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Category: World

Chinese use Muslim holiday for propaganda purposes, celebrating with Uyghurs

Editor08 mins

Authorities in Xinjiang sent local cadres to celebrate an Islamic holiday with Uyghurs in China’s far-western region amid ongoing repression of the predominantly Muslim minority group, in what Uyghur rights leaders said was a further effort to cover up the real situation there. Known as the Feast of Sacrifice, Eid al-Adha (Qurban Eid) is a major Islamic holiday that marks the end of the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. This year, the holiday began at sundown on July 8 and ended in the evening of July 9. China’s state media reported on huiju work teams of local cadres who “visited” Uyghurs bearing gifts of food and who helped them work in their fields in celebration of the holiday. State media also released a video of Uyghurs dancing in what some observers said were staged performances. A report on Tengritagh (Tianshan), the official website of the XUAR government told of how visitors spent the holiday celebrating with Uyghurs and delivering gifts of rice, noodles, cooking oil and milk. One huiju work team from the Jinghe County Water Conservancy Management Office organized a celebration with the theme “National Unity, One Family, and Eid al-Adha” in which people gathered to sing and dance at a farm in Jinghe county in Xinjiang’s Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture (in Chinese, Bortala Menggu), the report said. “Everyone dressed in festive costumes and danced gracefully,” it said. “There are well-choreographed folk dances and modern dances, as well as poetry readings and calligraphy displays. Everyone actively participated in the national unity knowledge quiz, and the activity scene was filled with the passion of unity and progress.”  Another report on the Tengritagh website cited instances of Uyghurs expressing gratitude to the Chinese Communist Party on the holiday. A huiju team from the State Grid Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture Power Supply Company in Shalatala village in Artush (Atushi) visited the homes of the poor and ‘went deep into the fields and helped the villagers to do farm work,’ the article said. An elderly villager named Ani Abriz expressed gratitude for the help the team offered and was quoted as saying, “Thanks to the party and the government for their care and concern for us. The first secretary also paid for the exterior wall of our house. Our whole family was very moved.” China’s attempts to deceive the international community by portraying ‘happy Uyghurs’ as part of its propaganda are becoming “evermore naked,” said Ilshat Hassan Kokbore, a political analyst based in the U.S. and vice chairman of the executive committee of the World Uyghur Congress. “It’s clear from its latest propaganda blitz featuring Uyghurs ‘happily’ celebrating the Qurban Eid under the watch of fang huiju officials,” he said, referring to the cadres dispatched by the regional government to monitor Uyghurs in their homes and report their activities to authorities. “Their job is to surveil, manipulate and even threaten the Uyghurs by forcing them to smile, look happy and perform for the state media to deceive the world,” Kokbore told RFA. “In fact, this is an intensive form of state repression that we’re witnessing. This inhuman treatment of Uyghurs is more than shocking, but pure evil.” Rushan Abbas, executive director of the U.S.-based Campaign for Uyghurs said that “China’s manipulation and orchestration of Uyghur happiness during the Eid” would not fool anyone. “The international community is fully aware that China has been committing an ongoing genocide against the Uyghur people and rooting out Uyghur people’s belief in Islam for the past six years,” she told RFA. “No amount of Chinese propaganda and manufactured happiness of Uyghurs will change the fact that China is actively destroying the very foundation of Uyghur people’s religious beliefs and practices,” she said. Earlier this year on Eid al-Fitr, a Muslim holiday marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, China portrayed Uyghurs in Xinjiang as enjoying religious freedom with public celebrations, contradicting documented reports by rights groups of state-backed human rights violations inside the region. Residents of Kashgar (Kashi) said authorities allegedly paid Muslim Uyghur men to dance outside the most famous mosque in Xinjiang to celebrate the May 1-2 holiday in a performance that was recorded and released by state media ahead of an anticipated visit by the United Nations human rights chief later that month. Since 2017, Chinese authorities have ramped up their repression of Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities throughout Xinjiang, detaining up to 1.8 million members of these groups in internment camps. The maltreatment also includes severe human rights abuses, torture and forced labor as well as the eradication of linguistic, cultural and religious traditions. Credible reports by rights groups and Western media documenting the widespread abuse and repression in the Xinjiang have prompted the U.S. and some parliaments in Western countries to declare that the Chinese government’s action amount to a genocide and crimes against humanity. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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Vietnam ministry proposes ending stricter oversight of Formosa steel plant

Editor07 mins

A Vietnamese government agency is proposing an end to a heightened level of oversight of a Taiwanese-owned steel plant responsible for the country’s worst-ever environmental disaster more than five years ago, despite ongoing concerns among local residents. The April 2016 release of toxic chemicals, including cyanide, polluted the coastline of four provinces over a total area of about 200 kilometers (124 miles), killing an estimated 115 tons of fish and harming the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese, including fishermen and tourism industry workers. Taiwan-owned Formosa Plastics Group acknowledged the spill came from its massive steel plant located at a deep-water port in Ha Tinh province’s Ky Anh district. The company offered U.S. $500 million in compensation after a Vietnamese government investigation determined that incident caused considerable environmental damage. Though the funds were meant to cover the cleanup and to support people along the coasts whose livelihoods were destroyed, critics said the amount has not been adequate, and many of those affected have sought additional compensation through Taiwanese courts. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment last week proposed Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính stop a special supervision mechanism for the Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh steel factory and switch to a normal monitoring arrangement. The ministry said it had determined that Formosa had addressed and repaired the detrimental impacts of the spill. Environmental experts and local residents are objecting to the plan, fearing additional environmental damage by the plant if the current level of oversight is diminished. A woman living near the plant told RFA that she does not understand the ministry’s recommendations, especially because fish and other marine life from the affected areas continue to show effects from the disaster. “After 2016 and until now, dead fish sometimes have washed ashore, especially when the waste is discharged, and the amount of live fish is less than before,” said the woman who declined to be named for security reasons. “It occurs a few times every years.” The woman said her family earned a decent income from fishing, but their lives were turned upside down after the environmental disaster. The woman, who said she served a jail sentence demonstrating against Formosa following the spill, said almost half of the villagers in the area where she lives have developed health ailments from inhaling smoke and foul-smelling gas emitted by the plant. But most residents do not dare to discuss the consequences for fear of being sent to jail, she said. Local authorities imprisoned many of the villagers who protested the factory after the spill. RFA attempted to contact the leaders of Ky Anh district and Ha Tinh province for comment, but officials there who answered the phone abruptly hung up. A former lecturer in public policy at the National Economics University in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi said that the special monitoring should continue. “Formosa has made a precedent of serious violations, causing a terrible environmental disaster that local people have to suffer for hundreds of years,” said the former academic, who declined to be named for fear of retribution. “After the disaster, Formosa Ha Tinh even blatantly challenged the public with the declaration of ‘whichever to be chosen: steel or fish.’ “Due to the impact of the sea disaster, many fishermen in Ky Anh have had to quit their jobs, and many have gone to other provinces and abroad to look for jobs,” he said. “The proposal to stop the special monitoring mechanism for Formosa Ha Tinh is a way to encourage it to commit more violations.” Nguyen Van Khai, an environmentalist and physicist, questioned why the government would want to stop the current monitoring system. “Why stop? Please announce publicly the monitoring results! Do invite people to come there and do measurement work publicly,” he said. “How is the air quality?” Khai, who has led successful industrial waste treatment projects, volunteered to measure air quality from gas and water discharged into the environment from the Formosa plant if called upon. Translated by RFA Vietnamese. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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Cambodian opposition activists wait in pretrial detention longer than legal limit

Editor06 mins

An attorney representing several jailed Cambodian opposition activists said his clients have been in pretrial detention for longer than is legally allowed, as he urged the court to quickly work to resolve their cases. More than 60 opposition activists, mostly with connections to the banned opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), have been detained for expressing their political rights. Most of them were arrested by the authorities in early 2020.  Many of the activists have been in pretrial detention longer than the 18-month legal limit, while others are close to reaching that limit, Sam Sokong, who represents nearly 10 detained activists, told RFA’s Khmer Service.      The legal limit is “six months, and it can be extended twice for six months, so that’s equal to 18 months,” he said. Sam Sokong’s clients include Kong Mas, who previously served an 18-month sentence that ended in 2020, and Khan Bun Pheng, a former commune chief detained since January 2020. Both are awaiting trial on conspiracy charges. Sam Sokong’s other clients include activists who were arrested by Thai authorities and repatriated in late 2021: Voeung Samnang and Voeun Vearn, whose alias is Prey Lang Rose Wood, who are both charged with “conspiracy and incitement;” Lahn Thavry, who is charged with “incitement;” and Mech Heang, who is charged with “insulting the government leadership.”  They have been in detention for more than eight months. Sam Sokong said that the court told him that their cases had already been sent to a trial judge, but he has yet to receive a court date. Voeung Samnang’s wife, Srey Teang Chenda, told RFA that the court has already summoned her husband from prison six times since his detention began eight months ago but has not yet taken him to trial. She said she expects the court to expedite the hearing soon and release her husband to reunite with his family because he is innocent. “It is unfair because he was not at fault. The authorities arrested him and did not prosecute,” she said.  “He has done nothing wrong and just keeping him in prison is making me suffer. I have to take care of my family alone and need to visit him at the prison [to bring him food] too,” Sreay Teang Chenda said.  RFA could not reach Phnom Penh Municipal Court spokesman Ey Rin for comment. Civil society groups say detaining suspects without a trial violates their right to due process and a speedy trial. The opposition activists’ cases are moving more slowly than others, Soeung Senkaruna, spokesperson for the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association, told RFA. “In this case, we would like to see the same legal responsibility be implemented for the detained activists, by speeding up the trial process,” he said, explaining that prolonged pre-trial detention violates the rights of the accused. “Civil society organizations have consistently insisted on the court considering dropping the charges and granting detainees liberty,” Soeung Senkaruna said. The CNRP was dissolved by Cambodia’s Supreme Court in 2017, a move that paved the way for Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party to win every seat in the National Assembly in the 2018 general election. The dissolution of the CNRP kicked off a five-year crackdown on political opposition, with many of those affiliated with the party arrested and detained on charges like conspiracy, incitement, and treason. Translated by Sok Ry Sum. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Top US diplomat: China, ASEAN should push Myanmar to end violence

Editor08 mins

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday urged Thailand along with ASEAN members and China to push Myanmar’s junta to end violence against its people and move back toward democracy following a meeting in Bangkok with Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Blinken called on the region’s government leaders to push the junta, which overthrew Myanmar’s democratic government in February 2021, to live up to a plan agreed upon two months later. Earlier, he signed a pair of cooperative agreements with Thailand’s foreign minister. “The United States is working with Thailand and all of ASEAN to push Burma’s regime to fulfill the Five-Point Consensus, end its brutal violence and put Burma back on the path to democracy,” Blinken said, using the old name for Myanmar and the acronym for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. “It is incumbent on China and in China’s interest to see Burma move back to the path it was on,” he also said. While junta government leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing agreed to the consensus in April 2021, his government has not implemented it. The consensus included an immediate end to violence in the country, the distribution of humanitarian aid, dialogue among all parties and the appointment of an ASEAN special envoy to Myanmar who would be permitted to meet with all stakeholders. “Unfortunately, it is safe to say that we have seen no positive movement. On the contrary, we continue to see the repression of the Burmese people,” Blinken said, noting members of the opposition are in jail or in exile. “The regime is not delivering what is necessary for the people.” More than 2,065 civilians have been killed in Myanmar since the coup, according to Thailand’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. After traveling to Thailand from Bali, Indonesia, where he had attended the G20 foreign ministers meeting last week, Blinken also met with his Thai counterpart, Don Pramudwinai. They signed the U.S.-Thailand Communiqué on Strategic Alliance and Partnership. “Our countries share the same goals – the free, open, interconnected, prosperous, resilient and secure Indo-Pacific. In recent years, we worked together even more closely toward that vision,” Blinken said. “I’m especially pleased to be in Thailand at a time when we have an ally and partner in the Pacific of such importance to us in the region that is shaping the trajectory of the 21st century and doing that every single day.” The communiqué, which noted the nations will celebrate their 190th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2023, listed long-term goals of expanding and strengthening the strategic partnership to prevent conflict, preserving a peaceful security environment, promoting free expression and civil and political rights, and achieving inclusive, sustainable and balanced economic prosperity. “We pursue these goals as equals, for the benefit of the Thai and American people, as well as for the rest of the Indo–Pacific populations and the wider world. We seek to work together to ensure the resilience of critical supply chains, so that both our nations have access to the goods and resources required to preserve our safety, security and prosperity,” it said. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (left) and Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai sign a memorandum of understanding at the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangkok, July 10, 2022. Credit: Stefani Reynolds/Pool via AP Blinken and Don also signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the supply chain between the two nations. “This ensures, strong, resilient and diverse supply chain cooperation, particularly in the category of industrial, technological innovation,” Don said. Bali meeting Blinken’s trip followed a five-hour meeting on Saturday with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Bali and as the two superpowers focus on maintaining their relationships with Thailand and other Southeast Asian nations. Wang visited Bangkok before traveling to Bali. Speaking to reporters in Bali, Blinken said, “What we’re about is not asking countries to choose, but giving them a choice, when it comes to things like investment in infrastructure and development systems. “What we want to make sure is that we’re engaged in a race to the top, that we do things to the highest standards, not a race to the bottom where we do things to the lowest standards.” Wang traveled to Bangkok on July 5 where he held similar meetings with Prayuth and Don. “We both agree on many issues. We agreed to jointly build joint societies for the future of Chinese and Thais, making it a guideline to future joint cooperation for both countries. … The objective of the joint societies is to stress that Chinese and Thai are no strangers but kin. The relationship is robust,” Wang told reporters in Bangkok after meeting with Don. Blinken is to travel to Tokyo where he will offer condolences on Monday to Japanese officials following the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news service. Dandy Koswaraputra in Jakarta contributed to this report.

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Police fire warning shots, beat Henan rural bank protesters amid withdrawal freeze

Editor09 mins

UPDATED at 12:02 P.M. EST on 2022-07-11 Police in the central Chinese province of Henan launched a mass beating operation at the weekend against crowds of protesters who had gathered in the provincial capital, Zhengzhou, in protest at a six-week-long freeze on bank withdrawals in the region. “[The police] called in a bunch of people in civvies to beat people up till they were covered in blood,” an eyewitness surnamed Sun told RFA on Monday. “It was awful … [I saw] a group of men beating up a woman who was bleeding from the eye.” A video of the scene posted to social media showed hundreds of police in black and white T-shirts charging a crowd of some 3,000 bank depositors outside the Zhengzhou branch of the People’s Bank of China in the early hours of Sunday. The video, uploaded to the Henan Rural Bank Rights Protection in Progress Twitter account, showed protesters shouting “Henan Bank, give me back my money!” and then calling on local ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) financial regulator Qin Hanfeng to come out and talk to them. At this point, armed police fired shots into the air, and the crowd retreated, shouting “[They’re] arresting [people]!” interspersed by further gunshot. Many were holding up placards and banners demanding the right to withdraw their funds from local branches of rural banks, in a recurring protest that has been largely unreported by China’s state-controlled news outlets. Sun said the people protesting had put their life-savings into what turned out to be criminal ventures. “They worked hard and saved so much money, and wound up handing over to a den of thieves,” she said. Other video footage showed gangs of men in white T-shirts crowding around people to beat them up methodically, and hundreds of protesters being detained and put on board dozens of buses. An officer who answered the phone at the Zhengzhou municipal police department didn’t confirm that shots were fired. “Where did you see this? Are you asking if it’s true or not? I’m not aware of this, comrade,” the officer said. “Sometimes police do fire warning shots in certain situations.” Asked about the whereabouts of the detained protesters, the officer replied: “We can’t answer this, comrade. If you leave a number, I can register your inquiry and get back to you.” No reply had been received by the time of writing, however. In response to the weekend protests, the Henan Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau and Henan Provincial Local Financial Regulatory Bureau announced Monday that some bank customers would receive advance payments beginning on July 15. Shangcai Huimin Rural Bank, Zhecheng Huanghuai Rural Bank, and Kaifeng New Oriental Rural Bank will issue payments to customers with combined account amounts of less than 50,000 yuan (U.S. $ 7,500), while those with more than that amount will be paid later, the announcement said. ‘Extremely risky’ Sporadic protests have been occurring for weeks, with depositors sometimes prevented from traveling to protest sites when their “health code” COVID-19 monitoring app suddenly turns red. In one video from May, protesters lie on the ground in a “die in,” screaming repeatedly while holding up slogans; in another, they kneel and wail, begging for access to their own money. Some 413,000 people have been left with no access to their money by the freeze on withdrawals, which the authorities say is linked to a massive police investigation into the businessman Lu Yi and his Henan New Fortune Group. The Henan Provincial Local Financial Supervision Bureau said in a statement on its website on Sunday that the “relevant departments are speeding up the verification of customer information at four rural banks … so as to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the general public.” According to Hong Kong’s Ming Pao newspaper, the rural banks started in 2006 as part of China’s rural revitalization plan, offering high interest on deposits. Many rural savers, attracted by the high interest rates on deposits and referrals from salespeople, placed their entire life savings in these high-interest deposit products, it said. By the end of 2021, there were 1,651 village and town banks in China, accounting for one-third of banking and institutions. Anyone wishing to set up a town-level village bank requires only 1 million yuan (U.S. $149,300) in registered capital, compared with 1 billion yuan (U.S. $149.3 million) for private banks nationwide. The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission recently reminded people that if any financial product promises a return of more than 6 percent, there should be a question mark over it, while anything offering a return of eight percent or more is “extremely risky.” Anyone investing in a product offering a 10-percent return should be prepared to lose all of their capital, the Ming Pao quoted the commission as saying in an apparent reference to the products offered by the Yuzhou Xinminsheng Rural Bank, Kaifeng New Oriental Rural Bank, Henan Shangcai Huimin Rural Bank, and Henan Tuocheng Huanghuai Rural Bank, which offered higher rates of return that China’s four state-owned banks. Many were prompted to transfer their entire savings, and even those of their parents, to the rural banks, only to find that withdrawals were blocked from April 18, 2022. Many of the deposits were made via third parties, locking in funds for three or five years, at an annual interest rate of 4.8 percent. Some of the banks’ online transaction systems had been manipulated by Henan New Fortune Group, but none of the depositors had access to that information at the time. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. This article has been updated to include banking authorities’ announcement on Monday of payments to customers of certain banks.

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Hong Kong rights review marred by crackdown on civil society groups

Editor010 mins

A United Nations human rights council review of Hong Kong’s rights record has been hampered by a citywide crackdown on civil society groups, which would normally make submissions as part of the process, overseas rights groups have warned. “Since the enactment of the [national security law on July 1, 2020], nearly 100 civil society organizations operating in Hong Kong have been forced to disband or relocate facing similar threats posed by the law,” London-based Amnesty International said in its submission to the council. “The [law] created an unprecedented chilling effect among civil society groups.” It said the civil society landscape had changed drastically since the last review session. Of the 15 groups and networks that submitted information to the UN Human Rights Committee in 2020 in advance of the adoption of the list of issues prior to reporting, nearly half have either closed, left Hong Kong, or stopped all activities due to threats posed by the national security law, Amnesty said. It said local human rights groups that used to facilitate civil society groups’ participation in the UN human rightsmechanisms disbanded in 2020, with several of their leaders currently detained awaiting trial on nationalsecurity charges, and others forced into exile. It said groups had been deterred from submitting to the review for fear of being accused of “collusion with foreign powers” under national security law. The same issue was raised by the U.N. committee’s vice chair Christopher Arif Bulkan who asked Hong Kong officials at a hearing on July 8: “Can you provide assurances that the [civil society organizations] who participate here today, and over the next three days, are not in danger of prosecution or victimization under the national security law, for such engagement?” Bulkan asked. Apollonia Liu, deputy secretary for security, said the national security law and Basic Law contain in-built protections for human rights, and that the crackdown hadn’t affected the human rights landscape in the city. Freedoms dismantled She cited the willingness of protesters during the 2019 protest movement to fight back against police violence as evidence of a “terrorist” threat to Hong Kong. But the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the national security law has been used to dismantle Hong Kong’s freedoms, and not just for those who threw bricks and Molotov cocktails. “Basic civil and political rights long protected in Hong Kong—including freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly—are being erased,” it said in its submission to the review process. More than 50 groups across a cross section of Hong Kong’s civil society have disbanded since the imposition of the law, HRW said. “They included some of Hong Kong’s oldest civil society groups, such as the city’s second-largest labor union, the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Union, and the Hong Kong Professional Teacher’s Union, as well as newer organizations that formed since the 2019 mass protests,” it said. Police have also demanded information from civil society groups … Some people were arrested for refusing to hand over data.” Amnesty also cited the charging of a group with “collusion with a foreign power” under the law; the Hong Kong Alliance, which ran the now-banned Tiananmen massacre candlelight vigils in Victoria Park on June 4 for 30 years. Several of its members, including barrister Chow Hang-tung, are currently behind bars awaiting trial on the same charge. Beijing-controlled newspapers also intimidated and shut down another major protest organizer, the Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF), claiming that the group’s actions “bring chaos and disasters to the city,” and was “supported by foreign anti-China forces,” Amnesty said. Lifeboat visas CHRF’s convenor, Figo Chan, faces at least 14 counts of crimes involving his efforts to organize peaceful protests in 2020, and has been held in custody since May 2021 for “organizing unlawful assembly,” it said, adding that the CHRF disbanded in August 2021. Bulkan also took issue with the recent use of colonial-era sedition laws to prosecute the authors of a children’s book, supporters who clapped from the public gallery during a court hearing, and a pop star who criticized the government’s COVID-19 policies on social media. “These actions are acceptable in a democratic society, which is the legitimate exercise of freedom of expression protected by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” Bulkan told the council. “In a democratic society, individuals have the right to criticize the government, and the crime of sedition should not be used as an excuse to suppress dissenting voices.” The session of the committee of 18 international experts will continue on Tuesday, while a closing session will take place on July 22. The London-based rights group Hong Kong Watch has warned that almost two million Hong Kongers lack a viable route out of the city as they are ineligible for the lifeboat visas currently on offer from the U.K., Canada and Australia. “Governments around the world must do more to support Hong Kongers who need to get out of the city,” the group’s chief executive Benedict Rogers said in a recent statement. “The need is greater now more than ever as John Lee, the former Security Secretary who was responsible for the 2019 crackdown and whose entire career has been in policing and locking people up, takes the reins in Hong Kong,” Rogers said. “There is now a genuine and well-founded fear that Hong Kong is becoming a police state.” The U.K.’s British National Overseas (BNO) visa scheme will covers around 5.4 million people when a rule change to include 18–24-year-olds takes effect in November, Hong Kong Watch said. Canada’s route is open to around 200,000 people, and Australia’s will benefit around 11,000 Hong Kongers already in the country, it said. The U.S. has only allowed 20,000 Hong Kongers to overstay existing visas, while the EU lacks any scheme at all, it said. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Sino-Pakistan naval exercise raises concern in India

Editor06 mins

China and Pakistan kicked off a four-day joint maritime exercise on Sunday in an effort to bolster their naval cooperation, which some analysts see as a cause of concern for India. China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) sent a submarine, three warships and four aircraft to the Sea Guardians-2 drills off Shanghai, the PLA Daily said. PLAN spokesperson Liu Wensheng was quoted by Chinese media as saying that the exercise was “arranged according to the annual military cooperation plan of the two navies, has nothing to do with the regional situation and is not targeted at any third party.” Participating ships from the PLA Eastern Theatre Command include the guided-missile frigates Xiangtan and Shuozhou, the comprehensive supply ship Qiandaohu and one submarine. There is also one early warning aircraft, two fighter jets and a helicopter. Pakistan sent the frigate Taimur, the second of four powerful Type 054A/P ships built by China for Pakistan’s navy. The PLA said the joint maritime exercise aimed to “push forward development of the China-Pakistan all-weather strategic partnership of cooperation.” It will feature training courses including joint strikes against maritime targets, joint tactical maneuvering, joint anti-submarine warfare and joint support for damaged vessels. ‘Gaining momentum’ The drills follow last month’s visit to China by Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa. During the trip, Gen. Javed Bajwa held talks with Zhang Youxia, one of China’s top generals and Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission. “Naval cooperation between China and Pakistan has been going on for quite some time but is gaining momentum now,” said Sana Hashmi, an Indian analyst and currently Visiting Fellow at the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation in Taipei. “This exercise in particular is being noticed in India as China’s reach in the IOR [Indian Ocean Region] will be bolstered with Pakistan’s assistance. Definitely a cause of concern for India,” she said. Indian media reported that Sino-Pakistan military cooperation in recent years focused more on navies as “China gradually stepped up its naval presence in India’s backyard, the Indian Ocean.” The current event is the second Sea Guardians exercise, the first was held in January 2020 in the North Arabian Sea. The Press Trust of India (PTI) said the Arabian Sea is strategically important as many major Indian ports are located there and it provides entry to the Indian Ocean where China recently built a logistics base at Djibouti in the Horn of Africa. Beijing has also acquired the operational control of Pakistan’s Gwadar port in the Arabian Sea, which connects with China’s Xinjiang province by land as part of the U.S.$60-billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).  Further to that, it obtained a 99-year lease of Sri Lanka’s second largest port, Hambantota and is developing it as part of the ambitious Belt and Road Initiative. “CPEC exists primarily to extend and strengthen China’s reach to the IOR and that’s one of the reasons besides the sovereignty issues that India opposes CPEC,” said Hashmi, adding that the Sino-Pakistan growing ties “will further bolster the Quad and encourage them to strengthen maritime cooperation.” The Quad, or Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, is a strategic security dialogue between Australia, India, Japan, and the United States. Beijing has been slamming it, saying that the group represents an attempt to form an “Asian NATO.” Quad countries have repeatedly rejected the criticism. The Pakistan Navy ordered four powerful Type 054A/P frigates from China in 2017, two of which were delivered this year. It also signed a multi-billion deal to acquire eight submarines from China by 2028.

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At least six burned bodies found in Magway region village

Editor04 mins

Two days of fighting between junta troops and People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) in Magway region’s Myaing township ended with the grisly discovery of charred bodies scattered across a village. Locals told RFA that at least six burned corpses were found in the remains of Sue Win village on Friday. They said they believed there were more victims as the body parts had been scattered. The corpses were so badly burned they could not be identified.  “There were more than six bodies,” said a local, who declined to be named for safety reasons. “They were not burned in one place. There were many bodies. They were found in four places.”  Battles between junta forces and local militia groups began on Friday and continued the next day. Locals told RFA they believed the military council had burned the bodies along with four houses and they think the dead are a mixture of locals and PDF members.  However, since the bodies have not yet been identified, it is not yet known if junta forces were among the dead. Some of the bodies were wearing bulletproof vests and army boots, with scarves tied around their necks in the military style indicating the military was trying to cover up its own casualties. Local junta Capt. Soe Win is believed to be among the dead. “The bodies were brought here in a vehicle,” said a local PDF member. “There were more than seven or eight bodies including those killed in the fighting on the way to our village.” The military council has not released any information on the discovery of the bodies and calls to a spokesman by RFA on Monday went unanswered. Ongoing battles between junta troops and the PDFs have left thousands homeless in Myanmar’s second largest region. On June 15 troops torched more than 3,000 houses in one township. Locals in Myaing township say residents of more than ten villages in the area have fled from the military council’s scorched-earth operations.Figures from Data for Myanmar show that 22 people had been killed in Magway between February last year and the end of April 2022 but more up to date figures are not available. D4M also reported last month that troops had torched more than 3,000 houses in Magway in the first 16 months following the coup.

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Russia’s Lavrov walks out of G20 meeting over condemnation of Ukraine war

Editor09 mins

The G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Bali concluded Friday with several nations’ top diplomats condemning Moscow’s war in Ukraine in the presence of their Russian counterpart, who walked out at least once during what he called the “frenzied castigation.” Retno Marsudi, the chief diplomat of host country Indonesia, did not say whether the meeting reached any consensus about food security, but mentioned that participants were deeply concerned about the conflict’s “global impact on food, energy and finance.” Some of the Group of Twenty members “expressed condemnation” of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, she said, adding, “It is our responsibility to end the war as quickly as possible. And to build bridges and not walls.” “Developing countries will be the most affected, particularly low-income countries and small, developing countries. There is an urgent need to address global food supply chain disruptions, integrating food and fertilizer from Ukraine and Russia into the global market,” Rento said in a statement after the meeting. Since Russia invaded the neighboring country on Feb. 24, its military forces have blocked all of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports and cut off access to almost all of that country’s exports – especially of grain – sparking fears of a global food crisis. Ukraine is the world’s fourth-largest grain exporter. Before the meeting started, Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, had to deal with tough questions from at least one reporter. “When will you stop the war?” a German journalist asked as Moscow’s top diplomat shook hands with Retno. Lavrov did not respond and walked away. At the ministers’ meeting, Lavrov, sat between representatives from Saudi Arabia and Mexico. He later told reporters that during the meeting, he accused the West of preventing a peaceful solution to the conflict in Ukraine by refusing to talk to Russia. “If the West doesn’t want talks to take place but wishes for Ukraine to defeat Russia on the battlefield – because both views have been expressed – then perhaps, there is nothing to talk about with the West,” TASS, the Russian state news agency, quoted him as saying. Asked if there was any chance that he and Blinken could talk, he said: “It was not us that abandoned all contact. It was the United States.” “If they don’t want to talk, it’s their choice,” Lavrov added. Before the U.S. diplomat left for Bali, U.S. State Department officials said that he would not meet Lavrov formally until the Russians were “serious about diplomacy.” But the Reuters news agency quoted Indonesia’s Retno as saying that Lavrov and Blinken were seen in a conversation in the meeting room. Additionally, Blinken is said to have responded to Lavrov’s accusations against the West, Reuters said, citing an unnamed diplomat, who added, though, that Lavrov wasn’t in the room at that time. “He addressed Russia directly, saying: To our Russian colleagues: Ukraine is not your country. Its grain is not your grain. Why are you blocking the ports? You should let the grain out,’” the official said, according to Reuters. The meeting on Friday occurred under the shadow of the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during an election campaign speech in Nara, Japan. In a message of condolence to the Japanese people, Retno said Abe would “be remembered as the best role model for all.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks to reporters during the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting at the Mulia Hotel in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, July 8, 2022. Credit: Joan Tanamal/BenarNews ‘Everyone has to feel comfortable’ After the meeting, Lavrov and his German counterpart traded barbs. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock criticized Lavrov for being absent from the meeting room, according to German news agency DPA. “The fact that the Russian foreign minister spent a large part of the negotiations here not in the room but outside the room underlines that there is not even a millimeter of willingness to talk on the part of the Russian government at the moment,” DPA quoted Baerbock as saying. She noted that Lavrov was not present at discussions on how to improve global food supply and distribution problems. For his part, Lavrov questioned Western manners when informing reporters that G7 diplomats had skipped a welcome dinner organized by Indonesia on Thursday, TASS reported. “A welcome reception organized by Indonesia was held yesterday, a reception and a concert, and they [G7 countries] were absent from it,” Lavrov said. “This is how they understand protocol, politeness and code of conduct,” he added. Indonesia’s Retno spoke about the boycotted dinner. “We are trying to create a comfortable situation for all. When the G7 countries said they could not attend the optional informal reception, they all talked and I said I could understand the situation because once again, everyone has to feel comfortable,” Retno said. Indonesia has been trying to mediate between Russia and Ukraine, with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo visiting the two countries last month on a trip he described as a peace mission. While his mission to persuade Moscow to declare a ceasefire did not immediately materialize, Jokowi said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had promised he would secure safe sea passage of grain and fertilizers from the world’s breadbaskets Russia and Ukraine, to avert a global food crisis. BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news service.

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Sagaing residents say they face discrimination under Myanmar junta

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Burmese citizens with national registration cards indicating they reside in northwestern Myanmar’s Sagaing region face travel restrictions and other forms of discrimination under Myanmar’s ruling military regime because they hail from the part of the country with the greatest armed resistance to the junta, locals said Friday. The junta which seized power from the elected government in February 2021 has faced the fiercest armed resistance in Sagaing region. Most of the region’s 34 townships and more than 5,900 villages have been affected by fighting between military forces and members of the anti-junta People’s Defense Forces (PDF). The hostilities and the burnings of villages have displaced thousands of residents in the region. The junta announced in late March that authorities could check the national registration cards, also known as citizenship verification cards, of people in the region anywhere on demand. Residents of the region told RFA that people holding national registration cards that identify them as being from the area are limited in where they can travel and cut off from employment opportunities. A Myaung township resident, who requested anonymity for safety reasons, said registration card holders have been subjected to stricter checks than are those registered in other regions and states since the junta made its announcement. “There’s nothing we can do about transportation or communications or getting jobs,” he said. “You cannot lie to them as every detail is on the registration card.” Though no one wants to accept people who have cards beginning with the numerical prefix that identifies them as Sagaing residents, locals are proud that they hold such ID documents, he said. “But we face a lot of difficulties in travelling and finding jobs,” he said, adding that he was dismayed that employers in other areas of Myanmar discriminated against migrant workers from Sagaing. A company worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity for the same reason, said authorities question him now when he travels more than they do others. “It’s just a normal trip, [and] there are many checkpoints along the way,” he said. “There’s a lot of questioning at some checkpoints. They gave you suspicious looks. You will be asked many questions even though it’s a normal business trip, just because you are holding a card with the prefix 5/ and you live in a township where there are concerning situations.’ “I’m always worried they might not accept my answers and turn me back,” the worker added. ‘Public security’ work A hotel owner in central Myanmar’s Mandalay region, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said regime authorities had not instructed hotels to conduct strict checks of Sagaing region citizens, though they had been told to maintain a list of guests and their phone numbers. “There are no specific orders to strictly check guests from what township or region they come from,” he said, adding that he did not record the townships from which his guests came. “But we have been told to keep records of names and phone numbers of guests who stay here because of the current situation in the country and we have to send guest lists to [authorities] regularly,” he said. “They will take action against us if we don’t follow the orders.” In the past, guests were allowed to stay at guesthouses without presenting their national registration cards if they could produce other identification documents. Sagaing residents also told RFA that people from the region who want to go abroad for work have been subjected to strict censorship, and some have been refused passports. Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun said there were no special restrictions as such, however. “Even in places like [the capital] Naypyidaw, you can find people fleeing from the people’s Defense Forces violence in Sagaing region,” he said. “Of course, there may be security checks in some places,” he said. “This is not done for these registration card owners. They’re just doing their work for public security.” Nazin Latt, a National League for Democracy lawmaker for Sagaing’s Kanbalu township, described the discrimination as “psychological warfare.” “It’s a violation of human rights to oppress people in areas with strong opposition, for jobs or travel whether it be for security reasons or not,” he told RFA. “On the one hand, it is seen as a systematic psychological warfare — being refused jobs or being refused to put up at guest houses, finding it difficult to get jobs in Yangon and Mandalay, all these issues. It also depends a lot on the employers.” A recent job announcement in Mandalay’s Pyin Oo Lwin township, said that people holding cards with the Sagaing numerical prefix on their ID cards could not apply. RFA could not reach the recruiter by phone for comment. In the past, during the height of armed conflict between national forces and the ethnic rebel Arakan Army (AA) in Rakhine state, the military and military-controlled local administrative authorities imposed similar restrictions on citizens with the numerical code for the western state on their national registration cards. The residents were prevented from traveling in other areas of the country, especially in northern Shan state, on suspicion that they might be heading there to participate in military training offered by AA near the border with China. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane for RFA Burmese. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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