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Category: World

Shanghai to ease lockdown if cases keep falling, but mass health checks to remain

Editor09 mins

Authorities in Shanghai on Monday announced the easing over the next six weeks of a grueling lockdown that has seen the city’s 26 million residents mostly confined to their homes, with many deprived of urgent medical care or essential supplies. Restrictions on movements around the city — which are tracked and regulated through a series of “grid management” checks and roadblocks using the Health Code app — will remain at least until next week, when the city will move towards “normalization,” should COVID-19 cases continue to fall, officials said on Monday. Full reopening may take place in June. On Monday, taxis and private cars were allowed back on the road in districts that have already attained zero-COVID status, including Jinshan and Fengxian, while airlines began operating a limited number of domestic flights, with some train services also scheduled to resume. Some supermarkets, convenience stores and pharmacies reopened on Monday, with some hair salons and fresh produce markets also allowed to open for business, while metro and bus services are slated to make a comeback from May 22. However, residents have been warned that more intense monitoring via the app will take the place of restrictions, along with more frequent PCR tests at thousands of testing stations across the city, as many venues will require a recent negative COVID-19 for entry. Jiading district resident surnamed Zheng said his residential compound remains under lockdown, despite the announcements. “We can’t leave the compound; we’re only allowed to move around inside it,” Zheng told RFA. “It will remain closed for another week or so.” “Restrictions and controls are particularly strict in Yangpu district, because they are still finding large numbers of positive results every time they do PCR testing,” he said. A photo of a 93-year-old woman in Shanghai who was given up for dead and sent to a funeral home from the city’s Zhoupu Hospital and sent back to the nursing home after being found alive, posted by the woman’s grandson. Credit: Zhuge (her grandson). Instant noodles Commenting on a viral video in which Qingpu district residents throw instant noodles at members of the local ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) neighborhood committee after discovering them in a secret cake-eating session, Zheng said he understood people’s frustration. “You can’t eat instant noodles every day for two months,” he said. “People who have come to Shanghai from elsewhere have had it particularly tough.” “The neighborhood committees keep a lot of the good stuff back for themselves … they distributed pork chops with maggots in them the other day … and we’ve not had a handout of fruit in two months,” Zheng said. Meanwhile, the relatives of a 93-year-old woman in Shanghai who was given up for dead and sent to a funeral home from Zhoupu Hospital said she had been sent back to the nursing home after being found alive. The woman’s grandson, who gave only the surname Zhuge, posted a photo of his grandmother from the nursing home after her return. Jiangsu-based current affairs commentator Zhang Jianping said the incident was “terrifying.” “This kind of large-scale lockdown, with makeshift hospitals, is a kind of humanitarian disaster,” Zhang said. “The disease and control prevention measures in Shanghai are a bit like the [political turmoil of the] Cultural Revolution, and seem more like disease prevention in the Middle Ages, treating people like livestock,” he said. Alive in a body bag Earlier this month, authorities in Shanghai announced punishments for five officials in the city’s Putuo district after an elderly man was found alive in a body bag en route between a care home and a morgue. Putuo civil affairs bureau chief Zhang Jiandong, section chief Liu Yinghua and social development director Wu Youcheng had been fired pending a ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) disciplinary case against them, while a doctor surnamed Tian was struck off for signing the man’s death certificate and placed under police investigation. Zhang said part of the problem is the suppression of any kind of criticism of government policy during the lockdown, which was the result of orders from the CCP Central Committee and leader Xi Jinping in Beijing. “Shanghai’s disease control measures were totally chaotic, but you can’t express your opinion,” he said. “If you do, officials will say that you are wavering on the zero-clearing policy.” Lu Jun, founder of the Beijing Yirenping Center, a non-profit health organization, said the zero-COVID policy has given rise to many human rights violations. “These actions have caused extremely serious consequences and had a huge impact, and violated the legitimate rights and interests of the people,” Lu told RFA. “But civil rights protection in China has never been an easy task, and the cost of doing it is very high,” he said. Lu said a number of rights lawyers had formed an advisory group to help people sue the government for violations of their rights as a result of COVID-19. The COVID-19 Claims Legal Advisory Group calls on families of victims to collect as much evidence as possible it send it to the group, which helps file compensation claims with the government. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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China, ASEAN to hold South China Sea code of conduct talks this month

Editor06 mins

China and countries from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will conduct face-to-face consultations on a Code of Conduct (COC) in the disputed South China Sea later this month in Cambodia, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has said. Spokesperson Zhao Lijian told reporters in Beijing that the consultations will be done in person “in the latter half of this month… despite the impact of COVID-19.” For the last two years, most of the negotiations over the South China Sea, the thorniest issue between China and ASEAN, have been conducted online because of the pandemic. China and ASEAN agreed on a Declaration of Conduct of Parties (DOC) in the South China Sea in 2003, but progress on a COC has been slow going amid an increasing risk of conflict. China’s diplomats are believed to be making fresh efforts to speed up COC negotiations with ASEAN, especially as China’s close ally Cambodia is holding the bloc’s chairmanship this year. “Establishing a COC is clearly stipulated in the DOC, and represents the common aspiration and need of China and ASEAN countries,” said spokesman Zhao. He said that China “is fully confident in reaching a COC,” which would provide a “more solid guarantee of rules for lasting tranquility of the South China Sea.” Yet analysts say there are still major stumbling blocks to be addressed, such as China’s self-proclaimed historical rights over 90 percent of the South China Sea and the long-standing division within ASEAN over maritime disputes. China and five other parties including four ASEAN member states –Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam – hold competing claims in the South China Sea but the Chinese claims are the most expansive and a 2016 international arbitration tribunal ruled that they had no legal basis. “If the idea is to produce a comprehensive COC that addresses all of the different concerns of the claimant countries, I do not think it is achievable,” Jay Batongbacal, director of the Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea at the University of the Philippines, told RFA in an earlier interview. Credit: RFA U.S.-ASEAN Special Summit The South China Sea was high on the agenda at last week’s Special Summit between ASEAN countries and the United States. The Joint Vision Statement issued at the end of the summit said that parties “recognize the benefits of having the South China Sea as a sea of peace, stability, and prosperity.” “We emphasize the importance of practical measures that could reduce tensions and the risk of accidents, misunderstandings, and miscalculation,” the statement said. Without mentioning China, the signatories of the joint vision statement “emphasized the need to maintain and promote an environment conducive to the COC negotiations” and said they welcomed further progress “towards the early conclusion of an effective and substantive COC.” Some analysts, however, think that the U.S. involvement may not be beneficial to the COC negotiation process. “I don’t think it will help improve the South China Sea situation,” said Kimkong Heng, a senior research fellow at the Cambodia Development Center. “The U.S. has its own agendas that might exacerbate rather than facilitate the South China Sea negotiation,” he said. Cambodia is not a claimant in the South China Sea. From Phnom Penh’s standpoint, the U.S. will likely “continue to pressure Cambodia on the potential Chinese military base in the kingdom,” added Heng “This will serve as a barrier for any meaningful negotiations between the U.S. and Cambodia on national and regional issues,” Heng said. ASEAN comprises ten members: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.    

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For two North Korean escapees, losing local elections in the UK feels like a victory

Editor011 mins

Timothy Cho and Jihyun Park are not typical British politicians. Their route to becoming candidates for the Conservative and Unionist Party in last week’s local elections began more than a decade ago when they escaped from North Korea. Both Cho and Park ended up settling in Greater Manchester in 2008, naturalized as Britons, and after acclimating to a democratic society that offered a stark contrast to life they fled, sought the opportunity to represent their respective communities in the northwestern English city. Although they were among a host of Conservatives to lose to Labour Party candidates in the May 5 election, both of the North Korean escapees told RFA’s Korean Service that they considered their campaigns to be a victory of sorts. “I lost the election, but I feel like I have won. I feel like I have reached out to the people in my constituency, and I feel like they accepted and embraced me,” said Cho, who ran for a contested councilor seat of the Denton South ward of Greater Manchester’s Tameside borough. In his race against Labour’s Claire Reid, Cho secured 35% of the vote, 9 percentage points higher than his first attempt last year to win a seat. “The process of escaping from North Korea and coming here was a series of challenges, and I think this latest challenge is a beautiful race. I am so grateful to even run for office because I have experienced the flower of democracy,” Cho said. “Since I was running for the same constituency, many of the voters recognized me. I could see that my opponent viewed me as a serious rival and was nervous from the start because there was a high chance that I would receive more votes than last year,” he said. Cho also said he appreciated that his opponent publicly recognized him as a conservative candidate rather than simply as a “North Korean refugee” or “defector.” He said he was especially proud to have been able to connect with the many low-income voters in his district through his own experiences growing up in extreme poverty in North Korea and the tough times he endured after settling in England in 2008. Timothy Cho (3rd from right) campaigning prior to the 2022 UK local elections. Photo: Timothy Cho When he arrived, Cho said he spoke no English, had few friends, and had to work his way through university. The freedom he was afforded in Britain, where his hard work translated into better opportunities, was a constant source of motivation, he said. “The more I did, the more I thought of the people who remain in North Korea,” Cho said. “It really breaks my heart to think of my siblings, who are still in the darkness of North Korea. But if they lived in a free society like I do, they could be living the life I am living, and more politicians and businessmen would have come out our family,” said Cho. “This is why I work harder.” Cho said he plans to run for office again at the first opportunity. Until then he said he will continue advocating for North Korean human rights. Timothy Cho and Jihyun Park, expressed their feelings about running in local elections in the UK after losing their respective races on May 5, 2022. Photo: Timothy Cho and Jihyun Park’s Twitter accounts A personal victory Jihyun Park didn’t win her race for one of three contested councilor seats in the Ramsbottom ward of Greater Manchester’s Bury borough — Labour candidates took all three slots — but Park felt good anyway because she said the election cemented her status as a Briton. “I challenged myself with the heart of being British, and not to place myself as an outsider or as a stranger. I think a lot of people voted for that challenge,” she told RFA. “I describe [my candidacy] as victory for humanity, because it gave a message to many people that the challenge was not a failure, but rather a personal victory,” she said. “I will continue to challenge myself.” Park also ran in elections last year, but this year’s election was different. Because of redistricting, she was now trying to represent an area she does not herself live in. She also was able to successfully become a candidate without the party nominating her, she introduced herself to the voters and was elected to represent the Conservatives on her own merits. “Unlike in last year’s election, I was interviewed in front of the residents and became a candidate chosen by them which was very important to me and made me feel proud. The candidates were interviewed one by one to see what they could do for the people. I was glad and impressed that they chose me,” Park said. Like Cho, Park said she chose to focus on the needs of the residents of Ramsbottom rather than her background. But her life as a North Korean refugee and rights activist did help, she said. She characterized her candidacy as bringing a message of hope to the people, and she hopes one day to share her experiences of living in a democratic political system with North Koreans. She also used her platform to draw attention to the challenges of living in the country she fled from. “I had conversations with election commission officials, and I said that in North Korea we never know where and how our votes are used and we do not have the right to vote,” she said. Though North Korea holds elections, usually there is only one party-selected candidate running for each office. All able-bodied people are required to show up and vote for that candidate. “I am so impressed by the system here in the United Kingdom, where everyone has the right to vote, and they can see how their votes are counted,” she said. Jihyun Park (right) campaigning ahead of the 2022 local UK elections . Photo: Jihyun Park Many of the voters, she said, were surprised to…

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North Korean soldiers spread COVID-19 during April 25 military parade

Editor06 mins

A massive military parade in North Korea has been identified as a COVID-19 super-spreader event, after several servicemen who marched in it tested positive for the virus, sources in the country told RFA. Held on April 25 to commemorate the guerilla operation  that started 90 years ago and grew into the country’s military, the parade brought together about 20,000 soldiers. At the time, North Korea was still claiming that it was 100% “virus free.” This week, Pyongyang finally confirmed its first cases of COVID-19 and at least one death from the disease. The country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, has since declared a “maximum emergency epidemic prevention system” is in effect.  Several soldiers stationed as border guards in the border city of Sinuiju, which lies across the Yalu River from China, began exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 at the beginning of this month, a border security official in the northwestern province of North Pyongan told RFA’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “They had high fevers and acute respiratory symptoms … and after testing by the health authorities, it was confirmed that they were infected with the Omicron variant,” the source said. “Most of the ones who tested positive are officers and soldiers who took part in the military parade …  on April 25. The health authorities reported the incident to the national emergency quarantine command, who in turn sent it in as a No. 1 report,” he said, referring to communications of the highest level, sent across the desk Kim Jong Un. The revelation that the border guards could have contracted the virus at the parade and may have spread it to others upon their return led authorities in North Pyongan to declare a state of emergency. “As a result, the border area has been further sealed up and traffic between the border guard units has been suspended,” the source said. “Soldiers in each battalion, company and platoon cannot enter or exit the barracks, and movement restrictions are in place to prevent even a single solder from joining or leaving a unit. They are even prohibiting private conversations between soldiers within the same unit,” he said. Another border security official, in nearby Uiju county, told RFA that soldiers there have been ordered to wear gas masks to prevent the virus from spreading. “No one is allowed to go outside the unit barracks except the soldiers on duty in outposts who work in shifts,” said the second source, who requested anonymity to speak freely. “The number of confirmed cases among the border guard soldiers stationed in Uiju County has been increasing since early this month,” he said. “Most of the sick soldiers took part in the military parade to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army in Pyongyang on April 25th.” If the soldiers indeed caught the virus during the parade, then it could have spread to all branches of the military in every part of the country, the second source said. “The military parade mobilized a large number of personnel. Not only the border guards, but also officers and soldiers selected from the army and marines, navy, and air force across the country participated. Therefore, it should be considered that the coronavirus has spread to every military base everywhere,” the second source said. “The authorities quickly … started up the maximum emergency quarantine system nationwide and began locking everything down,” he said. “But it is already too late.” Sources told RFA that people are angry an event purely for propaganda purposes may be the source widespread illness. According to a North Korean state media report on Friday, there are currently 187,800 people in quarantine in North Korea, and six people have died after showing COVID-19 symptoms. One of the dead was confirmed to be infected by the omicron variant of COVID-19. Translated by Leejin J. Chung. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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27 charred bodies discovered in Sagaing after Myanmar junta’s latest arson attack

Editor03 mins

Villagers found 27 charred bodies inside burnt homes yesterday in northwestern Myanmar’s Sagaing region, where the ruling military junta has for months conducted an arson campaign targeting rural villages, burning hundreds of homes, and leaving thousands displaced.  The villagers told RFA that the bodies were found in the Mon Dai Pin and Inbin villages of Ye Oo township. While there was no fighting in their area, the villagers said, soldiers arrived during a military operation and spent a night in the village.  “Most of the villagers fled to safety, [but] some were unable to escape,” one villager said. RFA has not been able to confirm the incident and attempts to contact junta spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun went unanswered.  A military column from nearby Taze township raided Mon Dai Pin on May 9 and set fire to about 30 houses, villagers said.  In addition to the charred bodies, villagers said three monks from the village monastery were taken away by the military. Of the 27 bodies, 17 were found in Mon Dai Pin and the other 10 were found in Inbin.  Some of the bodies were found on the street, and villagers said some of them had gunshot wounds. The victims were identified as local residents in their 40s. The villagers said that since the fire has not fully died down, they could not search all the homes. RFA previously reported on the junta’s burning of 500 homes in Sagaing in only three days, with the military cutting off internet access in 27 of the region’s 37 townships in early March. The information blackout has left villagers in the dark about the campaign as the military moves from village to village in a crackdown on opponents of its Feb. 1, 2021 coup.  Soldiers had destroyed around 200 and 70 homes in Mingin’s Thanbauk and Zinkale villages, respectively, on April 25, some 220 homes in Khin Oo’s Thanboh village the following day, and an unconfirmed number of homes in Shwebo’s Malar and Makhauk villages on the evening of April 27, RFA’s investigation found.

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Rights groups press UN ahead of trip to Xinjiang as detention camp list emerges

Editor011 mins

About 20 Uyghur, Tibetan and international human rights groups protested outside the United Nations compound in Geneva on Friday, calling on the U.N. human rights chief to release her report on abuses in Xinjiang and to consult internment camps survivors and other Chinese exiles ahead of her planned visit to China’s western region. The latest of numerous rallies by Uyghurs, Tibetans and other subjects of Chinese repression ahead an expected May visit by Michelle Bachelet, the U.N.’s high commissioner for human rights, came a day after the release on Thursday of a suspected police list with the names of more than 10,000 allegedly detained Uyghurs from one county in Xinjiang. Bachelet, a former Chilean president, is expected to visit the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region among other places in China this month, though the dates have yet to be disclosed. Bachelet first announced that her office sought an unfettered access to Xinjiang in September 2018, shortly after she took over her current role. But the trip has been delayed over questions about her freedom of movement through the region. “As the high commissioner and her team are preparing for a visit to East Turkistan, three and a half years after ‘unfettered access’ was requested, Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hong Kongers and other groups remain deeply concerned about the lack of transparency surrounding the terms of the visit, as well as the incomprehensible delay in publishing the high commissioner’s long-awaited report,” said a May 10 statement issued by the World Uyghur Congress, one of the groups that participated in the protest. During the protest, Uyghur groups sought to deliver a letter to the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR), specifying their demands for a credible visit, WUC said. “Today, we haven’t come before the U.N. to beg High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet,” said WUC president Dolkun Isa. “We have come here to hold her accountable. We have come here to remind her of her solemn duty. She has the inescapable duty to stop China’s genocide against Uyghurs.” China is accused of having incarcerated 1.8 million Uyghurs in mass detention camps. The United States and the legislatures of several Western countries have found that China’s mistreatment of the Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang constitute genocide and crimes against humanity. China angrily rejects all such claims as politically motivated attacks on its security and development policies in the vast western region. Beijing has called for a “friendly” visit by the U.N. rights official, the kind that rights experts fear would help China whitewash the situation. ‘Fabricating malicious lies’ In a report to Congress, the U.S. State Department said it will increase pressure on Beijing over China’s maltreatment of the Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in Xinjiang by raising concerns during meetings with other nations, multilateral institutions and the private sector, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. In response to a question about the report, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian repeated his government’s contention that “the allegation of ‘genocide’ in Xinjiang is nothing but the lie of the century concocted by some people in the U.S. in total disregard of facts.” “The international community has a fair judgment as to who is truly guilty of genocide,” he said. “The U.S. also knows the answer very well itself. We hope the U.S. will do some earnest soul-searching regarding the 500,000 child laborers working on American farms and all those Native American lives lost to genocide over the past decades. We also urge the U.S. to stop meddling in China’s internal affairs and put an end to its sinister agenda of containing China by fabricating malicious lies.” Uyghur groups, international organizations and lawmakers attended a three-day conference this week in Brussels, where they discussed ways for governments and companies in the EU to avoid purchasing products made by Uyghur forced labor. The European Commission will consider draft legislation to restrict the entry of forced-labor goods into European markets in September. U.S. lawmakers last year banned imports from Xinjiang unless they are certified as not having been made with forced labor. The act will be implemented in June. ‘High time’ For Uyghurs living abroad, the release on Thursday of a suspected police list with the names of more than 10,000 allegedly detained Uyghurs from Xinjiang’s Kashgar Kona Sheher (Shufu) county underscores the importance of Bachelet’s upcoming visit. The list, which also contains birthdates, ethnicities, ID numbers, addresses, sentence lengths and prison locations of the Uyghurs, was obtained by authorities in Turkey, Agence France-Presse reported Thursday. AFP said it is not been possible to independently verify the authenticity of the database. Nursiman Abdureshid on Friday told RFA that she discovered that her brother, Mamateli Abdureshid, had been sentenced to nearly 16 years in prison in Xinjiang from information on the leaked list. Nursiman, who is from Saybagh village in Kashgar Kona Sheher’s Shor township, now lives in Turkey with her family. She is also the sister of an RFA reporter. Nursiman said she lost contact with Mamateli in June 2017, the year that China stepped up its crackdown on Uyghurs. “I learned about the imprisonment of my brother in Aksu (in Chinese, Akesu) from this list,” she said. “The reason for his sentencing, the length of the sentence, his home address and ID are listed on it.” Mamateli was charged with “disrupting social stability” and “potential to join terrorist activities,” the same reasons the Chinese Embassy in Ankara gave her in 2020, Nursiman said. “I asked for the reason for his sentence, whether there was a trial, and where he was imprisoned, but got no response,” she said. More than 100 people on the list are from the same township, said Nursiman, who identified seven people she knew. “The genocide has been ongoing for the last five years,” she said. “The U.N. has failed to hold China accountable in spite of the recognition of the Uyghur genocide by the U.S.-led Western democracies, preponderance of evidence of genocide, testimonies of camp survivors and many lists of Uyghurs being…

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Bridge in disputed territory between China and India sparks concern

Editor06 mins

A bridge being built by China across Pangong Lake in a disputed section of northwest India could further inflame tensions between the two countries, experts on the border dispute said. The bridge, which spans about 500 meters (1,640 feet), is situated south of a position occupied by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on the north bank of the lake in Ladakh, an area that India contends China has illegally occupied since 1962. The area has been the site of clashes between the countries, as has the so-called Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh that separates Indian-controlled territory from Chinese-controlled territory. The bridge will cut the travel distance between the PLA position and a military base in Rutog (in Chinese, Ritu) county, Ngari prefecture, in far-western Tibet Autonomous Region by about 150 kilometers (93 miles), making it easier for Chinese troops to counter Indian forces if future flare-ups arise. A black dot marks the site of the new bridge over Pangong Lake on the border with India and China. Credit: RFA graphic/Datawrapper In January, geo-intelligence expert Damien Symon first used satellite imagery to show that China was building a bridge across Pangong Lake the eastern Ladakh territory it controls. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin that month said the construction would safeguard China’s security. “China building bridge over Pangong Lake is a key area for the Indian border,” said Brahma Chellaney, a professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi. “Despite land agreements between the two, China has been carrying out military activities in the border area. The bridge will make it easier for Chinese troops to access the region.” Sana Hashmi, a visiting fellow at the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation in Taipei whose research focuses on China’s foreign policy and territorial disputes, said that the border dispute will be at the forefront of China-India relations going forward. “This only shows that China has no real intention of resolving the dispute and that the tensions are only going to grow,” she told RFA in a written statement. India is responding to the bridge construction by boosting its defense capabilities and seeking cooperation with like-minded countries, Sana Hashmi said. This satellite image with a detail inset shows China’s bridge over Pangong Lake on the border with India and China, April 24, 2022. Credit: EO Browser, Sinergise Ltd. Kunchok Tenzin, a councilor from the Pangong Lake area, said the bridge’s construction has raised concern among locals, who fear they could be hurt if a clash between India and China breaks out. “The Indian government should make the development of border areas a priority and ensure the safety of the local residents,” he said. Monk Kunchok Rigchok from Pangong Monastery said that people know the bridge may pose a threat in the future. “Though there is no fear as we have lived here our whole lives, but the Indian government must remain on alert because China has illegally occupied land in the region,” he said. “They may target our place soon.” Tenzin Lhundup, a Pangong Lake resident who lives by the border, said he was born in the area and intends to live there until he dies. “We are not scared of the Chinese, as they have been visiting this area even during the pandemic lockdown,” he said. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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In Myanmar, daily commute gets tougher

Editor01 mins

Residents of Dala, a township on the southern banks of Myanmar’s Yangon River, rely on an extensive ship and motorboat system to reach the country’s largest city, Yangon, on the other side of the water. More than 180,000 people live in Dala, and half of them commute to Yangon for work each day. But since the military seized power last year, the price of fuel has skyrocketed across the country, and people in the township are finding it difficult to afford the cost of the boat trips. Operators are also considering raising the price of the trips, which currently stands at 200 kyats, around $0.12 USD. Many residents have also lost their jobs in the city amid the economic downturn that has followed the coup and the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Chinese censors go after ‘last generation’ references on social media platforms

Editor08 mins

Censors backed by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have deleted references to a viral video that spawned the “last generation” meme, which emerged as a form of protest over ongoing lockdowns, mass incarcerations and compulsory testing under its zero-COVID policy. In the video, PPE-clad police officials turn up outside someone’s apartment and tries to force them to go to an isolation camp even though he had recently tested negative for coronovirus. “We’re negative. You have no right to take us away,” the man says, before a police officer steps forward wagging a finger and says: “You know that we will punish you, right? And when that happens, it will have a bad effect on your family for three generations.” “Sorry. We’re the last generation,” the man replies in the video which began circulating on Chinese social media platforms from May 11, garnering huge numbers of views and comments. Searches for the video or the keywords “last generation” yielded no results on Thursday. The meme has apparently fed in to a culture of passive resistance begun with the “lying down” movement of 2021. Some have joked online that the era from 1966 onwards was all about the innocence of revolution and justified rebellion, while the 1989 pro-democracy movement felt it was their “duty” to protest. By contrast, the youth of 2022 are shutting up shop before their lives have properly begun, by referring to themselves as the “last generation.” A related meme talks about the study of “run,” a Chinese character that echoes the English word “run,” meaning finding ways to leave the country. The memes come at a time when the CCP is hoping to get people to have more children amid concerns over a rapidly aging and dwindling population. But even before the “last generation” meme emerged, Shanghai officials had announced that the city’s birth rate fell below the rate of 1 needed for the population to replace itself, to just 0.73. Anger over zero-COVID policies Ye Yaoyuan, head of the Department of International Studies and Contemporary Linguistics at St. Thomas in the United States, said the phrase highlights huge popular anger over the zero-COVID policies, likening it to a pressure cooker. “In the years between 1989 to 2022, the CCP has developed an incomparable array of tools for controlling the population,” Ye told RFA. “They are now trying to monitor [public opinion] because they fear the emergence of collective action and resistance” “Back in 1989 [before the mass pro-democracy movement on Tiananmen Square and across China], they didn’t actually have that capability.” The stated refusal to toe the line and produce another generation is a deep and disturbing form of dissent for the CCP and leader Xi Jinping, who wants to project an image of self-confidence in China’s authoritarian form of government, in a bid to show the world its superiority over Western-style liberal democracy. Xi has also presided over a blanket ban on private tuition and other measures aimed at making child-rearing less stressful and expensive for parents, while his government has raised the maximum number of children per couple from two to three. Yi Fuxian, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin who follows China’s population policy and family planning controls, said prosperity is a key driver of birth rates. “What the government should do is create a better environment and lifestyle, so that people are willing to have children,” Yi told RFA. “This is the government’s obligation and responsibility.” ‘You can’t stop them at all’ A man who gave only the surname Chen said he understood the feelings of powerless engendered by the Shanghai lockdown, saying he too is fighting to remain in his hotel quarantine room, despite testing negative for COVID-19. Chen said he wants to save his cat 14sky from being bludgeoned to death or poisoned by officials if he is forced to go to an isolation camp. “These people who have power can do any crazy thing they want, and you can’t stop them at all,” Chen said, adding that he plans to stay single with his cat. “No matter what you do, you will have a strong sense of powerlessness, because you have no control over anything,” Chen said. “Sometimes you just want to be a person. It’s very difficult, very desperate.” Ming Juzheng, an honorary professor of politics at National Taiwan University, said the CCP likely fears that if it relaxes restrictions now, there will be a resurgence of COVID-19 just in time for the 20th party congress later this year. “This would be an unacceptable challenge [for Xi], whose entire ideological line would be thrown into question, and his regime overthrown,” Ming said. He added: “The CCP has a pathological attachment to power.” Taiwan political commentator Ren Sung-lin said the zero-COVID policy more of a political campaign than a public health policy, and the Shanghai lockdown is a part of Xi’s need to show he can bring the city — an internationally connected economic powerhouse — to heel. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Economics and hotspots Myanmar and Ukraine on agenda of US-ASEAN Summit final day

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Vice President Kamala Harris offered Southeast Asian leaders maritime security assistance to address “threats to international rules and norms” as the top U.S. diplomat sought deeper ties with regional heavyweight Indonesia and budding partner Vietnam on Friday, the final day of a U.S.-ASEAN Special Summit. Hosting the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations for a working lunch, Harris stressed the security concerns many of the countries share over aggressive Chinese actions in the South China Sea, where several of the 10 ASEAN states have territorial disputes with Beijing. “Our administration recognizes the vital strategic importance of your region, a role that will only grow with time. And we recognize ASEAN’s centrality in the region’s architecture,” she told the gathering at the State Department in Washington. “As an Indo-Pacific nation, the United States will be present and continue to be engaged in Southeast Asia for generations to come,” Harris said, adding that with a shared vision for the region, “together we will guard against threats to international rules and norms.” “We stand with our allies and partners in defending the maritime rules-based order which includes freedom of navigation and international law,” she said, without mentioning China. To underscore U.S. commitment, Harris said the U.S. will provide $60 million in new regional maritime security assistance led by the U.S. Coast Guard, and will deploy a cutter as a training platform and will send technical experts to help build capacity in the region. That offer followed President Joe Biden commitment at the summit’s opening dinner Thursday to spend U.S. $150 million on COVID-19 prevention, security, and infrastructure in Southeast Asia as part of a package his administration hopes will counter China’s extensive influence in the region. A U.S. Coast Guard ship will also be deployed to the region to patrol waters ASEAN nations say are illegally fished by Chinese vessels. In bilateral meetings Friday with Indonesia and Vietnam, ASEAN’s most populous nations, Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed deepening partnership in security and stronger economic ties. The second U.S.-ASEAN summit to be held in the United States, following an inaugural gathering in California in 2016, “puts an emphasis on the great importance that we attach, the United States attaches to ASEAN, our relationship, ASEAN centrality,” Blinken told Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi. “We are working together across the board to advance a shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region.  We’re working to strengthen economic ties among countries in the region,” he said at the State Department. U.S. President Joe Biden (L) and leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) arrive for a group photo on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, May 12, 2022. Credit: AFP. ‘Dreadful humanitarian crisis’ in Ukraine Retno welcomed “intensified communication and cooperation between our two countries,” and said “we should use this strategic partnership also to contribute to the peace, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific.” Departing with a general reticence about discussing the war in Ukraine among of ASEAN states–which include Russia-friendly Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam–the Indonesia minister said: “Our hope is to see the war in Ukraine stop as soon as possible.” Retro’s remarks echoed those made to U.S. lawmakers Thursday by Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo, who noted the Ukraine war’s impact on the global economy, including food and energy price surges. “The Ukrainian war has led to a dreadful humanitarian crisis that affects the global economy,” he said, according to remarks released by his cabinet. Blinken told Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh that Washington and Hanoi are “now the strongest of partners, with a shared vision for security in the region we share and for the strongest possible economic ties.” The crisis following the February 2021 military coup in Myanmar, which was a top focus of Thursday’s meetings on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit, was at the fore of Blinken’s meeting with Cambodia Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, who also serves as ASEAN’s special envoy to Myanmar. “We’re working very closely together as partners to try to advance a shared vision for the region, including regional security,” said Blinken. Cambodia is this year’s rotating ASEAN chair. “And of course, we welcome the leadership role that you’re playing at ASEAN on a number of issues, including hopefully working to restore the democratic path of Myanmar,” Blinken added. Absent but high on the agenda Myanmar was one of only two ASEAN countries whose rulers were not at the summit. The Philippines is being represented by its foreign minister as it wraps up a presidential election this week, while Myanmar’s junta chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was barred from the summit amid a brutal crackdown on opponents of his military regime that rights groups say has claimed the lives of at least 1,835 civilians. While absent in Washington, the country the U.S. still officially calls Burma was much on the agenda of its fellow ASEAN members Thursday. Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah called out junta officials in a series of tweets for failing to honor their commitment to end violence in the country, while U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman held a meeting with Zin Mar Aung, the foreign minister of the shadow National Unity Government in Myanmar. “The deputy secretary highlighted that the United States would continue to work closely with ASEAN and other partners in pressing for a just and peaceful resolution to the crisis in Burma,” according to a statement by State Department spokesperson Ned Price. “They also condemned the escalating regime violence that has led to a humanitarian crisis and called for unhindered humanitarian access to assist all those in need in Burma.” In Naypyidaw, RFA’s Myanmar Service asked military junta spokesman Maj Gen Zaw Min Tun for comments but he did not respond. But the head of a think tank made up of former military officers who often reflects the regime’s hardline views called the U.S. meeting with the parallel administration “unethical.” “To put it bluntly, it’s an unethical act…

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