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Category: World

Delivery of US Howitzers to Taiwan delayed due to Ukraine crisis

Editor04 mins

An arms contract between the United States and Taiwan is facing severe delays due to “crowded production lines” caused by the war in Ukraine, prompting Taipei to look for alternatives, the island’s Ministry of National Defense has confirmed. The first batch of U.S.-made M109A6 “Paladin” self-propelled howitzers will not be delivered in 2023 as planned as the production capacity of the U.S. arms industry has been affected by the ongoing Ukrainian war, Taiwan has been notified. Instead, the U.S. has offered some alternative long-range precision strike weapon systems such as the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), the Taiwanese Ministry said, adding that officials are currently evaluating the proposal before making a final decision. Last August, Washington approved the sale of 40 M109A6 “Paladin” self-propelled howitzers and related equipment at an estimated cost of U.S. $750 million to Taiwan. It was part of the first arms sale to Taiwan approved by President Joe Biden since taking office that also included 20 M992A2 Field Artillery Ammunition Support Vehicles, 1,698 multi-option Precision Guidance Kits, and other related equipment and logistical support. The first eight units were due to be delivered next year, with another 16 each in 2024 and 2025, but U.S. manufacturers have now said it would be 2026 at the earliest. Eight weeks into the war, Washington decided to ramp up the delivery of artillery guns including a large number of howitzers to Ukraine as part of an additional U.S.$800-million military assistance package, the Associated Press reported. The Taiwanese military has been using two older howitzer variants – the M109A2 and M109A5. The “Paladin” is believed to be far superior with increased armor and an improved M284 155mm howitzer cannon. The proposed alternative – HIMAR – is a multiple-launch rocket system made by Lockheed Martin Corp. It can be mounted on a military truck, is mobile and has a strike distance of 300 kilometers (185 miles) when carrying M57 Army Tactical Missile Systems. Local media reported that besides the howitzers, a Taiwanese Navy’s plan to purchase 12 MH-60R Seahawk anti-submarine helicopters from the U.S. may also run into difficulties as the U.S. deemed that the helicopter is not suitable for asymmetric warfare. Although Washington and Taipei do not have formal diplomatic ties, the U.S. is committed by law to help provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. Those arms sales have long been an irritant in relations between Washington and Beijing which regards the island as part of China, although Taiwan governs itself.

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China enlists foreign vloggers to whitewash Uyghur situation in Xinjiang

Editor020 mins

China has enlisted some fresh faces in its pushback against charges it is committing genocide against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang: young foreign social media influencers who produce short videos showing happy minorities in the far-western region. Travel videos recorded by video bloggers known as vloggers are carried on platforms such as Twitter that are banned in China and spread by state media and affiliated sites. The echo and amplify Beijing’s massive propaganda effort to depict Uyghurs as content with and grateful for Chinese rule. The videos show “foreign travelers” interviewing people in factories in Xinjiang, with captions such as “Friends, it’s a lie that there is a genocide of the Uyghurs.” “Everything is normal here,” and “Is there a single piece of evidence that there are more than 1 million people in concentration camps?” State-owned media outlets and local governments organize the pro-China campaign, paying vloggers to take trips, according to documents posted online and video producers familiar with the system. “What happens is you’ll have a state media like CGTN or CRI or iChongqing or any number of organizations which are run by the Chinese government — which are the Chinese government — and what they will do is they will pay for the flights, pay for the accommodation, organize the trip, and liaise with the content creator and invite them to go on these trips,” said YouTuber Winston Sterzel, who lived in Xinjiang. Minders working as translators or fixers are always present to make sure the content creators follow the script, he said. Vloggers, who post short videos on their personal websites or social media account on platforms like YouTube, say that local government officials arrange their travel and logging during trips they are hired for to make videos that put China in a good light. “They arrange our travel, and they pay for our lodging and food,” said YouTuber Lee Barrett in a video he recorded.   Business Insider reported in January that China’s consulate general in New York signed a U.S. $300 million contract with U.S.-based Vippi Media in New Jersey to create a social media campaign promoting positive messaging about China TikTok, Instagram, and Twitch as a lead-up to the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing. Social media influencers were asked to produce content for their target audiences on Chinese culture, positive diplomatic relations between China and the U.S., and consulate general news. ‘Living happily and joyfully’ On the YouTube channel “Two Brothers,” Netherlands-based Tarekk Habib and Anas Habib, both of Egyptian descent, published a video on Dec. 31, 2021, in which they say a Chinese company agreed to pay them U.S. $1,000 to produce and share a video extoling the government’s measures to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus at the Olympics and to ensure the safety of athletes. They said they turned down the request and instead produced a video discussing China’s oppression of Uyghur Muslims. China’s struggle to shape world opinion about Xinjiang will come into sharp focus this month, when U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet makes a long-awaited visit to China, including Xinjiang. Since 2017, about 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples are believed to have been incarcerated a vast network of internment camps in Xinjiang. The U.S. and a handful of European countries have labelled these practices genocide, while China has angrily rejected criticism and maintains the camps are vocational training centers designed to combat religious extremism and terrorism. In fall 2021, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) government began an initiative to mobilize foreign students in China to praise “Xinjiang policy.” The effort was part of the central government’s larger plan to portray ethnic minorities in Xinjiang as happy and content, according to an article in Xinjiang Daily. Under the title “The people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang are living happily and joyfully,” the report cited a series of letters written by Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping in which he called on foreign students in July 2021 to increase their understanding of the “real China,” so that their knowledge would inspire others to understand the country as well. The XUAR government in October 2021 sponsored a trip to Xinjiang for students from 16 countries, including Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Burundi, Uganda, Russia, Pakistan, Korea, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, the U.S. and the U.K. Chinese state media said the students visited Kashgar (Kashi), Hotan (Hetian), and other places, and saw Xinjiang’s economic development, social stability, quality of life, culture, ethnic unity and religious harmony. “They are not only able to look after the young and old people in their homes, they can also earn a salary. Their work environment is very good, and they are truly happy,” an Armenian student was quoted as saying. Such accounts are meant to counter a growing tide of well-researched reports by researchers and foreign media about conditions in Xinjiang. Government minders Since the start of 2018, authorities have prevented most international journalists from entering Xinjiang and forced foreigners living in the region to leave. YouTubers from the U.S. and South Africa who lived in the Xinjiang or in mainland China for a decade or more said that while recent vlogs by foreigners “traveling” to Xinjiang appear to be simple and normal, government fixers are always on the other side of the camera, controlling what is said and recorded. “You’re gonna be approached by your agent or your middleman … who is a communicator between you and the management company, or as they call themselves, talent agencies,” said LeLe Farley, an American comedian and rap artist who lived in China for years and worked as an announcer for Chinese-language programs. “Those talent agencies get word directly from the government, like ‘we need foreign bloggers for white-washing Xinjiang; we need them to go there, and here’s the trip that we’ve prepared for them to go on. We’ll pay for the whole trip,’” he said. Josh Summers, who ran a popular blog known as “Far West China” as well as a YouTube channel, moved…

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Indonesia confirms invitation to Ukraine for G-20 summit, says Putin will attend

Editor08 mins

Indonesia has asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to be a guest at the G-20 summit, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said Friday, belatedly confirming an invitation to the war-torn European nation’s leader that the United States had urged him to extend. The Indonesian president also said that Vladimir Putin, the leader of G-20 member Russia whose military invaded Ukraine in February, had agreed to attend the same summit in Bali in mid-November, although the Kremlin had not confirmed his participation. Indonesia hold this year’s presidency of the grouping of the world’s top 20 economies. “We know that the G-20 plays the role of catalyst in the global economic recovery and the two things are affecting the global economic recovery in a major way: COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine,” Jokowi said in a speech broadcast on YouTube.  “It is in this context that I invited President Zelenskyy to attend the G-20 summit,” he said of his call Wednesday with the Ukrainian president. Meanwhile in Washington on Friday, the Pentagon’s press secretary said that Putin “absolutely shouldn’t be” welcomed at the G-20 summit. “He isolated Russia by his own actions and should continue to be isolated by the international community … [as one of the] consequences of his actions in Ukraine,” John Kirby told CNN. A day earlier, when asked whether President Joe Biden would attend the G-20 summit were Putin to attend as well, a White House spokeswoman indicated that a decision had yet to be made. “[T]he President has been clear about his view: This shouldn’t be business as usual, and that Russia should not be a part of this,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters. “But, again, [the G-20 summit] six months away; we don’t even have confirmation of these reports [about Putin’s attendance].  So I’m certainly not going to get into a hypothetical in this case.” Southeast Asia analyst Derek J. Grossman said Indonesia’s invitation to Ukraine reflected its stated foreign policy. “The nonaligned path in action,” the senior defense analyst at the Rand Corp., a U.S. think-tank, said on Twitter. Ukraine is not a G-20 member, but Indonesia, as the holder of the group’s presidency, can invite leaders of non-member countries as guests. Zelenskyy on Wednesday pre-empted Indonesia by announcing via Twitter that Jokowi had invited him to the summit. His attendance at the G-20 summit would “depend mainly on the situation in the battlefield,” Vysotskyi Taras, a senior Ukrainian government official, was quoted by Reuters as saying on Thursday. ‘War must be stopped immediately’ Jokowi, however, said he had turned down a request by Zelenskyy that Indonesia send weapons to Ukraine.  “I reaffirmed [to Zelenskyy] that in line with our constitution and our independent and active foreign policy, we cannot send arms support to other countries, but we are prepared to send humanitarian aid,” Jokowi said.  The Indonesian leader also said he had called for an end to the war, in his telephone conversation with Putin on Thursday.    “It should be underlined that the war must be stopped immediately and peace negotiations be given a chance. Indonesia is ready to contribute to achieving that goal,” Jokowi said. “President Putin expressed gratitude for the invitation to the G-20 summit and said that he would attend,” he added. In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would prepare for the summit but did not say whether Putin would go to Bali. “Putin wished success for the Indonesian G-20 presidency and assured that Russia will do everything necessary and everything possible to contribute to it,” Peskov was quoted as saying by the Russian news agency TASS. But, Peskov said, “it is premature to talk about any other modalities of our participation.” Last month, President Biden said Ukraine should be able to participate in the G-20 summit, if the grouping did not expel Russia, the country that invaded its smaller neighbor and former Soviet socialist republic next-door on Feb. 24. Washington went a step farther on April 6, saying that it would boycott some of the group’s meetings if Russian officials attended, which it then did later in the month.  On April 20, several nations, including Ukraine and the United States, walked out when Russian officials addressed a G-20 meeting convened by Indonesia in Washington. Indonesia had invited all members, including Russia, to attend the group’s meeting of finance ministers and central bank chiefs that day. Shailaja Neelakantan in Washington contributed to this report for BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.

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Chinese leader Xi Jinping seeks support of young people amid lockdown restrictions

Editor013 mins

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has called on China’s young people to get behind the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in a recent visit to a university reminiscent of the Mao era, as “little red books” of his personal brand of ideology made an appearance in Guangxi. In an April 25 speech to staff and students, Xi said young people should: “Unswervingly obey the party, follow its direction, and strive to grow into heirs of the era worthy of the important task of national rejuvenation.” The visit came ahead of the anniversary of a century-old student-led May Fourth Movement (1919) previously lauded by Xi for its “patriotic spirit.” The 100-year-old student-led movement was sparked by popular anger at the Treaty of Versailles and the concession of a huge tract of Chinese territory to Japan. Describing the country’s youth as the “oar,” and Xi’s Chinese Dream slogan as the “sail,” Xi appeared to encourage young people to travel the country, as they did during the decade of political turmoil instigated by Mao and now known as the Cultural Revolution. “Measure the motherland with your footsteps, discover the spirit of China with your eyes, listen to the voice of the people with your ears, and sense the pulse of the times with your hearts,” Xi told them, calling for “creative transformation and innovative development” stemming from traditional Chinese culture. Yet, as he spoke, tens of millions of people remained under a grueling COVID-19 lockdown in Shanghai and other Chinese cities, while Xi addressed students without wearing a mask. The visit came after authorities in the southwestern region of Guangxi announced the publication of a Mao Zedong-style “little red book” of Xi’s political ideology, an indication of the growing personality cult Xi is seeking to build around himself, analysts said. Chen Lee-fu, vice president of the Taiwan Professors Association, leaders of dictatorial regimes, including North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian president Vladimir Putin, rarely wear masks, believing that it is detrimental to their strongman image, and makes them look like a patient. Decorative plates and cups featuring images of Chinese President Xi Jinping are seen in front of a plate featuring late communist leader Mao Zedong (top L) at a souvenir store next to Tiananmen Square in Beijing on Feb. 27, 2018. Credit: AFP ‘Red gene’ However, all of Xi’s entourage were masked, Chen said, sending the message that the country’s leader would be protected from COVID-19, which is currently ripping across the country. State news agency Xinhua said the visit was significant because Renmin University, also known as the People’s University, was the first to be founded by the CCP. Xi’s visit on the eve of May 4th was to emphasize that the university must inherit the “red gene,” and cultivate the next generation of socialists, the agency said. Taiwan-based dissident Gong Yujian said the CCP, for all its idealization of the May Fourth Movement, wouldn’t tolerate any kind of actual protest by young people in real life. “The CCP won power through rebellion, so no it fears a popular rebellion more than anything,” Gong said. “There are people in Shanghai openly calling for the overthrow of the CCP and of Xi Jinping, but the real threat is the secondary disaster and casualties caused by the inhumane lockdowns, in which people have lost their lives.” “Only rioting will make Xi Jinping feel any real fear,” he said, speaking as teams of workers continued to put up steel fences blocking major thoroughfares in Shanghai, and walling people into their buildings. Chen said Xi is currently seeking to build a groundswell of public support ahead of the CCP’s 20th Party Congress later this year, at which he will seek an unprecedented third term in office. But he said there are key differences between Xi and his late predecessor, Mao Zedong. “Back then, Mao Zedong called for the elimination of traditional Chinese bureaucracy and elite politics,” Chen said. “He gave young people a plan: to overthrow everything, and start over from scratch.” “The big dream of young people in the Mao era was to surpass Britain and catch up to the United States.” China’s President Xi Jinping with a face mask is displayed as people visit an exhibition about China’s fight against the COVID-19 coronavirus, Jan. 15, 2021. Credit: AFP Xi’s Red Guards Chen said the plan was unlikely to work for Xi, despite his recent calls for Chinese economic output to surpass that of the United States this year. “They have lived through the good years before Trump and Xi Jinping, before the conflict between the US and China,” Chen said. “This is the generation of Alibaba, of free trade and studying overseas.” “Now studying overseas isn’t an option, Belt and Road projects are failing, the whole country is under pandemic lockdown, and even expressing an opinion online can get you deleted or harassed,” he said. “All of this has happened in the last two or three years.” “The students know very well that Xi Jinping’s growing power has entailed reductions to their power and freedoms, so there is no way they will truly support him,” Chen said. “How can China imagine it will displace the United States when all the cities are locked down and there’s no food to eat … foreign capital is leaving, and there are no jobs.” He added: “Chinese universities are no longer places to nurture intellectuals and independent thought. They are the cradle of the CCP … places for Xi Jinping to cultivate his own army of Red Guards.” Sweden-based Zhang Yu, secretary-general of the Independent Chinese PEN Association, said the reappearance of the little red books in Guangxi are evidence of a nationwide propaganda campaign encouraging the cult of personality around Xi ahead of the 20th Party Congress. “With this mass propaganda movement in Guangxi, they are stepping up the praise of Xi and his so-called ideology in China ahead of the 20th Party Congress,” Zhang told RFA. “They absolutely want to try to recreate the collective hysteria of the…

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North Koreans wait 17 hours for compulsory viewing of Pyongyang military parade

Editor010 mins

Residents of Pyongyang who were forced to participate in a parade to mark the founding of North Korea’s army this week waited for nearly an entire day before the event began, disrupting their work and leaving them exhausted, sources said Friday. On the evening of April 25, Pyongyang commemorated the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army – the predecessor to the Korean People’s Army, formed when the country was founded in 1948 – with an extravagant military parade, classified as a “No. 1 event” because it was presided over by the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un. A city official told RFA’s Korean Service that tens of thousands of residents were forced to assemble well in advance of the event showcasing North Korea’s most advanced military equipment, including tanks, armored vehicles, and the Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile, which Pyongyang claims to have successfully tested last month. “From the dawn on the 25th, about 100,000 Pyongyang citizens waited at Kim Il Sung Square for 17 hours to make the military parade possible,” said the official, noting that the start of the event was not made public until just before it began. “They were all totally exhausted,” he added. Sources told RFA that North Koreans have tried to avoid “parade duty” ever since Kim Jong Un came to power in 2011. The government has taken action to make sure parades are not sparsely attended, forcing them to practice watching or marching in the parade in the two months leading up to the actual event. “Now the number of participants are assigned to each neighborhood watch unit and they are forcibly mobilized,” the official said. “Pyongyang citizens mobilized for the event are complaining that their livelihoods are being disrupted as they were not able to do business during the two-month military parade practice period. There are many residents who think that it is better to pay $30.00 per month to drop out of practice so they can work instead.” Those marching in the parade also sacrifice much for the highly publicized propaganda event. “The authorities conducted a two-month training session for middle school students selected for the balloon group, but during this period, the children’s grades are bound to drop,” the official said. Security for the event meant that certain people were kept away from the parade, even those who might have enjoyed watching it, a Pyongyang resident told RFA. “On the day of the event, the members of No.1 event department checked the list of general citizens who were not eligible to participate in the military parade by their residence. General citizens, such as elderly and younger children, who were excluded from participating in the event, gathered in a certain place by residence until the end of the parade and their movement was restricted,” the resident said. “Security agents with heavy firearms were stationed on the rooftop of an apartment building around the square, and strict security was maintained until the event was over… I don’t know what they are afraid of,” the resident said. Citizens participating in the parade were instructed to wear black clothes to avoid being detected by satellites until just before the start of the ceremony,” the official said. Sources said that authorities even blocked all mobile communications to ensure leader Kim Jong Un’s security, without providing details about the perceived threat. “At the order of the Supreme Guard Command escorting the leadership, the operation of the mobile phone base station in Pyongyang was stopped, and mobile phone calls from and to Pyongyang citizens were blocked,” a second Pyongyang resident told RFA. “Until now, whenever any No.1 events are held in Pyongyang, the event participants gathered at Kim Il Sung Square are inspected with metal detectors by members of the Ministry of State Security and are banned from possessing watches and mobile phones. It is the first time that the operation of the mobile phone base station has been stopped and the use of mobile phones in Pyongyang has been completely blocked,” he said. Everyone involved in the parade was so unhappy about being selected to participate, including the soldiers, a stark contrast to the military parades of yesteryear when Kim Jong Un’s father and grandfather ruled the country, the first Pyongyang resident said. “During the Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il eras, soldiers who participated in military parades were given considerable benefits such as commendations, 15 days of vacation, and gifts like televisions for their homes,” the first Pyongyang resident said. “However, after Kim Jong Un came to power, the soldiers who participate in military parades are immediately returned to their military camp without any compensation.” New weapons Despite the fanfare, North Koreans said that the parade did little to improve morale. North Korea showcased its most advanced military equipment during the parade, including its Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile, which it claims to have successfully tested last month. To drive the point home, authorities forced residents to attend two-hour lecture sessions to educate them about the weapons that appeared in the parade, a resident of the northwestern province of North Pyongan told RFA. “The purpose of this intensive lecture is to promote North Korea’s military power as the world’s strongest by showing off strategic and tactical weapons that appeared at the parade, and to calm the dissatisfaction of the people who are tired of living difficulties due to sanctions and the coronavirus,” he said. The North Korean economy is still suffering from a pandemic caused two-year trade ban with China, as well as international nuclear sanctions. “Residents mobilized for the lecture were skeptical about the speaker’s statement that we are standing tall as the world’s most powerful military power,” the North Pyongan resident said. The lecture also promised an end to North Korea’s economic misery, a resident of the city of Chongjin in the northeastern province of North Hamgyong told RFA. “Residents did not hide their disappointment, saying that no one believed the authorities’ propaganda.” Translated by Leejin J. Chung Written…

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Japan PM begins SE Asia trip, urges open seas, response on Ukraine

Editor09 mins

Japan’s leader made a veiled but strong statement against Chinese assertiveness as he met Indonesia’s president on Friday at the start of a trip to Southeast Asia and Europe to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific and rally a regional response to the Ukrainian crisis. Tokyo is also considering giving Indonesia patrol boats so its coast guard could strengthen maritime security, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said, amid Chinese pressure on Jakarta over its oil and gas drilling operations in its own exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea. “I expressed a strong sense of protest against efforts to change the status quo unilaterally and economic pressures in the East China Sea and South China Sea,” Kishida said, after meeting with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in Jakarta. The Japanese premier’s remarks were a pointed reference to concern over Chinese activities in the region. Kishida’s eight-day tour will see him visiting “strategic ASEAN partners,” including Vietnam and Thailand. The prime minister will then proceed to Europe, with stops in Italy and the United Kingdom, both members of the G7 grouping of industrialized countries that also comprises Japan. Before embarking from Tokyo on his trip, Kishida said at the airport that he would like to “exchange frank opinions on the situation in Ukraine with each of the leaders and confirm their cooperation.” Indonesia is host of this year’s Group of 20 summit in November, an engagement that has placed Jakarta in a diplomatic bind, amid opposition to the participation of Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine and alleged war crimes there. On Friday, Jokowi confirmed that Indonesia had invited Ukraine’s president as a guest to the G-20 summit in Bali and that Russian leader Vladimir Putin would also attend. Kishida said he and Jokowi “exchanged views openly” on the Russian invasion, “which is a clear violation of international law and which we say has shaken the foundations of the international order, including Asia, and must be strongly condemned.” “Keeping in mind the U.N. resolutions agreed upon by the two countries, I and the president discussed this issue. We have one understanding that a military attack on Ukraine is unacceptable. In any area, sovereignty and territorial integrity should not be interfered with by military force or intimidation,” the Japanese leader said. Jokowi, for his part, called for all countries to respect sovereignty and territorial integrity. “The Ukraine war must be stopped immediately,” he said. A regional ‘reluctance to take sides’ The war in Ukraine has been a divisive issue among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN. “Across the region there is a reluctance to take sides and an ambivalence about the concert of democracies lining up in support of Ukraine,” said Jeff Kingston, a professor and director of Asian Studies at Temple University in Tokyo. Most Southeast Asian countries – Singapore being an exception – have been hesitant to condemn Russia or join international sanctions against Moscow. Japan hopes to consolidate their responses during the prime minister’s visit. “Kishida will [also] seek to gain understanding of what is at stake and the potential implications for Asia in terms of China’s hegemonic aspirations,” Kingston said. China’s increasing assertiveness in the East China and South China seas will be high on the agenda, and Kishida said he would discuss with Southeast Asian leaders further cooperation “toward realizing a free and open Indo-Pacific,” and maintaining peace and order. Stops in Hanoi, Bangkok In Vietnam, where Kishida will spend less than 24 hours over the weekend, he will meet with both the Vietnamese prime minister and president. Bilateral talks will focus on post-COVID-19 and security cooperation, Vietnamese media said. Vietnam shares interests with Japan in safeguarding maritime security in the South China Sea where China holds expansive claims and has been militarizing reclaimed islands. In Thailand, Kishida will hold talks with Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha. Thailand is the host of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum summit in November. Bangkok and Tokyo are celebrating the 135th anniversary of diplomatic ties this year, and the two sides are seeking to sign an agreement on the transfer of defense equipment and technology to strengthen cooperation in the security field, according to the Bangkok Post. Government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said it would be the first official visit of a Japanese prime minister to Thailand since 2013. In March, Kishida visited India and Cambodia, his first bilateral trips since taking office in October 2021. Later in May, he will host a visit by U.S. President Joe Biden and a summit of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad. The White House announced on Wednesday that President Biden would visit South Korea and Japan May 20-24 to advance a “commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific and to U.S. treaty alliances” with the two countries. The trip will be Biden’s first one to Asia as president. “In Tokyo, President Biden will also meet with the leaders of the Quad grouping of Australia, Japan, India, and the United States,” the statement said without disclosing the date. The Quad is widely seen as countering China’s weight in the region. China has been sneering at the formation of the Quad, calling it one of the “exclusive cliques detrimental to mutual trust and cooperation among regional countries.” On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Wang Wenbin said that the Quad “is steeped in the obsolete Cold War and zero sum mentality and reeks of military confrontation.” “It runs counter to the trend of the times and is doomed to be rejected,” he said. Dandy Koswaraputra in Jakarta contributed to this report for BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.

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Vietnam unveils world’s longest glass-bottom bridge

Editor01 mins

The world’s longest glass-bottom bridge opened in Vietnam this month – suspended at a stunning height of 150 meters (490 feet) and spanning over 600 meters (1,970 feet) in length. The Bach Long bridge – meaning “white dragon” in Vietnamese – is a pedestrian bridge and tourist attraction that bends around a large valley centered between two peaks. Inspectors from the Guiness Book of World Records are expected to verify the bridge’s status next month. For now, the official longest glass-bottom bridge is in Guangdong, China. After over two years of COVID-19 shutdowns, Vietnam is eager to woo tourists back to the country after ending mandatory quarantines for international visitors in mid-March. It also resumed 15 days of visa-free travel for citizens from 13 countries. Credit: AFP

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Rights groups call on China to release Taiwanese man who attended Hong Kong protests

Editor08 mins

Human rights groups have hit out at China over ongoing restrictions being imposed on Taiwan businessman Lee Meng-chu, also known as Morrison Lee, following his release from jail. Lee “disappeared” in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen after taking photos of troops gathering near the border during the 2019 Hong Kong protest movement and sending them back to contacts in Taiwan. He later appeared making a “confession” on Chinese state television, before being sentenced to one year and 10 months’ imprisonment and two years’ deprivation of political rights. Although Lee was recently released from prison at the end of his jail term, the authorities are preventing him from going home to loved ones on the democratic island of Taiwan, saying his “punishment” hasn’t been completed, as the two years’ deprivation of political rights has yet to expire. “The Chinese government’s deprivation of political rights [sentencing] is in breach of international human rights law,” Eeling Chiu, secretary-general of Amnesty International’s Taiwan branch, said in a statement on the group’s website. “No prisoner should be deprived of their right to freedom of speech, let alone those who have served out their sentences.” Chiu said Lee’s trial had been full of procedural flaws and hadn’t met international requirements to be judged a fair trial. “The Chinese government should return Mr. Lee Meng-chu to Taiwan as soon as possible, and end its serious violations of his right to freedom of thought, expression, assembly and association,” Chiu said. The rights group Safeguard Defenders said Lee had been held in a “secret jail” system known as Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location (RSDL) from August 2019 after taking part in the 2019 Hong Kong protest movement, which began as a mass protest against plans to allow extradition of alleged criminal suspects to face trial in mainland Chinese, and broadened to include calls for fully democratic elections. Politically motivated It said Lee’s prosecution was politically motivated, and that the same rules regarding deprivation of political rights hadn’t been applied to a more prominent Taiwanese activist, Lee Ming-cheh, who was allowed to leave China as soon as his jail term ended. It said there are at least three other Taiwanese nationals currently in Chinese jails on “spying” charges: Shih Cheng-ping; Tsai Chin-shu and Cheng Yu-chin. According to the Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China (Article 12-2), Chinese nationals sentenced to criminal punishment are banned from leaving the country if the punishment has not been completed. Taiwan has never been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), nor formed part of the People’s Republic of China, but its nationals are regarded as Chinese citizens under another administration by Beijing. The majority of Taiwan’s 23 million people say they have no wish to give up their country’s sovereignty or lose their democratic way of life under Chinese rule. “By not allowing Morrison Lee to leave, Beijing is … violating the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which it signed in 1998, although not yet ratified,” Safeguard Defenders said in a statement. “Safeguard Defenders urges China to respect its own laws and international rights norms and allow Morrison Lee, who has served his time, to go home and reunite with his family,” it said. It added: “China also manipulates deprivation of political rights to prevent Chinese rights defenders from freely going home after release from jail, instead subjecting them to weeks, months, even years of continued illegal detention.” No ‘political rights’ Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, told a news conference on Wednesday that Lee is currently serving “an additional sentence,” in a reference to the two years’ deprivation of political rights. Shih Yi-hsiang, head of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, said Lee Meng-chu would likely not even be able to exercise “political rights” in China, so the exit ban made no sense. “The Taiwan Association for Human Rights believes that, in any case, Lee Meng-chu is not a Chinese citizen, but a Taiwanese citizen,” Shih said. “It is meaningless to insist on some additional sentence now.” “We think this is ridiculous; the Chinese government has no reason to force Lee to stay in China, and we advocate his safe return to Taiwan,” Shih told RFA. Yang Sen-hong, president of the Taiwan Association for China Human Rights, said the CCP makes a habit of arbitrarily arresting people. “You have to be very strong when standing up to the CCP regime,” Yang said. “I hope that the Taiwanese government and its Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) will actively move to rescue Lee Meng-chu.” The MAC declined to comment, saying it was respecting the stated wishes of Lee and his family. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Tibetan exile leader wraps up first official visit to Washington

Editor06 mins

Tibetan exile leader Penpa Tsering has wrapped up his first official visit to Washington D.C. with a meeting on Thursday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders and public talks scheduled for Friday evening. Tsering — the Sikyong or elected head of Tibet’s India-based exile government the Central Tibetan Administration — began his visit on Tuesday with talks held with Uzra Zeya, the State Department’s Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues. The Department also hosted a lunch for Tsering attended by ambassadors from the Czech Republic, Denmark, Canada, the United Kingdom and other countries. Participating in Tsering’s meeting on Thursday with Pelosi were International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) board chairman Richard Gere and acting president Bhuchung Tsering; Zeegyab Rinpoche, abbot of the India-based branch of Tibet’s Tashilhunpo monastery; U.S. congressman Jim McGovern; and Namgyal Choedup, representative of exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. Speaking to RFA after the meeting, Choedup noted this week’s visit to Washington was the first by Tsering, a former speaker of Tibet’s exile parliament in Dharamsala, India, who won a closely fought April 11, 2021 election to become Sikyong held in Tibetan communities worldwide. Choedup described Thursday’s talks as “decisive and constructive,” calling Tibetans grateful for Pelosi’s continued support. “The meeting also discussed collective decisions on future courses of action regarding how to resolve the Sino-Tibetan conflict,” Choedup said. Formerly an independent nation, Tibet was invaded and incorporated into China by force more than 70 years ago, and Tibetans frequently complain of discrimination and human rights abuses by Chinese authorities and policies they say are aimed at eradicating their national and cultural identity. U.S. congressman Michael McCaul, ICT board chairman Richard Gere, and Sikyong Penpa Tsering are shown left to right. Photo: RFA “We are trying to burst the myths or narratives that the Chinese government has been presenting for many decades about Tibet being a part of China, which is not true,” said ICT board chairman Richard Gere, also speaking to RFA on Thursday. “And we are trying to push for a genuine dialogue [between China] and His Holiness the Dalai Lama,” Gere added. The Dalai Lama and Tibet’s India-based exile government the Central Tibetan Administration have proposed a “Middle Way” approach to talks with Beijing that now accepts Tibet’s status as a part of China but urges greater freedoms for Tibetan language, religious, and cultural rights. Nine rounds of talks were previously held between envoys of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and high-level Chinese officials beginning in 2002, but stalled in 2010 and were never resumed. Congressional supporters of the Dalai Lama “would love to have the Dalai Lama address a joint session of the U.S. Congress by video,” said representative from Texas Michael McCaul, a ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. ”The American people stand with the Tibetan people and with the Dalai Lama, who is one of the greatest spiritual leaders of our time,” McCaul said. Penpa Tsering ends his Washington visit Friday evening with a panel discussion held at George Washington University on the Tibet-China dialogue and a public talk with the D.C.-area Tibetan community. He will then visit Tibet communities in Philadelphia and New York before moving on to meetings in Canada. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.

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Vietnam’s crackdown on corruption in private sector seen as potential turning point

Editor09 mins

Recent arrests in Vietnam of business leaders amid a larger crackdown on corruption could cause some bumpy days on the stock market and hit the property sector, but a serious housecleaning will improve the overall business climate, analysts told RFA. In late March, authorities arrested Trinh Ban Quyet, chairman of property and leisure company FLC Group and its subsidiary Bamboo Airlines, on charges of stock market manipulation, after he failed to report to authorities his sale of 74.8 million shares in the company in January. In early April, authorities arrested Do Anh Dung, chairman of the Tan Hoang Minh property development group, on suspicion of fraudulent appropriation of assets, after the company issued private bonds between July 2021 and March 2022 while submitting false information and hiding other relevant information about the business. International and local media called these arrests a signal that Vietnam’s largest companies were now a target of the Vietnamese Communist Party’s anti-corruption efforts. “Big companies with long lasting business issues should be very nervous,” Nguyen Van Duc, the CEO of the Dat Lanh Real Estate Company, told RFA’s Vietnamese Service. “This could trigger a collapse of the real estate market, especially in the area dealing with resorts and leisure. Many businesses have invested tens of thousands of billions of dong [hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars] in a resort development project, but purchasing power hasn’t been able to catch up,” he said. Reuters reported that as of Wednesday, Vietnam’s benchmark index had fallen 13.8 percent this month, with investors and brokers partially blaming the recent arrests for the downturn. The market had been steadily trending upward since hitting a low in March 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the country’s relative success at keeping the number of cases down for 2020 and early 2021, the pandemic still had a major impact on the economy. “Households still experienced lower incomes, job loss, and hardships. Inequalities, differences in abilities to cope, vulnerabilities, and policy implementation challenges… are cautionary signs and offer relevant lessons to consider as Vietnam faces a much more challenging phase of COVID-19 ahead,” the World Bank said in a report. The turmoil in Vietnam’s economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic is pushing the government to tackle corruption in hopes of speeding a recovery, Duc said. “They’d rather do it earlier than later to avoid an even more damaging collapse,” he said. Authorities have tried to calm investors’ fears about the arrests. The crackdown on questionable dealings of real estate tycoons would have the beneficial effect of easing the rise of real estate prices, said Duc. “During Tan Hoang Minh Group’s case, the government discovered a plot to increase real estate prices in Ho Chi Minh City, and the country in general, when they offered a bid on a property that was 8.3 times higher than the initial offering,” he said. “As a result the government decided to examine the entire company. I think this was a sound action of the government that prevented an unreasonable and dangerous price spike of real estate.” Le Dang Doanh, the former president of Vietnam’s Central Institute for Economic Managment (CIEM), told RFA that the arrests of Dung and Quyet might represent a turning point for the country. “In the short term, some investors will be worried about market fluctuation, but this will bring about a better business environment for the stock market in the long term,” said Doanh. “I believe regulations to prevent corruption like we’ve seen in these cases will be created. For example, there are currently no regulations on bonds issued by enterprises, therefore we have not been able to effectively monitor this issue,” he said. The Tan Hoang Minh group used bonds to raise money for a specific project but then used the acquired capital for other purposes, authorities allege. “Many similar incidents have been discovered. I think that’s a positive sign for Vietnam’s business environment,” Doanh said. More investigations into large companies and arrests of key personnel are likely as the Standing Board of the Central Steering Commitee on Anti-Corruption, under the Politburo, has set up eight inspection teams to detect corruption, local new outlet Vietnam+ reported. During a meeting on Wednesday, members of the anti-corruption committee reviewed their response to FLC and Tan Hoang Minh, a major embezzlement scandal involving the Vietnam Coast Guard High Command, and a bribery case at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for spaces on COVID-19 rescue flights for Vietnamese citizens abroad, the report said. Investigators have examined more than 1,200 cases involving more than 2,000 suspects. More than 700 cases involving more than 1,500 defendants have been brought to the court, Vietnam+ said. Analysts have said that recent high-profile arrests are intended to demonstrate that Vietnam is getting tougher on corruption. At the same time, the country’s government continues to punish citizens who discuss the cases publicly. In mid-April,  authorities arrested Hanoi resident Dang Nhu Quynh for allegedly posting information on Facebook about the arrests of Trinh Ban Quyet and Do Anh Dung, and said that the Ministry of Public Security would continue prosecuting people and companies that are guilty of similar crimes. Quynh was charged with violating state interests for publishing “unverified information.” The law applied in Quynh’s case is designed to prevent the spread of false information that could damage the reputation of people and companies, legal experts said. But many people who have been punished were found guilty even if the information was true. Translated by Anna Vu. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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