam break said. Most of the fields in Dong Bak cannot be cultivated because of the mud, rocks, sand, logs and tree limbs that remain, a resident of the village told RFA on Aug. 10. Up to now, Attapeu authorities have handed over 729 new land titles to families in Hinlad, Dong Bak and Samong Tai villages. Some families have been able to clean up their damaged farmland by themselves so they could plant rice this year, while others have had to acquire fields elsewhere in order to grow the staple crop, said the resident, who declined to be named so as not to anger authorities. “But most of the survivors are not able to grow rice on their old rice fields at all; they can only grow cassava and raise chickens and pigs on the new land given to them by the authorities,” he said. “They grow cassava, then sell [it] to buy rice.” Several villagers have been forced to work as laborers in the nearby areas and cities to earn money to feed their families, he said. Small tractors stand idle in a former rice field covered by mud and other debris during flooding from a 2018 dam break, in southern Laos’ Attapeu province, 2020. Credit: Citizen journalist. ‘Nobody dares to grow anything’ In Hinlad, only about 100 families out of nearly 1,000 are now able to reuse their land to grow rice, said a resident of the village who, like other sources, requested anonymity so as not to anger authorities by speaking to the media. New land given as compensation is too high and has too much sand and gravel to grow rice, he said. “We only grow cassava on the land, then sell it to buy rice,” said the villager. “The price of cassava is good, but rice is getting more and more expensive.” Another resident said that most of the villagers have not grown rice since the dam break, as debris, including scrap metal and broken glass, still litters their land. “Nobody dares to grow anything,” he said. “Of course, we want to grow rice, especially during this rainy season, which is the rice-planting season.” “Most of us are worse off,” he said. “We’re poorer than we were before the dam break because we can’t grow rice on our rice fields in our old villages.” More than 120 families in Thasengchanh village received land titles for new parcels but refused to accept them, saying they had been given only one hectare per family, while other villages received one hectare per person. Former owners of the land the survivors were given can still claim it as theirs and block attempts to farm it, the survivors told RFA. Land concession plans An official from the province’s Agriculture and Forestry Department said on Aug. 10 that authorities cannot clean up the debris and clear the mud from rice fields that were severely flooded and damaged. “We’ve allowed some families to grow rice on about 24 hectares of the old rice fields because these fields were not badly damaged by the flood, ” he said. “The total most affected rice fields are more than 1,000 hectares.” “Our provincial authorities have a plan to grant a concession to foreign investors to grow industrial trees on the badly damaged farmland and have asked the survivors to participate in the project,” he said. The villagers would provide their land and labor, while the investors would provide capital, expertise and market opportunities, the official said, adding that the plan is now undergoing a feasibility study. “We have a company proposing to grow bamboo for export,” he said. “The company is gathering information on about 100 hectares of the old rice fields.” By the end of this year authorities are planning to clear a new 200-hectare lot of land for residents of the Thasengchanh village who did not accept the new land parcels, the Agriculture and Forestry Department official said. Soaring inflation in Laos has made a bad situation worse, as people struggle to afford the skyrocketing costs…

A riverfront village on Thai-Myanmar border struggles to recover from pandemic

Editor3 years ago02 mins

The inhabitants of Mae Sam Lab say life in this Thai village along the frontier with Myanmar used to bustle with tourists and a vibrant cross-border river trade. As the people here struggle to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic violence from attacks by Burmese junta forces nearby have made things worse, they say. “The doldrums started with the COVID-19 pandemic. Tourists – Thai, Chinese, Japanese and Korean – were gone. Boat operators, local guides, souvenir shops have been badly affected,” said Chai Pongpipat, an official with the Tambon Mae Sam Lab administration. In the months since the February 2021 coup in Naypyidaw, troops belonging to the Burmese military regime and Border Guard Force have clashed with ethnic resistance forces including in the Karen State, which lies across the Salween River from Mae Sam Lab. “Over two years of enduring COVID, people seemed to be able to adapt to its effects, but the slight COVID recovery was worsened by the clashes between Myanmar forces and ethnic fighters in the areas. The trade activities have stalled,” Chai told BenarNews. Meanwhile, fishermen say their catches have been falling. They’re afraid to fish when it’s dark on the river, which separates the two countries, because of nighttime clashes on the Myanmar side. “Lately, there have been a handful of small boats from the nearby village coming here to buy stockpiles of food and necessities as the fighting is unpredictable,” Chai said.

Wave of badly written Kindle titles on Pelosi, Taiwan hits Amazon’s Kindle platform

Editor3 years ago012 mins

Amazon’s Kindle e-publishing platform has been flooded with poorly written books pushing Beijing’s line on Taiwan, according to a U.K.-based publisher. A wave of e-books using the keywords “Nancy Pelosi” and “China and Taiwan” laying out China’s claim on the democratic island has appeared on Kindle since the start of the month, when U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi first indicated she would visit Taiwan, sparking days of military exercises by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA). “New disinformation push on Amazon?” U.K. independent publisher Michael Cannings tweeted, along with a screenshot of the Kindle titles. “A torrent of new low quality ‘books’ about Taiwan has appeared; a quick Google shows at least some of the content is plagiarized, and the names of the authors appear to be fake. I count 61 of these under one search term alone,” Cannings wrote. He later told RFA it was unclear whether the flood of new titles, many of which contain grammatical errors and consist of scraped content with changed wording to evade anti-plagiarism software, was a state-backed propaganda drive or simply the work of unethical people trying to cash in on global headlines. “The possibilities to use this for disinformation are strong,” Cannings said. “I just can’t be sure whether in this case is really somebody trying to do that, or if it’s just unethical people trying to make money.” “[But] it shows how it could be done by a state operation,” he added. Cannings said the use of keywords and the flood of recent titles means that the books show up at the top of Amazon and Google searches for those keywords. He said most of the titles were likely uploaded to Amazon’s Kindle Desktop Publishing platform, and, apart from automated plagiarism checks, weren’t subject to any editorial quality control. “I think the danger for readers is that you don’t know what’s real and what’s not,” Cannings said. “I mean, some of these books don’t look great, but some of them are quite convincing, so a reader who’s not familiar with the subject might not know that this is not … properly researched.” “The secondary danger is that these books then become cited by people further down the line… so then the disinformation gets into the wider ecosystem,” he said. U.K. independent publisher Michael Cannings called attention to the Kindle titles in a series of tweets on Twitter. Vulnerable to disinformation campaigns RFA was able to roughly replicate Cannings’ search results on Amazon, and found that the ebooks sell for around U.S.$10 or less. Amazon told RFA in an emailed response that the company does have content guidelines for books self-published on the Kindle platform, and will investigate and remove books that don’t comply with them. Daniel Kapellmann Zafra, senior technical analysis manager at the cybersecurity company Mandiant, said that whether or not the flood of books on Taiwan from Beijing’s point of view are actually backed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the platform is vulnerable to disinformation campaigns. “As long as there is a platform for sharing information, it can be leveraged to drive these types of narratives,” Zafra told RFA. “It’s basically a creative avenue that could … enable an actor to share information.” Zafra’s own research for Mandiant has identified an information operations campaign linked to the Chinese public relations firm Shanghai Haixun Technology, with content published to at least 72 suspected inauthentic news sites. “Narratives promoted by the campaign criticize the U.S. and its allies, attempt to reshape the international image of Xinjiang due to mounting international scrutiny, and express support for the reform of Hong Kong’s electoral system—a change which gave [China] more power over vetting local candidates,” the report, coauthored by Zafra, said. Several of the sites published articles critical of Pelosi on Aug. 1, in response to reports ahead of her Aug. 2-3 visit to Taiwan, it said. “The articles assert that Pelosi should ‘stay away from Taiwan’ and highlight perceived tarnished relations between the U.S. and Taiwan.” An article published on several sites, including one purporting to be a Taiwanese news outlet, claimed that former U.S. government official Mike Pompeo’s March 2022 visit to Taiwan was motivated by money and his alleged desire to run for U.S. president in 2024, according to the report. A separate information operation, DRAGONBRIDGE, publishes comments, videos and photos across thousands of social media and forum accounts on authentic platforms, according to the report. Shanghai Haixun uses inauthentic websites to disseminate content, with little obvious overlap between the two, it said. ‘Cognitive operations’ Taiwanese fact-checkers said they detected a 30-40 increase in fake reports online since Pelosi’s visit. Maj. Gen. Chen Yu-lin, deputy director of the Political and War Bureau of Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense told journalists on Aug. 8 that China had begun a wave of “cognitive operations” even before the military exercises were announced. Chen said the hybrid warfare campaign sought to create an atmosphere suggesting China might be invading Taiwan, to attack the public image of the government, and to disrupt civilian and military morale. Hybrid warfare denotes a combination of conventional military action on the ground and hacks or disinformation campaigns designed to attack public morale and sow confusion. National Taiwan University was hacked, with the words “there is only one China in this world” appearing on its official website. Meanwhile, the National Palace Museum issued a statement denying online rumors that the government was preparing to send tens of thousands of rare artifacts overseas for safekeeping. Last week, several convenience store branches and government facilities across Taiwan saw their digital signage hacked with messages slandering Pelosi. Digital signage at a railway station in the southern port city of Kaohsiung and at a government office in Nantou county also displayed a message calling Pelosi “an old witch.” The official website of Tsai’s Presidential Office was taken down for around 20 minutes by a cyberattack, after which full service was restored, while mainland Chinese website Baidu joined in the cognitive warfare, releasing maps of…

Xinjiang residents warned of 3 weeks detention for violating COVID-19 lockdown

Editor3 years ago011 mins

Authorities in Xinjiang are threatening those who flout quarantine laws with as many as three weeks of detention amid a new outbreak of COVID-19 in the region that has seen infections rise sharply since the start of the month, sources told RFA Uyghur. The warning comes as the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) capital Lhasa entered a three-day state of de facto lockdown amid a growing number of COVID-19 cases in the city. On Friday, authorities announced that they had documented 410 new asymptomatic COVID-19 infections in Xinjiang, bringing the total to 1,727, as the region continues to grapple with a new outbreak that has led to strict lockdowns. An official in Qorghas (in Chinese, Huocheng) county’s Langar township, who oversees 10 families in Yengiavat village, told RFA that authorities have been conducting street patrols to ensure that nobody is leaving their homes during an ongoing lockdown in the area and informing residents that they would be detained for up to three weeks if they do. “We are informing the residents that those who violate the system, that is, those who go out on the streets, will be punished and sent to 15-20 days of ‘re-education,’” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, using a common euphemism for detention in the region. The leader of the village Women’s Committee, who also declined to be named, told RFA that “medicine is being distributed to residents” by authorities, although she was unsure of what type. “They are cream in color and are said to prevent disease,” she said. Earlier this week, Chinese state media reported that authorities ordered residents to quarantine in the cities of Urumqi (Wulumuqi), Ghulja (Yining), Aksu (Akesu), Kumul (Hami), Chochek (Tacheng), Bortala (Bole), and Kashgar (Kashi). A community official said that the new infections were thought to have been brought by Chinese tourists from Gansu province, and the first viral outbreak in Ghulja was found in Uchon Dungan village. Daily lives impacted On Friday, sources in Xinjiang told RFA that lockdowns in the region had begun to severely impact the daily lives of residents, with farmers unable to attend to their fields and grocery store owners unable to sell perishables or keep them fresh. Videos posted on social media from the region appeared to show rotten produce in markets that had been shuttered as a result of the lockdown, while residents said they were unable to obtain fresh vegetables while confined to their homes. RFA spoke with the security director of Ghulja’s Mazar village, who said that only farmers with “urgent irrigation and harvesting needs” are allowed to leave their homes. “The doors [on village homes] are sealed,” he said. “Farmers with urgent needs are allowed to go out on a rotating basis. The farmers first need to get the approval of the village officials in order to go to the fields.” The security director said those found to have violated the lockdown face at least 24 hours of detention. A government official in Ghulja’s Samyuzi village told RFA that farmers are being allowed to work on their fields “under supervision,” adding that security cameras had been installed throughout the area to monitor whether anyone was leaving their home without permission. “If they want to go out for farming needs, they will be accompanied by village officials to the fields. They can go on a rotating basis,” she said. “We have installed security cameras on every household [to ensure no one ignores the lockdown],” she added. Residents undergo mass testing following a COVID-19 outbreak in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, China, Aug. 9, 2022. Credit: CNS via Reuters De facto lockdown In the TAR, where authorities say they had documented 20 symptomatic and 127 asymptomatic COVID-19 infections as of Friday, officials in the capital Lhasa ordered a citywide “disinfection” operation from Aug. 12-15, during which people are not to leave their homes. Sources in the city said the order amounted to a de facto three-day lockdown, although officials have refrained from using the term. Those who have been confirmed positive are being quarantined and public testing is underway, they said, although authorities have failed to ensure that residents maintain proper distancing when they do so. “Since COVID cases are rising in Lhasa and a few other regions, people who stayed in hotels and lodges in these areas and may have contact with the infected are now quarantining for safety,” a source in Tibet told RFA Tibetan. “People are being subjected to continuous testing, Potala Palace and other religious sites are shut down, schools have postponed their reopening, and people are stocking up on groceries and buying face masks.” Meanwhile, the summer tourism season is in full swing in Lhasa – despite concerns that the outbreak there is linked to visitors to the region – with Chinese travelers arriving in droves by plane, train, and car from other parts of China, the source said. “Tibetan religious pilgrims seeking to visit Lhasa from around the region are having difficulty obtaining travel permits, while Chinese tourists have no issue obtaining passes to visit Tibet,” he added. People line up to undergo nucleic acid tests for COVID-19 on Aug. 9, 2022, in Lhasa, in China’s western Tibet Autonomous Region. Credit: CNS/AFP Airports operational Another source from Lhasa told RFA they are concerned that Tibet’s airports remain open, and could lead to the import of additional cases to the region. “I understand that Lhasa will be under [a form of] lockdown from Aug. 12, but there has been no official notice from the government yet and Gonkar Airport remains open as usual,” the source said. “During earlier COVID-19 surges, the Chinese government did not restrict tourists from entering Tibet, despite the concerns of Tibetans. Now, as we see a growing number of COVID-19 outbreaks and the situation remains uncertain, we are worried about what will happen in the next few days.” According to local regulations, only travelers who are exiting Lhasa through Gonkar Airport must undergo testing for COVID-19 48 hours prior…

Pain at the pump for Myanmar motorists as fuel shortage sends prices soaring

Editor3 years ago09 mins

A fuel shortage has forced gas stations to close in major cities in Myanmar and sent prices soaring to their second highest level since the coup, prompting criticism that the junta’s restrictions on imports and manipulation of the exchange rate are to blame. On Friday, the Fuel Import, Storage and Distribution Supervision Committee under the junta’s Ministry of Energy announced that fuel shortages had driven prices up by 600 kyats (U.S. $0.30), or nearly 40% in the five days since Aug. 7. A liter (.25 gallons) of diesel and 92 octane that cost an average of 1,970 kyats (U.S. $0.94) and 1,615 kyats (U.S. $0.77) on Sunday cost 2,550 kyats (U.S. $1.21) and 2,245 kyats (U.S. $1.07), respectively, on Friday. The shortage driving up prices has led gas stations in major cities in most states and regions, including Myanmar’s largest cities Yangon and Mandalay, to close as they run out of fuel supplies, while others have been forced to limit their sales. Sources told RFA Burmese that procuring fuel had become a nightmare. “This morning, when I went looking for fuel, I found some shops selling only diesel oil, some shops selling 95 [octane] and some shops closed,” said a resident of northern Shan state’s city of Muse, near Myanmar’s border with China. “Some shops outside the city limits sell 92 octane for 2,850 kyats (U.S. $1.36) a liter, and they were selling 2,000 kyats (U.S. $0.95) worth to each motorcycle, and 20,000 kyats (U.S. $9.53) worth to each car. There were also roadside vendors selling small bottles of gas at various prices.” The resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that motorists in Muse had to pay anywhere from 7,000 to 10,000 kyats (U.S. $3.33 to $4.76) for a 1.5 liter bottle of fuel “depending on the vendor,” while smaller bottles were selling for anywhere between 3,000 to 5,000 kyats (U.S. $1.43 to $2.38). He called the fuel situation “the worst I’ve ever seen in my life.” Other sources told RFA that crucial services provided by charity organizations to make up for the junta’s shortfall in administration were being curtailed as a result of the shortage. A spokesman for a Yangon-based charity group that provides assistance to those in need of medical care told RFA that he had been forced to turn away requests for lack of fuel. “In our work, it’s hard to refuse when you get a call from a patient,” he said. “I can’t help wondering if a person had called because they were desperate and really needed us.” The spokesman said that even when the price of fuel is affordable, organizations like his don’t have enough money to buy more than what can fit in their gas tanks. “When the prices rise, we have much bigger problems to deal with,” he said. A driver fuels his vehicle in Yangon, Myanmar, Aug. 12, 2022. Credit: RFA Junta mismanagement Despite domestic fuel shortages and skyrocketing prices, junta chief Snr. Gen Min Aung Hlaing on Aug. 8 announced to a governmental work coordination meeting that the regime is seeking to reduce expenditures by cutting down on its U.S. $1.3 billion annual imports of oil and petroleum products. A fuel distributor, who declined to be named for security reasons, said the fuel shortage and rise in prices is the result of the junta’s restrictions on foreign imports. “The dollar has become so scarce that procuring gasoline has become difficult. When a certain amount becomes available, we are forced to buy it as a group and later divide it among ourselves,” he said. “In the past, we made the purchases ourselves, individually, not as a group. … We can’t do that anymore. Instead, we have to get our supply through the [junta]. It’s going to get worse if things continue this way.” Economists told RFA that the fuel shortage is also the result of controls and fixed U.S. dollar exchange rates set by the junta. One U.S. dollar cost 1,850 kyats in April, but the junta changed the rate to 2,100 kyats on Aug. 5. “Since the official rate has risen, the price of imports will surely go up. And as fuel oil is one of the imports, other prices of imports will also go up,” said one economist, speaking on condition of anonymity. “I believe that’s why they changed the exchange rate, so that fuel importers would be able to get supplies. Otherwise it’d be too difficult because the price is too different.” Economists also noted that the rising cost of fuel is increasing prices across the board for other basic goods as transportation becomes more expensive. Attempts by RFA to contact the Ministry of Energy’s Fuel Import, Storage and Distribution Supervisory Committee for comment went unanswered Friday. According to gas station records, on Jan. 31, 2021, the day before the military seized power in a coup, a liter of diesel cost 720 kyats (U.S. $0.34), a liter of 92 octane cost 695 kyats (U.S. $0.33), and a liter of 95 octane cost 815 kyats (U.S. $0.39). Shortages have caused fuel prices to rise steadily since the coup. By May 31, 2022, diesel cost 2,330 kyats (U.S. $1.11) per liter, 92 octane cost 2,225 kyats (U.S. $1.06) per liter, and 95 octane cost 2,340 kyats (U.S. $1.11). Many gas stations ran out of fuel. In early July, fuel prices began to drop but never went below 1,650 kyats (U.S. $0.79) per liter. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Category: World