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Category: World

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

Editor011 mins

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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China slams planned US economic framework as Biden hosts SE Asian leaders

Editor011 mins

Beijing has slammed the U.S.-proposed Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), calling it an attempt by Washington to lure Southeast Asian countries to “decouple from China.” U.S. President Joe Biden has been hosting a special two-day summit with leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that ends Friday. At the summit, it’s expected that the U.S. will share more details of the framework, which is likely to get its official launch later this month when Biden visits South Korea and Japan. It’s not a free trade pact in the mold of the Trans-Pacific Partnership that the Obama administration championed and negotiated for years as part of its foreign policy ‘pivot’ to Asia, only to see the Trump administration ditch it. An iteration of the same deal was later adopted by other Pacific Rim nations. But the IPEF does seeks to foster ties with economic partners in the Indo-Pacific by setting trade rules and building a supply chain, without China. In the words of President Biden at the East Asia Summit last year, the IPEF involves “trade facilitation, standards for the digital economy and technology, supply chain resiliency, decarbonization and clean energy, infrastructure, worker standards, and other areas of shared interest.” On Thursday, Beijing warned Washington that the Asia-Pacific is “not a chessboard for geopolitical contest” and any regional cooperation framework should “follow the principle of respecting others’ sovereignty and non-interference in others’ internal affairs.” The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Zhao Lijian said China rejects “Cold War mentality” when it comes to regional groupings. The People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of China’s Communist Party, said in an editorial that the IPEF is designed to “make up for the shortcomings of Washington’s previous engagement with Southeast Asia, which focused only on security and ignored the economy.” “The U.S. holds profound political and strategic objectives aimed at forcing countries to decouple from China,” the paper quoted some analysts as saying. The gathering in Washington is the second U.S.-ASEAN special summit since 2016, when then-President Barack Obama hosted leaders of the bloc in Sunnylands, California. ASEAN leaders, minus Myanmar and the Philippines, attended a White House dinner with Biden on Thursday and met with a host of U.S. political and business leaders, but had no bilateral meetings with the U.S. president. Leaders were meeting with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday at the State Department. There are 10 ASEAN member states but Myanmar’s junta was not invited to the summit and the Philippines, which held a presidential election last weekend, only sent its foreign minister. ASEAN’s cautiousness Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was the first ASEAN leader to welcome the IPEF. Speaking at an engagement with the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, Lee said that the IPEF “needs to be inclusive and provide tangible benefits to encourage wider participation.” “We encourage greater ASEAN participation in the IPEF and we hope the U.S. will directly invite and engage ASEAN member states in this endeavor,” he said. Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong listens to a translation of remarks during a meeting with ASEAN leaders and U.S. business representatives as part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) U.S.-ASEAN Special Summit, in Washington, U.S., May 12, 2022. (REUTERS) At present, it’s understood that only two of the 10 ASEAN countries – Singapore and the Philippines – are expected to be among the initial group of counties to sign up for the negotiations under IPEF. “Most ASEAN members have remained hesitant to voice support for Biden’s IPEF, which is, to their perceptions, a counterweight against China’s Belt and Road Initiative in specific and Beijing’s economic coercion in general,” said Huynh Tam Sang, a lecturer at Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH) in Vietnam. “Given the economic proximity to China, ASEAN member states have sought to avoid provoking Beijing, let alone getting embedded in the Sino-U.S. competition,” Sang said. Yet judging from prepared statements and initial feedback from ASEAN leaders on the prospects of ASEAN-U.S. economic cooperation and the IPEF, “they do not only value the substance of the relationship but are eager to see it grow,” according to Thomas Daniel, a senior fellow at Malaysia’s Institute of Strategic and International Studies. “Unfortunately, Washington is still unable to fully grasp or address the desire in Southeast Asia for practical dimensions that will bring an immediate and tangible benefit to local economies and communities,” he said. On Thursday, Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob urged the U.S. to adopt a more active trade and investment agenda with ASEAN countries. He pointed to the Chinese-backed Regional Economic Comprehensive Partnership, which took effect this year, as an important tool to invigorate regional business and economic activity through reduced trade barriers. Seeking to offer concrete benefits at the summit, Biden offered US$150 million for ASEAN infrastructure, security, pandemic preparedness and other efforts. More division in the bloc? Details of the IPEF remain vague but policymakers in Washington have said that they’re designing a framework to prioritize flexibility and inclusion, with a pick-and-choose arrangement for participating countries, allowing them to select the individual areas where they want to make more specific commitments. The IPEF looks to foster economic cooperation by establishing trade rules across “four pillars” – trade resiliency, infrastructure, decarbonization and anti-corruption. Containers sit stacked at the Manila North Harbour Port, Inc. in Manila, Philippines on Oct. 19, 2021. (AP Photo) An analysis by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said while the IPEF holds promise, “it will need to be well engineered and managed.” “Wherever possible, the framework should seek to advance binding rules and hard commitments that go beyond broad principles and goals,” the CSIS said. At the same time, “the Biden administration will need to offer tangible benefits to regional partners, especially less-developed ones,” according to the analysis. There are warnings that the proposed framework, if not carefully considered, may even create a bigger gap between countries in the Southeast Asian…

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Czech venue pushes back against pressure from China to cancel Badiucao’s cartoons

Editor08 mins

Organizers of an exhibition by dissident cartoonist Badiucao in the Czech Republic have refused to cancel the event despite pressure from the Chinese embassy, who said his work “slanders Chinese leaders and hurts the feelings of the Chinese people.” Badiucao’s exhibit, which is touring the world under the title “MADe IN CHINA,” opened as planned on Thursday at the DOX Contemporary Art Center in Prague It includes works referencing the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, the 2019 protest movement in Hong Kong, Chinese support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s genocidal policies targeting Uyghurs and the ongoing COVID-19 lockdowns under CCP leader Xi Jinping’s zero-COVID policy. One work merges the faces of Xi and outgoing Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, to express the erosion of Hong Kong’s freedoms under the CCP, while another merges Xi’s face with that of Russian president Vladimir Putin, the first work visitors see entering the exhibit. The works have clearly ruffled feathers in Beijing. On the afternoon of May 11, DOX Contemporary Art Center project director Michaela Šilpochová suddenly received a call from Hao Hong, a cultural affairs department official at the Chinese embassy, to her private cell phone. Hao Hong said they were calling on the order of the Chinese embassy, and accused Badiucao’s work of “smearing the image of China’s leaders” and “hurting the feelings of the Chinese people” and warned that the exhibition would “destroy the relationship between the two countries.” Šilpochová responded that the center wouldn’t cancel the show, with DOX Contemporary Art Center chief Leoš Válka saying that the Chinese embassy had tried to put pressure on him in the past, and his lack of cooperation was likely why they hadn’t called him again. He said DOX Art Center refused to tolerate “intimidation and threats.” Hao Hong confirmed she had made the call when contacted by RFA. “I expressed serious concern about this exhibition on behalf of the embassy, and told Šilpochová that they shouldn’t be putting on an exhibition that hurts the feelings of the Chinese people,” Hao said. “I heard that this exhibition had already been held in Italy, so we knew the content of this exhibition.” “So we just had to express our opposition,” she said, accusing Badiucao of using politics to attract attention to himself. “Do artists have to express their political views and become famous by hurting this country and its leaders? I think it may be in order to attract the attention of people who are less friendly to China, and to use art to achieve a political goal,” Hao told RFA. Badiucao said he was no stranger to Beijing’s ire. “The Chinese government regards all criticisms as smears,” he told RFA. “But all that stuff about hurt feelings and smears is just a pretext for them to avoid criticism and oversight.” “My exhibition criticizes the Chinese government, and also praises the resistance of Chinese people faced with political dilemmas,” he said, citing late whistleblowing doctor Li Wenliang and late Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo. “I am a Chinese person myself, and I have never discriminated against Chinese people or wanted to hurt the Chinese people’s feelings,” he said. “But this government doesn’t represent the people or speak for them, because it’s not democratically elected.” He said politics and art mix well together. “Art should intervene in politics,” he said. “I would rather a society where art interferes in politics than one where politics interferes with art.” He hit out at the attempts by the CCP to silence him overseas. “Stifling expression, censorship, and threats against artists are ridiculous in a democratic country,” Badiucao said. “The Czechs once also lived in an authoritarian society, and the memory of being censored is very strong for them. In doing this, the Chinese government is reactivating painful memories of their history,” He said the exhibit was more likely to encourage more people to understand contemporary China, and arouse empathy for the Chinese people, than to smear China. Zhou Fengsuo, chairman of Humanitarian China, was present during the phone call between Hao and Šilpochová. “The Chinese embassy in the Czech Republic had a strong response, saying that it would endanger the relationship between China and the Czech Republic,” he said. “I heard the same thing when a statue of Liu Xiaobo was erected here three years ago.” “On the one hand it is ridiculous, on the other hand it is hateful. The CCP is afraid of Badiucao’s work and tries to silence opposition anywhere in the world … but the Czech Republic has a tradition of supporting free expression and opposing authoritarian rule.” Known as “China’s Banksy, Badiucao, 36, emigrated to Australia in 2009, where he has continued to produce political cartoons taking aim at the CCP’s human rights record. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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China sets up local law enforcement militias to boost ‘stability maintenance’

Editor08 mins

Judicial authorities across China are setting up “people’s legal struggle militias” to aid law enforcement, recruiting lawyers 18-45 “in good physical condition,” according to official notices posted online. A notice issued by bureaus of justice in Shanghai, Guangdong, Hubei and other locations said the militias would be formed in support of “our online forces.” “Plans are under way to set up legal struggle militia and report to the armed forces department of municipal government before the end of May,” the notice said. “We are recruiting … lawyers or paralegals from city law firms. Recruitment criteria: Aged 18-45 years old, in good physical condition. [Ruling] Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members, veterans preferred,” it said. Chinese criminal lawyer Mo Shaoping said he had never heard any mention of “legal struggle” in his career. “It seems like a coined expression; I’ve never heard it before,” Mo told RFA. “I haven’t seen any definition of ‘legal struggle’ in any legal dictionary.” Current affairs commentator Zha Jianguo said the use of the word “struggle,” which has roots in the political “struggle sessions” of the post-1949 era and the kangaroo courts of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), suggested a move away from the rule of law and judicial channels. “It means a kind of intense conflict and tension between people,” Zha said. “It’s a neologism, which means they want to fight, but to use the law as a weapon, but without any specific legal basis.” “It’s about cloaking artificial ‘struggles’ … in a legal veneer.” An angry Chinese (striped T-shirt) is heckled in Beijing by a plain-clothes militiaman (facing camera) while trying to roll out and paste his hand-written placard or dazibao on the “dazibao wall” in front of the Municipal Revolutionary Committee of Beijing, July 23, 1974. Credit: AFP Dangerous indicator Political scientist Guo Wenhao said the creation of militias is a dangerous indicator of what is to come, now that the power to “enforce the law” has been delegated beyond government departments and law enforcement agencies. China empowered local officials at township, village, and neighborhood level to enforce the law under an amended administrative punishment law that took effect in July 2021, as well as operating a vastly extended “grid management” system of social control in rural and urban areas alike. “[Officials at] township, village and neighborhood [level] shall be given administrative law enforcement powers … while existing law enforcement powers and resources shall be integrated,” according to a high-level opinion document dating from April, but not published by state news agency Xinhua until July 11. Government will be based on a “grid” system of management, a system of social control that harks back to imperial times, and which will allow the authorities even closer control over citizens’ lives, the opinion document issued jointly by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) central committee and the country’s State Council said. According to directives sent out in 2018, the grid system carves up neighborhoods into a grid pattern with 15-20 households per square, with each grid given a dedicated monitor who reports back on residents’ affairs to local committees. Neighborhood committees in China have long been tasked with monitoring the activities of ordinary people in urban areas, but the grid management system turbo-charges the capacity of officials even in rural areas to monitor what local people are doing, saying, and thinking. “Now that the power of law enforcement has been delegated to townships and sub-districts, and institutions without any legal knowledge or powers of law enforcement have been given the power to enforce the law, there will be widespread abuse of this power of law enforcement,” Guo said. “And such phenomena have a tendency to intensify.” Cultural Revolution enforcement style He said the militias suggest that China is indeed heading towards a Cultural Revolution enforcement style where the government no longer has a monopoly on political violence. “I get the impression that a completely absurd system has emerged, outside of traditional personnel structures,” Guo said. “The government allows them to do bad things, then they can deny [doing them].” Gansu scholar Zhang Ping said the militias will be under the command of local government militias, in a manner similar to the grassroots militias of the Cultural Revolution. “Granting the militia a lot of law enforcement power is tantamount to having an armed reserve outside of the military and police force, with greater freedom than the police or armed police,” Zhang told RFA. “This is to prevent a so-called popular revolt … it’s about social control.” A version of the directive issued by authorities in Gansu’s Pingliang city on April 28 said the plan aimed to “strengthen stability maintenance on a wartime footing” a nationwide system of surveillance and coercion that aims to prevent protests and petitions before they occur. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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North Korea confirms first COVID-19 cases and at least 1 death

Editor010 mins

North Korea acknowledged its first confirmed COVID-19 cases and at least one death from the disease on Thursday, after more than two years of claiming the country was “virus free.” The state-run Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that 187,800 people are undergoing treatment in quarantine for a fever of unknown origin that has spread throughout the country since the end of last month. The report did not specify how many people had tested positive for COVID-19. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un presided over a meeting of the Politburo where he ordered a nationwide lockdown and declared a “maximum emergency epidemic prevention system,” KCNA said Thursday. A resident of Pyongyang told RFA’s Korean Service that the capital Pyongyang was on lockdown after health authorities in the city confirmed a case of the virus two days before. “At 5 p.m. [Tuesday], an emergency directive from the national emergency quarantine command of the Central Party’s Political Bureau was issued to all parts of Pyongyang. Specific project details were delivered to the city’s various levels of units, enterprises and the neighborhood watch units in implementing the quarantine project to the maximum emergency quarantine system,” the source said on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “The instructions are to prohibit group gatherings, strictly observe personal hygiene, social distance, wash our hands frequently, boil water before drinking it, gargling with salt water frequently to disinfect, and properly ventilate the indoor air to prevent coronavirus,” the source said. There have been many instances of hospital patients exhibiting signs of COVID-19, but quarantine authorities had been diagnosing cases as pneumonia or the flu, the source said. “Residents are confused why the quarantine authorities are suddenly acknowledging coronavirus. Shops, restaurants and marketplaces are all closed. If the lockdown is prolonged, it will disrupt the lives of the residents,” said the source. In the city of Sinuiju in North Pyongan province, across the Yalu River from China, a complete lockdown was underway on Wednesday, a resident there told RFA. “All sectors, including the party, administrative organizations, economic organizations, the police, state security and the armed forces, emphasized the thorough implementation of the instructions of the national emergency quarantine command,” said the second source on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “It is the first time that we have acknowledged the influx of COVID-19 and it is the stealth Omicron variant. Authorities are reassuring residents that it is a virus similar to pneumonia or flu and can be overcome with domestically produced drugs,” the second source said. This source said that a relative in Pyongyang had said that that starting tomorrow an intensive medical screening for all city residents will start. Already citizens are prohibited from going to work, increasing the level of economic anxiety in the country at a time when many are already struggling to get by. “The people are about to fall into a period of chaos, as they cannot even make ends meet prior to the emergency,” the second source said. Vaccine status The World Health Organization (WHO) told RFA on Thursday that it has not yet received information from North Korea’s Ministry of Health regarding the confirmed COVID-19 case as reported by KCNA. North Korea is eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX global vaccine sharing project, the WHO said. Pyongyang refused to accept vaccines from COVAX earlier in the pandemic when it was still claiming to be “virus-free.” Reuters reported that Washington has no immediate plans to share vaccines with Pyongyang, quoting a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council. Amnesty International called on the North Korean government to ensure that its people were immunized against the disease, which is now estimated to have killed more than 6 million people across the globe. “There is no evidence to show that North Korea has access to enough vaccines to protect its population from COVID-19,” Boram Jang, Amnesty International’s East Asia researcher, said. “With the first official news of a Covid-19 outbreak in the country, continuing on this path could cost many lives and would be an unconscionable dereliction of upholding the right to health,” she said. “The North Korean government should immediately establish plans to secure COVID-19 vaccines for its population by cooperating with the international community.” Strategy North Korea’s timing in acknowledging that the virus has entered its borders is “noteworthy,” Soo Kim, a former CIA analyst now with the RAND corporation, told RFA. “The international community never turned a blind eye toward North Korea’s coronavirus situation; it was the Kim regime that consistently rejected offers of PPE and vaccines on unjustifiable grounds,” she said. “It’s possible that the situation with the coronavirus in North Korea has significantly worsened to a point where the regime can no longer suppress it or cope on its own. But then the question remains — the situation could have been contained had the Kim regime accepted international assistance from the beginning. So why now?” she said. Soo Kim said that economic anxiety, rather than public health concerns, may have motivated North Korea to stray from its claims of having zero confirmed cases. “Extensive lockdown, border closures, and Kim’s already incompetent state management can only take him so far in suppressing the realities of the pandemic,” she said. Harry Kazianis, the president and CEO at the Rogue States project, told RFA that COVID-19 has been present in North Korea since the beginning of the pandemic.  “However, over the last few months as Omicron has crept into the country, North Korean officials cannot use the same brute force tactics of locking people in their homes or isolating entire villages as spread happens so fast. So now, Pyongyang must admit to their being a problem as there is no way no they can hide it,” he said. “Unless North Korea suffers tens of thousands of casualties I doubt the DPRK will ask for help at this point. They do not want to show any weakness at all and want to always project an image of strength and control of their population. Asking…

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Interview: ‘It’s time for ASEAN to move forward,’ urges NUG’s foreign minister

Editor014 mins

Zin Mar Aung is the foreign minister of the shadow National Unity Government, or NUG, that represents the civilian administration that was ousted in last year’s military takeover in Myanmar. The former democracy activist and political prisoner is in Washington, D.C., for meetings on the sidelines of the summit of U.S. and Southeast Asian leaders, seeking greater diplomatic recognition for the NUG. She spoke Thursday to RFA’s Managing Editor for Southeast Asia Matthew Pennington about the need for the United States to support democracy forces against the Myanmar junta, and for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to step up engagement with the NUG. Zin Mar Aung spent 11 years as a political prisoner under a previous military regime in Myanmar, including years in solitary confinement. She was released in 2009. She was elected in 2015 as a member of the House of Representatives for Yankin township, Yangon, for the National League for Democracy – a position she lost in the Feb. 1, 2021, military coup. RFA: Can I ask you first about your meetings with Biden administration officials? Do you have any more confidence now that the United States might consider giving formal diplomatic recognition to the National Unity Government? Zin Mar Aung: Yes, I feel that because, you know, the way the Biden administration has engaged with me and the way they treat me is really very good and very much welcome and very much supportive. Very friendly discussions. This trip is really encouraging to me. RFA: So who have you met from the administration? ZMA: I met this morning with the Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, and (State Department Counselor) Derek Chollet and also the president’s adviser for human rights. RFA: Have you asked them directly whether they are going to recognize the National Unity Government as being the rightful government of Myanmar? ZMA:So this trip, you know, I didn’t directly address them (on this), but we usually ask them to recognize and engage and to support our struggle. So today what they have said is that by welcoming us to Washington, D.C., they are very much consistent, you know, supporting our struggles and they appreciate what the NUG is doing and and also our commitment. So they are also showing their commitment to support us. RFA: What’s the single most important thing you think for the United States to do, to support what you’re trying to do in Myanmar? ZMA: The United States as a leading, powerful and democratic country, has not just this time, but also previously, continuously supported our struggle (against military rule), whether Democrats or Republicans … And it’s very important, as by getting support from the United States, with its allies, it is very encouraging for our movement, both diplomatically and politically and in terms of, for example, economic sanctions. (The United States) has a lot of allies. RFA: Now it’s been about one year since the Association of Southeast Asian Nations adopted its Five-Point Consensus to try and bring about a resolution to the crisis in Myanmar. And there’s been very little progress during that past year. Now, I understand that you’re meeting with some ASEAN foreign ministers while you’re here. Can you tell us a bit about who you’ve met or who you’re due to meet and whether you’re any more confident now that ASEAN can help resolve the situation in Myanmar? ZMA: Yes, I met a few ASEAN foreign ministers. You know, publicly I’m about to meet with the Malaysian foreign minister. So regarding the ASEAN Five-Point Consensus, we already issued a statement. The coup leader didn’t follow, didn’t keep his promise (to meet with all stakeholders in Myanmar) … That is why the Five-Point Consensus is not enough to solve the problem. We very much support the Five-Point Consensus. It needs to be implemented. But the problem is that there is no accountability mechanism. Now it is time for ASEAN to move forward, whether the coup leaders implement it properly or not. If not, what happens next? This is the question for the ASEAN leadership. RFA: Have you had the chance to meet the Cambodian foreign minister (Prak Sakhonn), who is ASEAN’s envoy to Myanmar? ZMA: No, I haven’t met (him). RFA: And do you think you’re going to meet him on this trip? ZMA: Not sure. I also sent a request letter to meet during this trip, but, you know, (he) hasn’t replied yet. RFA: So what do you see are the prospects of ASEAN actually engaging directly with the NUG? It seems like you’re meeting with ministers from some countries, but not from others. ZMA: Yes, like I said before, some member states are willing to engage. It (engagement) is actually in line with the Five-Point Consensus. The ASEAN envoy needs to meet with different stakeholders. We are very huge stakeholders supported by the people. So why doesn’t the ASEAN envoy meet with us (Myanmar) except the SAC (ruling military State Administration Council)? What we are asking for is in line with the Five-Point Consensus. So that is why I would like to encourage the ASEAN member states and leadership to follow through and to engage with different stakeholders in Burma, not just only with us. RFA: It’s been about 15 months since the military coup led by Min Aung Hlaing. Can you summarize for me what is the situation inside Myanmar now in terms of the extent of the conflict in the country and the impact that it’s having on civilian population? ZMA: It has had a very huge impact for the daily life of civilian populations. Also on the military, actually. There are a lot of defectors in the military. Military personnel themselves, you know, do not believe their leadership. So it has a very huge impact (on them). It’s one of the indicators how much impact the military coup has on its own institutions. Even the military, soldiers, officials do not support the military coup .. And people now very much…

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Myanmar political crisis takes center stage on day 1 of US-ASEAN Summit

Editor011 mins

The ongoing upheaval in Myanmar took center stage on the first day of a U.S.-ASEAN Summit in Washington, as fellow bloc member Malaysia slammed the junta for refusing to engage with the country’s shadow government. Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders held a lunch meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other lawmakers at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday to kick off two days of top-level meetings, which President Joe Biden hopes will bolster Washington’s ties with the bloc and increase its influence in the region. Eight of ASEAN’s leaders made the trip to the U.S. for the summit, which marks the first time the White House extended an invitation to the group of nations in more than four decades. The Philippines declined to attend as it wraps up a presidential election this week, while Myanmar’s junta chief, Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, was barred from the summit amid a brutal crackdown on opponents of his military’s Feb. 1, 2021, coup that rights groups say has claimed the lives of at least 1,835 civilians. U.S. State Department officials instead met with the foreign minister of the National Unity Government, Myanmar’s shadow government of deposed leaders and other junta critics working to take back control of the country. The lunch event on Capitol Hill was closed to the press, but the situation in Myanmar was front and center on Thursday, after 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. Specifically, he referred to the military regime’s refusal to allow the United Nations special envoy to the country, Noeleen Heyzer, to attend an ASEAN meeting last week to coordinate humanitarian aid to Myanmar. “We regret that the [junta] has not allowed the U.N. Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Myanmar to participate in the processes,” Saifuddin tweeted. “We should not allow [the junta to be] dictating who to be invited for related meetings.” Saifuddin said he made clear at an informal meeting with ASEAN foreign ministers on Wednesday that Malaysia fully supports Prak Sokhonn, the special envoy of ASEAN Chair Cambodia, “in fulfilling his mandate on [the] 5-Point Consensus” — an agreement formed by the bloc in April 2021 that requires the junta to meet with all of Myanmar’s stakeholders to find a solution to the political crisis. He said he called on the ASEAN envoy to “engage all stakeholders, including [shadow National Unity Government] NUG and [National Unity Consultative Council] NUCC representatives,” both of which are recognized by the junta as “terrorist groups.” Saifuddin’s comments came a day after he told the RFA-affiliated BenarNews agency that he welcomed the idea of engaging informally with the NUG and NUCC via video conference calls and other means if the junta prohibits such meetings in-person. The Malaysian foreign minister said he plans to meet with NUG Foreign Minister Zin Mar Aung in Washington on Saturday to solicit her opinion on how the people of Myanmar can move on. As ASEAN leaders lunched with lawmakers on Thursday, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman held a meeting with Zin Mar Aung and other NUG representatives in Washington during which she underscored the Biden administration’s support for the people of Myanmar during the crackdown and for those working to restore the country to democracy, according to a statement by spokesperson Ned Price. “Noting the many Southeast Asian leaders in Washington for the U.S.-ASEAN Special Summit, 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,” Price said, using the former name of Myanmar. “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.” Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen attends a meeting with ASEAN leaders and US business representatives as part of the US-ASEAN Special Summit, in Washington, May 12, 2022. Credit: Reuters Other events Following Thursday’s working lunch, ASEAN leaders met with Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, as well as other leaders of the business community, to discuss economic cooperation. In the evening, they joined Biden for dinner at the White House to discuss ASEAN’s future and how the U.S. can play a part, according to media reports, which quoted senior administration officials as saying that each leader would be given time to meet with the president one-on-one. On Friday, leaders will meet with Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken for a working lunch to discuss issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the global climate, and maritime security, before meeting with Biden for a second time. While some ASEAN leaders have been more outspoken in their condemnation of the junta, others —including Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who is also the bloc’s chair — have done little to hold it to account for the situation in Myanmar. In January, Hun Sen became the first foreign leader to visit Myanmar since the military coup — a trip widely viewed as conferring legitimacy on the junta. Hun Sen is no stranger to global condemnation, however. The Cambodian strongman brooks no criticism at home and has jailed his opponents on what observers say are politically motivated charges in a bid to bar them from mounting a challenge his nearly 40-year rule. This week’s summit marks Hun Sen’s fourth visit to the U.S., following trips to attend his son’s graduation from West Point in 1999, the 2016 U.S.-ASEAN Summit with President Barack Obama at the Sunnylands Retreat in California, and a meeting at the United Nations in New York in 2018. Thursday’s dinner with Biden will be his first visit to the White House. Prior to Thursday’s dinner, during a photo session with leaders on the South Lawn, Biden committed to spending U.S. $150 million on COVID-19 prevention, security, and infrastructure in…

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Flying footwear, fawning ‘fans’ for rare Washington visit by Cambodia PM Hun Sen

Editor09 mins

Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen, making his first visit to Washington, got a taste of the dissent he has completely crushed back home in his 36 years of rule when an émigré from the Southeast Asian nation threw a shoe at him as he greeted supporters in front of his hotel. As the 69-year-old strongman prepared to meet supporters on the eve of a summit of U.S.-Southeast Asian leaders, a retired Cambodian soldier flung a shoe that whizzed by his head and missed him. The incident at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel on Wednesday was caught on video and went viral on social media. “I feel so relieved and slept well, sleep better after I threw my shoe at Hun Sen’s head. I have intended to do this for a long time because I want him to be humiliated, nothing more than that,” Ouk Touch told RFA’s Khmer Service on Thursday at another protest. He said Hun Sen’s bodyguards jumped toward him and attempted to beat him, but U.S. security officials intervened and urged him to leave the scene. “My action, it was just throwing a shoe at Hun Sen, but Hun Sen threw grenades at Cambodian people, peaceful protesters. Hun Sen is a dictator, and he has killed many people, including my relatives,” said Touch, 72, a former soldier in the Cambodian army in the early 1970s. The retiree and California resident was referring to an armed attack against Hun Sen’s elected coalition partners in 1997, one of two such violent attacks that helped him remain in power after failing to win elections. The 1997 attack killed 16 people and wounded 150, but the perpetrators have not been brought to justice. Responding on Facebook to the shoe incident, Hun Sen’s son Hun called it “absolutely unacceptable,” adding: “Those extremists must not be tolerated.” In February Cambodian opposition activist Sam Sokha was released after serving a four-year prison term for throwing her shoe at a poster of Hun Sen and sharing it on social media. She is among scores of activist jailed in a wide-ranging crackdown against opponents of Hun Sen, the media and civic society groups that begin in 2017. Touch said he managed to talk his way into the gathering with a group of Hun Sen supporters that largely consisted of Cambodian officials and their relatives, businessmen with government projects and several people who told RFA their travel expenses to Washington was paid for, without elaborating on the source of funding. “I’m so delighted that Cambodia has a hero, who liberated us from the genocide and we have peace for 30-40 years and people are living prosperously,” said one supporter, who said he was part of a group of 23 Cambodians who flew to Washington from Vancouver, Canada on Tuesday. Hun Sen’s trip to Washington, his first such visit to the U.S. capital, is as chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a ten-country bloc whose leaders are holding a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden. The Cambodian leader will attend a dinner at the White House Thursday. Aside from a handful of visits since 1999 to the United Nations in New York for annual meetings, Hun Sen has made very few trips to the U.S. He attended the West Point graduation ceremony of his son and designated heir Hun Manet in May 1999 and took part in the first U.S.-ASEAN summit hosted by former President Barack Obama in California in February 2016. As rotating chair of ASEAN this year, Hun Sen’s suitability to lead outside efforts to resolve a political crisis in Myanmar since a military coup in in February 2021 is questioned by many observers in light of his record of violence and his systematic destruction of Cambodia’s opposition since 2017. In a briefing ahead of the U.S.-ASEAN gathering, a White House spokesperson had to address Hun Sen’s problematic rights record and noted that he was attending in his role of ASEAN chair. “When you think about Cambodia, that’s the question that we tend to get,” said Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “The president and our administration (have) been clear about human rights concerns and promoting human rights in Cambodia,” she added. Biden “will, of course, not hold back from expressing his views and his priorities to promote human rights in that region,” she added. Hun Sen resents being held at arm’s length by successive U.S. administrations, which “have generally viewed Cambodia as a strategically marginal country,” said Sebastian Strangio, Southeast Asia Editor at The Diplomat  and author of books on Cambodia and Southeast Asia. “Hun Sen’s steady accumulation of power and generally authoritarian behavior is the primary reason why he has never been invited to the White House. But it’s also true that many leaders with similar (or worse) records have received the red carpet treatment,” he told RFA in emailed comments. “Indeed, for Hun Sen, the fact that he has been overlooked, while leaders such as Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut, who seized power in a coup, and Nguyen Phu Trong, the head of the Vietnamese Communist Party, have been feted in Washington, continues to be a source of abiding resentment,” added Strangio. “From his perspective, it is just one more example of how Western nations have treated Cambodia differently from partners and allies,” he wrote. Translated by Som Sok-Ry. Written by Paul Eckert.

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Cardinal Zen arrest sparks international outcry from governments, overseas activists

Editor09 mins

Britain on Thursday hit out at the arrest by Hong Kong’s national security police of five pro-democracy figures including 90-year-old retired bishop Cardinal Joseph Zen, amid calls for Magnitsky-style sanctions on officials responsible for the ongoing crackdown on public dissent. “The Hong Kong authorities’ decision to target leading pro-democracy figures, including Cardinal Zen, Margaret Ng, Hui Po-keung and Denise Ho, under the national security law is unacceptable,” minister for Europe and North America told the House of Commons on Thursday. “We continue to make clear to mainland China and to Hong Kong authorities our strong opposition to the national security law, which is being used to curtail freedom, punish dissent and shrink the space for opposition, free press and civil society,” he said. Former ruling Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith called on the government to sanction Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, chief executive-elect and former security chief John Lee, as well as Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official in charge of implementing a draconian national security law in Hong Kong Luo Huining and former police chief Chris Tang, among others. “Not one of those people has been sanctioned by the U.K. government,” Duncan Smith said. “It is time to step up and make our position very clear.” Cleverly said the government was willing to listen to calls for “not just words but actions.” Meanwhile, the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong said it was “extremely concerned” over Zen’s arrest. “The Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong is extremely concerned about the condition and safety of Cardinal Joseph Zen and we are offering our special prayers for him,” it said in a statement on its website. “We urge the Hong Kong Police and the judicial authorities to handle Cardinal Zen’s case in accordance with justice.” In Washington, State Department spokesman Ned Price said the recent arrests of Cardinal Zen, former pro-democracy lawmaker and barrister Margaret Ng, scholar Hui Po-keung and Cantopop star Denise Ho showed that the Hong Kong authorities “will pursue all means necessary to stifle dissent and undercut protected rights and freedoms.” Zen, Ng, Hui and Ho served as trustees of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which helped thousands of arrested Hong Kong democracy protesters access funds for medical aid, legal advice, psychological counseling, and emergency financial relief, he said. “We call for the immediate release of those who remain in custody and continue to stand with people in Hong Kong,” Price said in a May 11 statement. In addition to the above four, jailed former pro-democracy lawmaker Cyd Ho, another trustee currently on remand awaiting trial on a separate charge, was also arrested on the same charge of “conspiracy to collude with foreign powers” on Thursday. Canadian foreign minister Melanie Joly has called the arrests “deeply troubling.” Denise Ho holds a Canadian passport. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he was following the arrests with “great concern,” while Human Rights Watch called it a “shocking new low for Hong Kong.” The Vatican has said it is following the case closely. National Security ‘offenses’ China hit back at the international outcry over the arrests on Thursday, saying that international criticism was “slandering and smearing legitimate law enforcement action by the Hong Kong police against the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund.” “Rights and freedoms cannot be used as a shield for illegal activities in Hong Kong,” the foreign ministry’s Hong Kong office said in a statement. “We urge external forces trying to intervene to cease this clumsy political performance immediately,” it said, adding that the arrestees are suspected of offenses under the national security law “of a serious nature.” Zen and the other arrestees were released on bail late on Wednesday. More than 180 Hongkongers have been arrested to date under the law, including dozens of former opposition politicians and democracy activists, and several senior media figures including Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai. Cardinal Zen, 90, has long been an outspoken supporter of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement and a critic of the CCP’s suppression of religious freedom. U.S.-based democracy campaigner Samuel Chu said the fact that Zen was arrested shortly after the selection of one-horse candidate and former security chief John Lee showed that Beijing is celebrating its new-found control over every aspect of life in Hong Kong. Chu described the national security law — which applies to actions and speech anywhere in the world — as an “evil law” that is now the paramount political principle in Hong Kong. “It doesn’t matter who is the chief executive or who is in charge of the different government departments,” Chu said. “As long as there is a national security law, they will arrest whoever they want, and no one in the world is safe.” Taiwan human rights activist Shih Yi-hsiang said the law is in violation of international human rights covenants. “All of our brothers and sisters in Hong Kong who have been arrested … are innocent,” Shih told RFA. “Who is to blame? The CCP regime … and the puppet chief executive John Lee.” Rwei-ren Wu, an associate researcher at the Institute of Taiwan History of the Academia Sinica, called on President Tsai Ing-wen to expedite a clear path to political asylum for Hongkongers fleeing political oppression in their home city. Chiu Chui-cheng, spokesman for Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, condemned “any evil action that suppresses human rights and freedoms in the name of national security.” Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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