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Category: World

After Lao rivers run red, authorities order iron mine to stop production

Editor07 mins

Authorities in Laos have ordered a Vietnamese mining company to suspend its operations after it polluted local waterways, causing two rivers to run red, local media reported. The Company of Economic Cooperation in Vietnam (Coecco) runs a mining operation in the Boualapha district of Laos’ southern Khammouane province. When “red water” began flowing down the Sa-A and Xe Noi Rivers starting on June 21, the governors of Khamouane and the downstream Savannakhet provinces, along with the minister of Natural Resources and Environment, inspected three Boualapha district mining operations, local outlet Next Media reported. Investigators discovered that Coecco’s mine was to blame and also discovered the company had been conducting illegal mining activities. On June 27, the Ministry of Energy and Mines issued a notice that ordered Coecco to stop all operations until the company completes construction of a larger waste treatment facility. “Pollution has been affecting many villages along the Sa-A and Xe Noi Rivers,” an official of Savannakhet’s Vilabouly district told RFA’s Lao Service on condition of anonymity to speak freely. “The most affected are four villages — Nateu, Katae, Na Yom and Hoei Phai — here in Vilabouly district,” the official said. The water turns red when the mines wash iron and release waste into the river, a resident of Nateu, who like the rest of the sources in this story, declined to be named for safety reasons, told RFA. “The river water becomes red, undrinkable and unusable. Some villagers here who are rich can dig wells and get [uncontaminated] groundwater, but the poorer folks have no choice but to use the red water,” the Nateu resident said. The red water in the facility overflows when it rains, the villager said. Prior to the ministerial order to halt operations, authorities and villagers in Vilabouly district wrote a letter demanding Coecco stop polluting, but the company did nothing. Bathing in the red water leaves residue on villagers’ bodies, a resident of Hoei Phai told RFA. “I took a bath in the Sa-A River on the other day. The red water stuck to my body, my arms and my legs,” the Hoei Phai resident said. “The governors of Khammouane and Savannakhet provinces and the minister came down here, so this week the company agreed to stop operations. The company previously ignored the demand of the district authorities,” the Hoei Phai resident said A resident of Nong Kapad village in te Boulapha district told RFA that residents there have been less affected by pollution even though the mine is located in the district. “We live far away from the rivers, but a lot of villages in the south, especially those four in Vilabouly district in Savannakhet, have been badly affected. They can’t drink the water or take baths in the rivers,” the Nong Kapad villager said. The residents are unhappy about the red water, a Khammouane province Natural Resources and Environment Department official, who was part of the inspection team, told RFA. “The company must improve the [waste] treatment system as required by the governors and the minister. The waste reservoir is too small and substandard, so that is why the waste is flowing down into the rivers,” the official said. The official said that the inspection team did not discuss the issue of building wells for the residents when they met with Coecco. When asked if the red water was toxic, the official responded, “All the information regarding this matter is kept by the inspecting committee.” The Lao government gave the concession to Coecco for rights to extract iron ore in a five-hectare (12.3-acre) plot in Boualapha district in July 2021. So far, the company has produced 36,000 tons of ore. Foreign-invested farming, mining and development projects in Laos have been touted as a boon for development and employment in the impoverished nation. But the projects have sparked friction over land taken without proper compensation, harsh labor conditions and environmental pollution. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Xian under seven-day lockdown amid surge in COVID-19 cases across eastern China

Editor07 mins

Authorities across China have stepped up mass testing and COVID-19 restrictions as cases continued to surge in major cities. Millions stood in line in Shanghai to get tested on Thursday, as the local authorities said they had traced a renewed outbreak to an underground karaoke parlor, with residents of several districts ordered to take two PCR tests between Tuesday and Thursday. Rapid self-tests are already mandatory to enter shopping malls or to use public transportation, while dozens of residential compounds were under lockdown. Meanwhile, authorities in the northern city of Xian have imposed a seven-day lockdown from Wednesday, with the growing raft of zero-COVID restrictions already having an impact on supply chains. Schools, restaurants and entertainment venues will be closed for seven days, including libraries, cultural venues and other indoor public places. The health code tracker app will be used to ensure anyone entering other public places like supermarkets or restaurants for takeout has a green code denoting a negative PCR test from the past 48 hours. “Now there are people infected in every district, so starting yesterday (Tuesday), everyone has to test twice over three days,” a Shanghai resident surnamed Wu told RFA. “Residents are allowed to go out, but you can’t get into hospitals, supermarkets or other stores without a code showing a PCR test in the past 48 hours.” In Wuxi city, Jiangsu province, authorities are also scrambling to prevent further community transmission after reporting 172 newly confirmed cases. A health worker takes a swab sample from a child to be tested for the Covid-19 coronavirus in Sixian county, Suzhou city, in China’s eastern Anhui province, July 4, 2022. Credit: AFP Supply concerns A resident of Wuxi surnamed Shen said that a number of factories are now operating in “closed-loop” bubbles, meaning that some supplies were unable to get through. “Many people are worried that supply chains will be disrupted again,” Shen said. Since June 26, 13 cities in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui have reported outbreaks of cases totaling more than 1,000. Constitutional scholar Zhang Lifan posted video clips to his Twitter account on Wednesday showing a gathering of people and police at the Beijing Institute of Technology, in protest at current COVID-19 restrictions on campus. An employee who answered the phone at the university on Tuesday declined to comment when contacted by RFA. “Protest? Who is this?” the employee said, before hanging up the phone. Zhang said strict controls on people entering and leaving the campus had prompted the protest after the school authorities required anyone passing through a checkpoint at the gate to give a day’s notice of their movements. A lecturer surnamed Zhou said staff could use the “normal channels” to complain about school policies. “I will listen to your suggestions at any time,” Zhou said. “We have a meeting this afternoon, and we are willing to listen.” “I would like to take public opinion into account, but some people think one thing, and the rest another; it’s all different,” he said. A 93-year-old man who was beaten up by police after he tried to get a PCR test certificate to attend a hospital appointment lies in bed explaining the incident to neighbors in the northeastern city of Dandong. The man later took his life. Credit: Citizen journalist. Police beating followed by suicide Meanwhile, residents of the northeastern city of Dandong were left reeling after the suicide of a 93-year-old man who was beaten up by police after he tried to get a PCR test certificate to attend a hospital appointment. Police beat him after he started to drop his pants to show them his hernia, then lost his grip, leading to what the police said was “indecent behavior.” Wuhan-based activist Zhang Hai, who has campaigned for compensation after losing his father to COVID-19 at the start of the pandemic, said the treatment of the old man was unacceptable. “This 93-year-old man just wanted to see a doctor, and he was a bit slow and unsteady,” Zhang said. “Instead of treating him like an old man, they handcuffed him, and beat him up.” He said such police violence is very common in China. “When they beat someone, they call it law enforcement, but if people fight back, that’s assaulting a police officer,” Zhang said. “Police should be held legally responsible for beating people.” Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Hong Kong loses international luster as its sanctioned government calls for rebrand

Editor012 mins

Authorities in Hong Kong Thursday suspended flight bans on specific routes and boosted COVID-19 testing requirements for newly arrived passengers, in an apparent bid to send a message that it remains an international city despite U.S. sanctions on its leader John Lee. Since being sworn in by ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping on July 1, Lee has called on people to tell the rest of the world about Hong Kong’s “stories and achievements,” echoing Xi’s call for state media to “tell good stories about China.” But critics pointed to a lack of space in mandatory government quarantine facilities and a plummeting international reputation on human rights and freedoms, both of which will likely hamper Lee’s efforts to rebrand Hong Kong. “Further enhanced and more frequent [PCR] testing for inbound persons is more effective in halting the importation of cases,” the government said in a statement. “[We have] has therefore decided to suspend … the route-specific flight suspension mechanism until further notice.” Earlier, Lee had urged members of the city’s Legislative Council (LegCo) and media to “tell others about Hong Kong’s stories and achievements.” “This will create a sense of identity, including an international identity, and everyone will feel proud to be from Hong Kong,” Lee said, adding: “We have to work together to build this awareness.” A EuroCham survey found in March 2022 that 25 percent of companies that responded to its poll had said they will “fully relocate” out of the city during the next 12 months, citing highly restrictive COVID-19 measures. More than 50 percent said they were having trouble attracting talent from overseas, the survey said. Police gather in the Wanchai district of Hong Kong on June 29, 2022, close to where celebrations to mark the 25th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China took place on July 1. Credit: AFP Sanctions for crackdown But Hong Kong’s international image is also being marred by the fact that Lee and many of his senior officials are subject to U.S. sanctions as individuals deemed responsible by Washington for implementing a draconian national security law, that ushered in a citywide crackdown on political opposition and peaceful dissent in the wake of the 2019 protest movement. Hong Kong current affairs commentator Chung Kim-wah said Lee will find it hard to leave Hong Kong, as any company — including banks and credit card companies — with a presence in the U.S. is now proscribed from doing business with him. “He has been sanctioned, so it’s hard for him to leave Hong Kong,” Chung told RFA. “He can only use cash, so how can he tell a good story about Hong Kong?” “It doesn’t matter how well he tells it; there are so many places he can’t actually get to … [including] important trading partners of Hong Kong, places where he might go to attract investors,” he said. Nearly all of Lee’s predecessors since the job was created with the 1997 handover, including shipping magnate Tung Chee-hwa, former financial chief Donald Tsang and pro-Beijing stalwart Leung Chun-ying, made sure that their first overseas trip after taking office was to Washington, where they tried to boost trade and economic ties with the U.S. But key members of Lee’s cabinet, including second-in-command Paul Chan and security chief Chris Tang, are themselves the targets of U.S. sanctions for their part in the suppression of Hong Kong’s promised rights and freedoms. The city’s human rights record will also be up for review at the United Nations from July 7-12, inviting further public scrutiny of the impact of the national security crackdown on the city’s seven million people. The bid to “talk about stories and achievements” is also part of an ongoing attempt by the authorities to erase collective memory of the city’s former freedoms and once vibrant political life, which once included one of the freest media sectors in the world. “[The handover anniversary on] July 1 always used to mean a demonstration, because there was nothing to celebrate about the return of Hong Kong [to Chinese rule],” former Polytechnic University social science lecturer Lake Lui, now based on the democratic island of Taiwan, told RFA. “There was always a march, from 2003 onwards. The first, back when I was in college, was in protest against [national security legislation],” Lui said. “Later, it was to fight for fully democratic elections.” People waving goodbye as a family makes their way through the departure gates of Hong Kong’s International Airport, July 22, 2021. Credit: AFP Net outflow of emigrants The people of Hong Kong may still be marching, but this time away from their beloved city. Immigration statistics for the first three months of 2022 showed a net outflow of more than 140,000 people from Hong Kong, far exceeding the number of arrivals. A Chinese University of Hong Kong poll last year found that nearly 60 percent of 800 respondents aged 15 to 30 wanted to leave the city. Wang Ssi-yue chose to study in Hong Kong after graduating from high school in 2011. “I probably wouldn’t choose to study or work in Hong Kong if [I were graduating] now,” she said. “There’s too much that’s unstable about living there, and a sense that it could be risky.” She remembers the city as being far freer than it is now. “There was no sense of self-censorship, even on sensitive topics. People would just joke about it,” Wang said. “[We felt] nothing would happen to us because it was Hong Kong.” “I didn’t expect that to end so abruptly,” she said. “It’s really scary; it’s like watching a city die.” Waning confidence Former Hong Kong Baptist University sociology professor Yao-Tai Li agreed. “Since the national security law was implemented, people have less and less confidence in Hong Kong as an international city,” Li said. “Many of my former colleagues in academic and financial circles have now left.” “Hong Kong is slowing losing what once made it unique, which was the intersection of…

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FBI and MI5 team up to warn of the risks of Chinese hackers and spies

Editor08 mins

In an unprecedented joint appearance Wednesday, the heads of U.S. and U.K. security agencies warned about China’s hacking and economic espionage, which they called “the most game-changing challenge we face.” FBI director Christopher Wray in a speech delivered at the London headquarters of MI5, the British domestic intelligence service, said “it’s the Chinese government that poses the biggest long-term threat to our economic and national security.” He added that Beijing was “set on stealing your technology, whatever it is that makes your industry tick, and using it to undercut your business and dominate your market.” MI5 Director General Ken McCallum said that his agency “has already more than doubled” the effort against Chinese activity of concern in the last three years.  “Today we’re running seven times as many investigations as we were in 2018,” he said, adding that MI5 plans “to grow as much again” to counter threats by China. “The Chinese Communist Party is interested in our democratic, media and legal systems. Not to emulate them, sadly, but to use them for its gain,” said the MI5 head. This joint appearance by the two agencies’ heads is seen as a show of Western solidarity and, as Wray put it, “FBI and MI5 are united in this fight.” McCallum meanwhile said: “Today is the first time the heads of the FBI and MI5 have shared a public platform. We’re doing so to send the clearest signal we can on a massive shared challenge: China.” ‘Immense threat’ “Such a joint appearance, focused on the activities of one country, is highly unusual,” said Matthew Brazil, Fellow at the Jamestown Foundation and co-author of the book “Chinese Communist Espionage’. “It indicates that London and Washington think their business communities are insufficiently aware, or even negligent, of technology theft by Beijing’s security services,” said Brazil, who also serves as China analyst for Washington D.C.-based firm BluePath Lab. “This is not hyperbole. The 2021 annual survey of members by the U.S.-China Business Council indicate that American firms may be worried about the bilateral relationship, but they are still making money in China,” he said. The China analyst warned there is a systemic problem with corporations seeking short-term returns and some high-tech businesses being “more focused on being a generation ahead of competitors than losing last year’s technology to a foreign government.” In his remarks to business leaders in Thames House, London, Christopher Wray, who spent 12 years in the private sector, called the threat by China “immense” and “a far more complex and pervasive threat to businesses than even most sophisticated company leaders realize.” “Where we see some companies stumble is in thinking that by attending to one, or a couple, of these dangers, they’ve got the whole Chinese government danger covered—when really, China just pivots to the remaining door left unattended,” the FBI boss said. The FBI and MI5 leaders gave a number of examples of Chinese economic espionage, with Ken McCallum warning that “privileged information is gathered on multiple channels, in what is sometimes referred to as the ‘thousand grains of sand’ strategy.” China’s ambition “The aim here is not to cut off from China – one fifth of humanity, with immense talent,” the MI5 head said. “We’re not talking about Chinese people,” he said, adding that his agency is focused on the Chinese Communist Party and certain parts of the Chinese State, whose “scale of ambition is huge.” The FBI’s Wray was more direct when he said that the Chinese government is “using intimidation and repression to shape the world to be more accommodating to China’s campaign of theft.” “The Chinese Government sees cyber as the pathway to cheat and steal on a massive scale,” he said, adding that China’s “lavishly resourced” hacking program is bigger than that of every other major country combined.  The Chinese government has yet to respond but a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington rejected the allegations given in the joint address. Liu Pengyu said in an emailed statement to the Associated Press that China “firmly opposes and combats all forms of cyber-attacks” and called the accusations groundless. Christopher Wray warned about the possibility that China may try to forcibly take over Taiwan, saying “it would represent one of the most horrific business disruptions the world has ever seen.” The intelligence chiefs called for more cooperation to counter imminent threats. The U.K. has shared intelligence about cyber threats with 37 countries, according to MI5’s McCallum who said that security alliances such as the Five Eyes comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States “remain at the heart of our response.”

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Body of NLD politician found in Myanmar’s Kayin state

Editor05 mins

The body of a National League for Democracy MP has been found two weeks after his arrest. Kyaw Myo Min had been tied up and buried in a shallow grave in Kayin state’s Hpa-An township. He had been arrested in his home town of Belin in neighboring Mon state on June 22 along with two other NLD members and a local who were traveling by motorcycle. Junta forces shot at them and they were then arrested. An NLD member told RFA the troops had tried to hide Kyaw Myo Min’s body. “He was tied up at his back and buried on the shore of the creek, but he was not buried well and his head was visible. It seems the body was dumped on the shore of the creek and covered with leaves. It was difficult to identify the body as it had decomposed. There were no visible bullet or stab wounds”, he said. A member of Kyaw Myo Min’s family, who spoke on condition of anonymity for safety reasons, said the family knew he was in danger because it was impossible to contact him after his arrest. Last Saturday locals also found the bodies of the other two arrested NLD members, Pan Myint and Ko Ko Maung. The bodies were dumped in Hpa-An township close to where the MP’s body was found. There are a number of infantry troops stationed in Belin township: the Thein Zayat-based Kha Ma Ya 207 brigade, the Kyaik Hto-based Kha La Ya , Kha Ma Ya 102 from Tha Hton, along with Military Battalion 33 and the Border Guard Force Brigade. It is not yet known which troops were involved in the arrests and killings. Calls to the military council spokesman by RFA went unanswered and it has not released any statement on Kyaw Myo Min’s arrest. One of his family members told RFA the local who was arrested with the NLD members managed to escape so the troops broke the other captives’ legs and critically injured Kyaw Myo Min. “Now they are doing what the powerful do: anything they want without following laws regarding prisoners,” said an NLD source and colleague of the murdered MP. “I will record their illegal activities so I can recall them during the [coming] revolution. People will know who committed the crimes and they will be made to suffer one day.”  Kyaw Myo Min became an MP in 2011. He also served as chairman of the Belin branch of the NLD. An NLD statement released in May said 917 NLD members had been arrested since the coup on February 1, 2021. It also said 18 party members, including MPs, died due to inadequate health care and brutal interrogations. Many NLD members joined the mass protests after the 2021 coup and armed themselves to fight after junta forces launched a brutal crackdown on peaceful protests.

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Vietnam criticizes Facebook for not removing “malicious news”

Editor07 mins

Vietnam’s government has hit out at Facebook, accusing owners Meta Platforms of ignoring calls for it to block posts containing content considered “malicious” in the country. The government considers any comments that criticize the ruling communist party or the government as “malicious” along with content that incites violence. There are around 70 million Facebook users in Vietnam. The platform was singled out by Luu Dinh Phuc, Director of the Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information at the Ministry of Information and Communications. Speaking at a workshop last week on activities in the field of electronic information in the first six months of the year Phuc said “Some foreign enterprises providing cross-border services to Vietnam still find ways to avoid preventing malicious information in Vietnam, typically its Facebook.” Social media companies bow to government calls to remove posts VietNamNet’s ictnews website said on March 29 that foreign social networking platforms including Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok removed thousands of posts with allegedly malicious content that slandered the Vietnamese Party and State in the first three months of this year. The figures, supplied by Vietnamese authorities, showed that the social media companies took down all but 10% of the posts objected to by the government. The figures also showed that Alphabet’s Google removed 2,679 videos identified as breaking the law on its YouTube platform with a removal/blocking rate of 93%. ByteDance’s short form video site TikTok removed or blocked 71 videos, or 87% of the total. Facebook removed 5% fewer posts than in the same period last year and Google’s removal rate dropped by 3%. Nguyen Ngoc Truong, the former president of the Center for Strategic Studies and International Relations Development (CSSD), told RFA he didn’t believe government censors were being too heavy handed. “I find social media in Vietnam very good, compared with China and Russia. Here there is freedom and comfortable access. There are no restrictions with the exception of a few sensitive areas,” he said. When RFA asked Nguyen for his views on the blocking of some foreign news sites in Vietnam he said it made sense to censor sensitive material but in general “there are things that are not worth interfering with,” adding that sometimes authorities can be too sensitive when dealing with foreign news sources. Hanoi-based teacher Tran Thi Thao, who often criticizes the regime and government officials on Facebook, told RFA that in May one of her articles was restricted by the platform due to what it called a “legal requirement.” She said on another occasion her post was moved to a lower position on the news feed for nearly a month. Thao said she believed that Facebook was still complying with requests to block news considered critical of the communist party and the government. The seventh largest Facebook user base in the world Figures from the World Population Review website show that Vietnam had the seventh highest number of Facebook users in the world in 2020 and 2021, which may explain why Facebook responds favorably to government censorship requests. Last October the Washington Post reported that Facebook co-founder and Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally signed a commitment with the Vietnamese Government to limit posts on the social network that are considered “anti-state,” because he didn’t want to be shut out of one of the most important social media markets in Asia. Not all Vietnamese Facebook users are critical of the site’s policies. Hanoi-based civil activist Do The Dang, who writes and share articles related to many issues in Vietnam, said he had been using Facebook for more than 10 years and had never been suspended. RFA emailed Meta’s California headquarters to ask for its response to the Vietnamese government’s criticism but did not receive a reply. The company’s Transparency Center page says “Meta responds to government requests for data in accordance with applicable law and our terms of service. Each and every request we receive is carefully reviewed for legal sufficiency and we may reject or require greater specificity on requests that appear overly broad or vague.” In its section on Vietnam the Transparency Center said it had received six requests from the Vietnamese government to delete Facebook posts in the second half of last year and removed two of them. In the first half of the year it received three requests and removed one post.  

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Tibetans skirt tight Chinese surveillance to mark the Dalai Lama’s 87th birthday

Editor07 mins

Tibetans bucked tight Chinese security and online surveillance to honor the 87th birthday Wednesday of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama with incense and picnics, sources in the region said. Previous years have seen arrests in the weeks around the July 6 birthday and Lhasa and other population centers across Tibet and Tibetan regions of Chinese provinces faced beefed up security this year. “Despite Chinese authorities’ clampdown on celebrations of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 87th birthday, Tibetans inside Tibet are finding ways to observe the anniversary, either covertly or openly” said a Tibetan in the region who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “On July 6th Many Tibetans are making Sangso incense smoke offerings on the top of hills in their respective areas, and Tibetans are also commemorating the day by holding picnics at other places,” said the source. Despite the intensifying security this year, “there are Tibetans inside Tibet, who write essays and articles in praise of His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the occasion,” the source said. The articles “are widely read and shared on social media,” he added. Chinese authorities in the Himalayan region made everyone attend meetings to warn Tibetans not to share any kinds of photos and telling them that their cellphones will be checked for banned content, another source said. “In many places, new checkpoints are erected that check all travelers and police units are established to spy on the activities of the family,” the second source said. “This year around in recent days, the visitors and pilgrimage to Potala Palace and Tsulangkhang Temple in Lhasa are heavily restricted and limited.  Only a certain number of visitors are allowed each day to avoid large public gatherings,” said a source in Lhas, the regional capital. Last year RFA reported the arrests of 20-30 Tibetans around the time of the Dalai Lama’s 86th birthday. But there has been no word of detentions or arrests this year. Exiled Tibetans participate in a procession to mark the 87th birthday of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, at Jawalakhel Tibetan refugee camp on the outskirts of Kathmandu, July 6, 2022. Credit: AFP In Nepal, which borders Tibet, the government permitted a two-hour celebration of the Dalai Lama’s 87th birthday at the Jawalakhel Tibetan Settlement, a 60-year-old facility near the capital Kathmandu that is home to more than 1,000 Tibetans. “It took more than two hours to complete the celebrations with the presence of many Western embassy dignitaries,” said a local Tibetan who attended the celebration. Local media reported that diplomats from the embassies of France, the EU, Japan, and the United States were among the foreign guests at the settlement center. “This year the Nepali government granted permission and a large number of Tibetans showed up to celebrate the occasion,” the local source said. “Nepali police were deployed at the venues, but they are just keeping watch and does not interrupt the celebrations, which included processions of carrying the Dalai Lama’s portrait, official speeches of the Central Tibetan Administration, cultural performances and so on,” added the Nepal source. Nepal had in previous years banned any such open display of devotion to the Dalai Lama, a stance seen as deferring to its powerful neighbor China, which reviles the popular leader as a separatist. The Dalai Lama fled Tibet into exile in India in the midst of a failed 1959 Tibetan national uprising against rule by China, which marched into the formerly independent Himalayan country in 1950. Displays by Tibetans of the Dalai Lama’s photo, public celebrations of his birthday, and the sharing of his teachings on mobile phones or other social media are often harshly punished. Chinese authorities maintain a tight grip on Tibet and on Tibetan-populated regions of western China, restricting Tibetans’ political activities and peaceful expression of cultural and religious identity, and subjecting Tibetans to imprisonment, torture, and extrajudicial killings. In a statement honoring the Dalai Lama’s birthday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised his “ongoing commitment to non-violence to resolve the grievances of the Tibetan community” and his “dedication and service to humanity.” Blinken said “the United States will continue to support His Holiness’s and the Tibetan community’s efforts to preserve Tibet’s distinct linguistic, religious, and cultural traditions, including the ability to freely choose their religious leaders.” Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Paul Eckert.

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India shuts Myanmar border as anger over pro-junta militia killings rises

Editor08 mins

Authorities in India’s Manipur state have temporarily closed the Indo-Burmese border after pro-military militiamen killed two Indian nationals in Myanmar’s war-torn Sagaing region, prompting Indian protesters to attack a junta border checkpoint on Wednesday. A source in Sagaing’s Tamu township told RFA Burmese that Indian nationals M. Pyanar, 32, and P. Mohan, 28, were visiting friends in the area on Tuesday when they were stopped by members of the pro-military Pyu Saw Htee militia at an unofficial checkpoint in Tamu’s Saw Bwar ward and shot dead. “There’s a school we call Saw Bwar 10 No. 4. The two were shot near there,” said the resident, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Witnesses said that the shots were fired by Pyu Saw Htee. The two men were shot in the head and died instantly.” The source said the bodies of the two men were brought to the Tamu People’s Hospital, where they are being held in the morgue. He said that residents of Moreh township across the border in India’s Manipur state are demanding that the bodies be returned to their families, prompting Indian authorities to shut down their side of the border crossing on Wednesday. “At the moment, we are not allowed to enter India at all,” the source said. A Tamu resident who is close to the families of the victims told RFA that the area where they were killed is “Pyu Saw Htee territory.” “The two Indians were killed in that area. [The perpetrators] found out only later that they were Indian citizens,” said the source, who also declined to be named. “Both were shot in the head. They had a motorcycle with them. One wore a ring on his hand and the other had two. … When the bodies arrived at the morgue, [the motorbike and rings] were gone.” RFA was unable to independently confirm the details of the deaths. India’s Tamil Guardian on Wednesday also reported the killings as having been carried out by the military proxy Pyu Saw Htee. “The Myanmar army might have suspected them to be spies and shot them dead,” the report said, citing the local Tamil Sangam. “There is a killing every day by the army in this part of Myanmar.” An official order issued on Wednesday by the deputy commissioner of Tengnoupal township, under the government of Manipur, announced that no one would be permitted to cross the border from Moreh into Myanmar without a special permit, citing the “prevailing law and order situation” in the country. Indian residents of Manipur’s Moreh township protest near the Myanmar-India border, demanding the return of the bodies of two Indian nationals killed in Myanmar’s Sagaing region, July 6, 2022. Credit: Citizen journalist Indian outrage A Myanmar national living in Moreh told RFA that local youths were outraged over the deaths and said around 200 people had gathered near the border on Wednesday, demanding that the bodies of the victims be returned to their families. “Young people have gathered near the border gate and are challenging the Myanmar authorities,” he said. “They also beat up some people from the Myanmar side who crossed the border this morning [prior to the closure]. They are all furious.” Another resident of Moreh said the protests began when Myanmar authorities failed to deliver the bodies back to India by noon on Wednesday, as had been originally promised. “They are protesting because [the bodies were] not sent,” he said. “They have been gathering since the morning. Myanmar nationals in Moreh have not been able to go out in fear. The protesters set fire to a Myanmar border patrol checkpoint between Tamu and Moreh.” Indian media reported that shops had been closed amid increased security in Moreh, citing the unrest over the killings. Repeated attempts by RFA to contact the Indian Embassy in Yangon for comment went unanswered Wednesday, as did attempts to reach junta Deputy Information Minister Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun. The Tamu-Moreh border crossing was reopened on June 4 after being closed for nearly two years due to the coronavirus pandemic. Residents of Tamu told RFA that around 50 traders travel across the border to the neighboring Indian township daily for work. Myanmar refugees in India say more than 300 families displaced by conflict between junta troops and armed opposition groups in Sagaing have crossed the border seeking shelter in Moreh, and that anger over Tuesday’s killings forced many Myanmar nationals living there to flee the area. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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New report details China’s efforts to control Uyghurs beyond its borders

Editor010 mins

On a sunny summer day in the South Australia city of Adelaide in late January 2018, scores of community groups marched through the streets in a parade to celebrate Australia Day. Among them was the South Australia Xinjiang Association, a nonprofit organization set up in 2009 that provides a platform for Chinese migrants from the region in northwestern China to meet one another and network. The group also has a more nefarious purpose, two researchers say in a new report on China’s efforts to tamp down global criticism of its policies in Xinjiang, where well-documented reports have uncovered widespread abuses toward Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups. The Han Chinese-dominated South Australia Xinjiang Association, which has the backing of China’s diplomatic mission to Australia, “claims the right to speak on behalf of the Xinjiang diaspora while neutralizing the legitimate concerns of the Uyghur community about Beijing’s human rights abuses in the Uyghur homeland,” write Lin Li, and independent researcher, and James Leibold, a senior fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s International Cyber Policy Centre, Dozens of SA Xinjiang Association members displayed a huge banner bearing the group’s name as they marched wearing the traditional attire of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities, despite objections from some of the city’s 1,500 Uyghur residents that the Han Chinese were appropriating their culture, which Chinese authorities back home were working to extinguish through a harsh campaign of forced assimilation. Adding insult to injury, the association won the best costume award, its members triumphantly posing for photos with Jay Weatherill, who was then the premier of South Australia, boosting the group’s public profile. Some Uyghurs later complained to the Adelaide City Council that the parade march by the Han Chinese was an intentional by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) effort at “a soft propaganda publicity act” to distract from the communist Chinese government’s persecution of Uyghurs, including members of their own families. The CCP uses deceptive and coercive influence operations around the globe to undermine Uyghurs living outside China, often through the United Front Work Department (UFWD), say Li and Leibold in their 65-page policy paper, titled “Cultivating Friendly Forces: The Chinese Communist Party’s Influence Operations in the Xinjiang Diaspora.” The UFWD gathers information about and attempts to influence individuals and organizations inside and outside China to ensure they are supportive of or useful to the party’s interests. The information collected is also used to harass Uyghurs and other minorities living overseas, the report says. Community organizations with innocuous-sounding names serve as conduits for propaganda about Xinjiang in an effort to dispute the well-documented human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), the researchers say. “What we were trying to do in this report is to open up another window onto the strategy of the Chinese Communist Party in its very complex and decentralized united front system,” Leibold told RFA in an interview. “And that is the efforts to co-opt Chinese overseas community organizations who would have members which had some links to Xinjiang.” Since 2017, Chinese authorities have ramped up a clampdown on Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in the XUAR through arbitrary arrests and lengthy detentions. An estimated 1.8 million members of these groups have been held in internment camps, where some experienced severe human rights abuses, torture, rape and forced labor. “The SA Xinjiang Association, which is part of a large network of Xinjiang-linked overseas groups, might not be immediately recognizable as closely aligned with the CCP and its united front system, but our research demonstrates how the CCP actively cultivates community organizations, such as the SA Xinjiang Association, as conduits for advancing the party’s agenda abroad and obscuring — or even silencing — the voices of Uyghurs and other critics of its policies in Xinjiang,” the report says. ‘Tool to exert influence’ The report cites three other case studies of organizations like the SA Xinjiang Association that work to neutralize or silence criticism of CCP policies in Xinjiang. “It’s a tool of the Chinese Communist Party to exert its influence amongst the entire diasporic community and really undermine democratic values and institutions in places like the United States, Canada and Australia,” said Leibold, who has been blacklisted by the CCP. “The starting point really is to expose the way the system operates, its aims, its ambitions and its strategies.” “By offering up four case studies, we tried to expose the kind of inner workings of these community organizations and their direct links back to the united front system and the Chinese Communist Party,” he said. The CCP gathers intelligence on its critics, maintains databases of former and current Xinjiang residents with overseas connections, and establishes research institutes that suggest policies to lawmakers in their respective countries, the report states. The tactics also include cultivating overseas community leaders and sending officials tasked with qiaowu — overseas Chinese affairs —to conduct united front work, while inviting targets residing abroad to China. The CCP taps into business networks, offers political honors for its backers, and stages cultural performances to “nurture friendly forces for China” through language schools and summer camps in a widespread public relations campaign. “It’s easy to get duped into thinking these are just normal cultural activities,” Leibold said. The researchers used Chinese-language media reports, government documents and social media posts to track groups and individuals promoting the CCP’s Xinjiang narrative and policies overseas. They urge other researchers to document human rights abuses in the XUAR and call on governments to hold China accountable for its repressive policies there. They also recommend that media, NGOs and research institutes increase public awareness of the links between community organizations in the Xinjiang diaspora and the CCP and ask on law enforcement and civil society groups to disrupt the CCP’s ability to interfere. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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During Manila visit, Wang Yi touts potential ‘golden era’ in Sino-Philippine ties

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New President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s friendly policy toward Beijing promises to usher in a “golden era” in Sino-Philippine relations, China’s top diplomat said during a visit here Wednesday, only weeks after Manila filed another protest over Chinese boats intruding in territorial waters. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi paid a courtesy call to Marcos after meeting with Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo. Wang said the nations’ two-way relationship “overcame all sorts of difficulties” under previous Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte, who handed the reins of government to Marcos on June 30.  However, as Duterte pursued closer ties with Beijing during his six years in power, bilateral tensions over the South China Sea persisted as senior officials from his administration complained about the unauthorized presence of Chinese ships within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ).    Given the “uncertain, unstable and complex regional and international dynamics, it is even more important for China and the Philippines, as two close neighbors, to join hands to further enhance mutual trust (and) expand mutually beneficial cooperation,” Wang said through an interpreter about his meeting with Manalo.  “This will not only serve the common interest of the two countries and two peoples but will also be our important contribution to peace and stability in our region,” he said, noting that cooperation during the previous administration brought “tangible benefits” to both countries.  Wang’s visit to Manila was his third stop on a five-nation tour of Southeast Asia. The Philippines, an archipelago in the middle of the disputed South China Sea, is one of the region’s oldest defense allies of China’s main superpower rival, the United States, whom Marcos’ father, the longtime Filipino dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, staunchly supported during his rule from 1965 to 1986. Shortly after Duterte took office in mid-2016, an international arbitration court ruled in favor of Manila over Beijing after its ships refused to leave Scarborough Shoal, which lies within the Philippine EEZ.  Instead of confronting China, Duterte set aside the ruling in favor of investments and cooperation. The soft approach allowed Beijing to carry on with its expansionist moves in the maritime region, according to observers. With the election of Marcos, Beijing’s relationship with Manila has “turned a new page,” Wang said. “We highly appreciate President Marcos’ recent commitment to pursuing friendly policy toward China,” said Wang, whose government is seeking to blunt U.S. influence in Southeast Asia. “And we speak highly of his recent statements that have sent out very positive signals to the outside world.”  He quoted Marcos as saying that China “is the strongest partner of the Philippines” and that he hopes to fortify the relationship. China, in turn, is “ready to work toward the same direction,” Wang said. “And I am confident, with our two sides working together, we can surely open up a new golden era for the bilateral relationship.” After the meeting, Marcos posted a message on Twitter saying he was “grateful to Minister Wang Yi for extending the message of congratulations and support from President Xi Jinping. We also discussed agriculture, infrastructure, energy, and our commitment to maintaining the strong relationship between our peoples in the coming years.” The new president had previously said he would pursue close ties with China without necessarily giving away the country’s sovereignty.  On Tuesday, before Wang landed in Manila, Marcos said the visit was expected to boost ties with Beijing, including through military exchanges. “It’s essentially always trying to find ways to improve relationships. We would like for us to increase the scope. China and the Philippines should not only focus on the West Philippine Sea. Let’s do other things too and that way we will normalize our relationship,” Marcos said, referring to Philippine-claimed territories in the South China Sea. Beijing claims nearly all of the South China Sea including waters within the EEZs of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan. While Indonesia does not regard itself as a party to the maritime disputes, Beijing also claims historic rights to parts of the sea that overlap Indonesia’s EEZ. Last month, the Philippines announced that it had filed a new diplomatic protest against Beijing over a massive Chinese fleet operating “illegally” in April around Whitsun Reef. The complaint cited a 2016 landmark international court ruling that invalidated China’s sweeping claims to the waterway. Beijing has refused to recognize the decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news service.

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