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Category: World

Enrollment up as new academic year begins in Myanmar, despite turmoil

Editor06 mins

Myanmar’s junta reopened basic education schools across the country for the 2022-2023 academic year on Thursday with student enrollment levels surpassing those from a year earlier, when the pandemic and a teacher boycott of the military regime kept kids at home, according to parents and residents. In the commercial capital Yangon, the number of students attending primary schools saw a noticeable uptick, residents said, while security at the city’s educational centers was tighter than the previous year. Yangon taxi driver Than Win estimated that “around 50% of the children” went to school on the first day of classes, based on what he had seen driving through five of the city’s townships Thursday morning. “Very few were in school uniforms — maybe 20% or so,” he told RFA’s Burmese Service, suggesting they didn’t want to be seen as supporting junta rule. “I didn’t see security guards in the morning but in the afternoon, there were five or six security guards posted at some of the more prominent schools.” Parents said more children are attending school this year than last. Schools were closed in 2021 due to coronavirus restrictions and the military’s Feb. 1, 2021, coup, which prompted many teachers to leave their jobs and join the anti-junta Civil Disobedience Movement. Wai Wai, a mother from Yangon’s Twante township, told RFA that her 7-year-old daughter attended her first day of kindergarten classes on Thursday. “I thought there’d be no one at school but many people came — all the kids were wearing their white and green school uniforms. Last year, the children did not dare to wear white and green,” she said. “One teacher told me she had only three students in her class last year, but today she had 30.” The junta announced that 5.6 million students had enrolled nationwide for the current academic year, most of whom are based in Yangon region, the capital Naypyidaw and Mon state. An anti-coup protester splashes red paint on student uniforms hung outside a school during a demonstration against the re-opening of the school by the junta in Yangon, April 27, 2021. Credit: AP Photo NUG-run classes Despite the increase in enrollment, many parents said they would continue to boycott junta-run schools. The country’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) recently said it is working to provide classes for school-age children of parents led by CDM teachers. Mon Mon, a resident of Magway region’s Yezagyo township, told RFA her 7-year-old son will attend NUG-run classes this spring instead of school. “There’s no school for my son this year because we don’t want to support the junta’s education system,” she said. “I plan to send my son to classes run by the Spring Revolution NUG. We will find a school where CDM teachers teach. Another reason [he won’t attend] is that we feel sorry for children in war-torn areas who cannot go to school and sympathize with them.” The junta invited CDM teachers to return to work with no repercussions by May 31 and recently extended its offer to June 7. Kyaw Min Khant, an official with the All Myanmar Teachers’ Federation, confirmed to RFA that enrollment in schools in many of the country’s regions and states is around 50% higher than last year. “We have seen a significant increase in enrollment over the past year,” he said. “Many parents have realized that they need to keep their children in school. … They know that their kids will be much older if they wait for the country’s political stalemate to be solved before they return, so they are willing to separate their politics from their children’s education.” According to Kyaw Min Khant, 11 million children were eligible to attend school nationwide in 2021, while the number had increased to around 13 million this year, with some 80% in attendance. Translation by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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Democracy in China won’t come without a ‘huge crisis’ for ruling party: analysts

Editor010 mins

Democracy is unlikely to come to China unless a number of circumstances fall into place at just the right time under the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), exiled dissidents told RFA ahead of the 33rd anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre. Wang Dan, a former leader of the 1989 student-led democracy movement in China and the founder of the Dialogue China think-tank, warned that people shouldn’t harbor illusions about deliberate political reform under the CCP. He said there was likely a less than 0.1 percent chance that the ruling party would willingly reform itself in a democratic transition seen under the Kuomintang government in Taiwan. Instead, internal divisions over how to deal with a crisis are more likely to weaken the CCP’s hold on power, Wang Dan told RFA. “Perhaps if there is a huge crisis and challenge [facing China], generating a certain level of internal disagreement, and the government misjudges and makes the wrong response are wrong, then maybe history will turn,” he said. “Without the combination of these factors, I advise everyone to drop any remaining illusions they hold about the CCP,” he said. Exiled dissident and political commentator Wang Juntao said CCP leader Xi Jinping’s insistence on a zero-COVID policy in response to the pandemic could prove to be just such a crisis, however. “Now that the enforcement methods used to implement zero-COVID disease control and prevention measures have brought disaster to the people, more and more people agree that Xi Jinping is going against the opinions of experts from all over the world, and yet there is no way to make him correct his course,” Wang Juntao said. He said that Mao Zedong’s initiation of the political turmoil of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) had prompted calls for democracy from within CCP ranks after the late supreme leader’s death. Those people understood the need to prevent the emergence of another strongman like Mao, and tried to make power less concentrated, so that the entire party and country were subject to the rule of a single person ever again. But it seems that a similar pattern has emerged under Xi Jinping, he said. Students gather at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, April 22, 1989.AFP The new generation Wang said the crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen protests was to be expected under such a repressive system, and that crackdowns on dissent had been ongoing since then. But he said he wasn’t pessimistic, because different generations make different meanings out of history. “You have to believe that democratization is the overall trend,” he said. “You have to believe that constitutional human rights are based on the basic aspirations of human nature, and you have to believe that the political demands of 1989 are the inevitable destination of human beings and the Chinese nation.” “This generation may not have been through the Tiananmen massacre, but they will have experienced their own events, and will soon start connecting their destiny with the events of the past,” he said. “When that happens, the Tiananmen protests and massacre will take on a fresh meaning, like a stele [stone carved with a commemorative inscription],” he said. “As long as China remains undemocratized, there will come a time when the next generation shares the same fate we do, unless those in power stop suppressing their struggle for democracy,” Wang Juntao said. Wang Dan said most young people in China had heard of the Tiananmen massacre, but were unlikely to understand what took place in detail. “Most people know about June 4th, but they don’t know the cause, the outcome, or the ins and outs,” Wang Dan said. “But they do know that June 4, 1989 is a sensitive date.” “There are actually very few young people who don’t know this huge things happened in China,” he said, adding that current events could trigger their curiosity. He said that Chinese people often do their own research once they go overseas to study, and are free of government censorship or surveillance. “As long as the wheel of democracy is rolling forward, I’m not worried at all,” he said. “From a historical perspective, it’s fairly irrelevant whether young people know about June 4, 1989 right now or not.” View of a residential building during a COVID-19 lockdown in the Jing’an district in Shanghai, April 8, 2022. Credit: AFP Protests over lockdown In recent days, protests involving hundreds of students have sprung up at university campuses in Beijing and Tianjin, over draconian COVID-19 restrictions imposed on higher education. The scenes at Tianjin University, Beijing International Studies University and Beijing Normal University were eerily reminiscent of the early stages of the 1989 student movement, which later took over Beijing’s Tiananmen Square for weeks on end with demands for democratic reforms and the rule of law. Those protests culminated in a bloody massacre of civilians by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on the night of June 3-4, with an unknown number of casualties. In Shanghai, an open letter from entrepreneurs dated May 30 called for the release of all political prisoners and for the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to begin a process of political reform at the 20th Party Congress later in the year, warning of mass capital flight and a widespread loss of public confidence in Xi Jinping’s leadership. It urged the industrial sector not to act like “sheep fattened for slaughter” by returning to full production in the wake of the weeks-long Shanghai lockdown. It said the “rule of law” had been reduced to “rule by man”, while the economy had been hijacked by politics, leaving millions of COVID-19 “graduates” unemployed, calling on people to “take back their civil rights and rebuild the country.” The letter also called on the government to overturn the guilty verdicts against entrepreneurs Ren Zhiqiang and Sun Dawu, as well as punishing officials responsible for “violating the law and disregarding public opinion” as part of the zero-COVID policy and loosening CCP controls on the media. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Jailed Changsha NGO worker subjected to physical abuse, mistreatment in jail: wife

Editor05 mins

The wife of one of the Changsha Funeng NGO workers jailed in the central Chinese province of Hunan says he is being subjected to physical abuse and mistreatment in Chishan Prison. Changsha Funeng co-founder Yang Zhanqing, who now lives in the U.S., has previously said that the three men were targeted because their rights work had received overseas funding, which the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regards as “collusion with hostile foreign forces,” and a threat to its national security. Changsha Funeng sought to prevent discrimination and ensure equality in line with Chinese law by using the courts to strengthen protections for individuals living with disabilities and with HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases. Shi Minglei, wife of Cheng Yuan, recently received a handwritten letter form her husband detailing his treatment while serving a sentence for “subversion of state power” handed down by the Changsha Intermediate People’s Court in August 2020. She spoke to RFA about the contents of the letter: The letter said that as soon as he got out of the van, he was taken to the high-security wing, where he was detained for three months until April 18. Anyone who has been in a high-security prison area knows that it forms part of a correctional center, also called a strict management center, with poor food and substandard living conditions. There were hourly roll calls taken through the night, and there was a lot of physical abuse, like forced duck-walks, and many other kinds of psychological and physical abuse. The treatment in high-security prisons is tantamount to torture. What I heard is that they learned from the experience of the concentration camps in Xinjiang. He [included one quotation, a couple lines of poetry] written in pain by [Chinese historian] Sima Qian after being tortured, very severely. What this means is that Cheng Yuan has never confessed or pleaded guilty, so they sent him to a high-security jail to try to force him to ‘confess.’ He also used a couple lines of poetry to express in a very cryptic way … that he is getting up before daylight to do forced labor and getting back very late from the workshop. He only has two hours to himself in which he has to wash himself and his clothes, so he’s also not getting enough time to rest. For example, the molding workshop contains chemicals and harmful gases, and there isn’t even any basic protection. They only get regular masks or even fabric masks. Washing frequently doesn’t have any protective effect. They distribute disposable medical masks only when the prison leaders come round on a tour of inspection. [Taiwan political activist and former inmate] Lee Ming-cheh told me that most prisoners are taken straight to prison, and even maybe to study centers for study, but not to the high-security wing. High-security prisons are places meant for punishing existing inmates. Cheng Yuan had done nothing wrong when he went to Chishan Prison, but he was taken to the high-security wing, which is standard practice for torture. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Warships arrive in Kyauk Phyu township as tensions rise in Myanmar’s Rakhine state

Editor06 mins

Myanmar’s military is sending more troops into Rakhine state amid fears that an informal ceasefire with the Arakan Army (AA) is about to collapse. A submarine arrived at Kyauk Phyu township on May 31, after sailing through the Bay of Bengal and traveling up the Than Zit river, according to locals. They said a warship arrived the following day. A resident, who declined to be named for safety reasons, told RFA’s Burmese Srrvice the ship was equipped with heavy artillery and helicopter landing pads. “The warship is huge,” the resident said. “It docked at Number Three Port in Kyauk Phyu and I saw soldiers disembark. I don’t know how many there were but I estimate that hundreds of soldiers were on board.” The two vessels moved to Number 15 Port at the Thit Pote Taung Naval Base in Kyauk Phyu after the troops disembarked. The township is home to one of China’s largest infrastructure projects in Myanmar, including the Kyauk Phyu Deep Sea Port. The resident speculated that the troop reinforcements were sent to protect China’s business interests amid fears of further clashes between the military and the AA. “There are a lot of Chinese projects here,” the local said. “The construction of deep-sea ports for docking submarines was also done by Chinese companies. So if the fighting intensifies I think the military is being deployed to protect China’s economic projects.” Some locals told RFA they were concerned about being able to get hold of basic supplies such as rice, cooking oil and salt as a result of the military reinforcement. When contacted by RFA, a junta spokesman denied that more troops had arrived on May 31. At a news conference on May 19 he said that the military could not be blamed if fighting breaks out in Rakhine state. Military tensions between the military council and the AA have been high since early May, with locals and Rakhine politicians concerned that fighting will soon intensify. An NGO which is monitoring the crisis released a report on Wednesday urging both sides to refrain from fighting. International Crisis Group (ICG) said people in Rakhine state would suffer if the war between the army and the AA breaks out again. Renewed clashes could impact 3 million Rakhine residents The AA began as a resistance group in 2009 and grew into a powerful ethnic army. It fought a two-year war with Myanmar’s military, which ended with an informal ceasefire in November 2020. The ceasefire has still not been formalized and the AA says it remains committed to establishing an independent state for ethnic Rakhines. Clashes between AA fighters and the military in two villages near Paletwa township on May 26 have raised fears the uneasy truce is about to crumble. The resumption of full-scale conflict between the military and the Arakan Army could put the lives of millions of ethnic minority residents of Rakhine State at risk, according to ICG. It said AA moves to gain territory in the north are likely to affect the lives of as many as 3 million ethnic Rakhines and Rohingyas. ICG senior adviser on Myanmar Tom Kean told RFA the humanitarian consequences would probably be worse than during the two-year war. Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) has invited the AA to join an alliance of regional armies to fight the military, which IGC said could also lead to an escalation in violence in Rakhine state.

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Canada protests after aircraft ‘buzzed’ by Chinese jets

Editor05 mins

China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) fighter jets have repeatedly “buzzed” a Canadian reconnaissance aircraft on a U.N. mission in East Asia, with over two dozen intercepts deemed dangerous, a media outlet in Canada reported. “Buzzing” means flying extremely close and fast. On these occasions the Chinese jets came as close as 20 to 100 feet (six to 30 meters) to the Canadian plane, according to a report Wednesday in Canada’s Global News. The network quoted anonymous sources in the Canadian government and military as saying the government lodged “multiple” diplomatic complaints with Beijing for what they called the “unsafe and unprofessional conduct” of the Chinese pilots. The Canadian maritime patrol aircraft CP-140 Aurora, manned by rotating crews, is currently taking part in U.N. Operation NEON to monitor sanctions against North Korea. A spokesperson for the Canadian Department of National Defence was quoted as saying that the incidents are “of concern and of increasing frequency.”   There have been around 60 such incidents since December with the planes sometimes coming so close the pilots could make eye contact with each other, risking a mid-air collision, the report said. The Chinese government is believed not to have responded to Canada’s complaints, the report said. The Lockheed CP-140 Aurora is similar to the Lockheed P-3C Orion which is used by the U.S. Navy for anti-submarine and maritime surveillance.  The Aurora is “Canada’s primary airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft,” according to the Canadian government website. It “provides a full range of maritime, littoral and overland surveillance capabilities for domestic and deployed missions.” It is unclear which type of Chinese aircraft were involved in the “buzzing” incidents.  Close encounters continue There have been a number of close encounters between Chinese and foreign military airplanes in recent years.  The latest incident took place in March when U.S. Lockheed Martin F-35 fighters had at least one close contact with China’s J-20 stealth fighters over the East China Sea. A U.S. Navy P-3C Orion surveillance aircraft and a Chinese military surveillance aircraft came within 1,000 feet (305 meters) of each other in the skies over the South China Sea in 2017. The worst incident occurred in April 2001 when a Chinese F-8 fighter jet collided with a U.S. Navy EP-3 Aries II surveillance plane over the South China Sea, killing the Chinese pilot. The U.S. airplane had to make an emergency landing on China’s Hainan island and its 24 crew members were detained for 11 days before being released.  Strained relationship Canada-China relations have been strained after Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, a senior executive at the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei in 2018 at the request of the U.S. China retaliated by arresting two Canadian citizens, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig.  The two Canadians were released last September after Meng was allowed to return to China. Relations between the two countries soured again last month after Canada banned Huawei and another Chinese telecom company, ZTE, from taking part in its 5G network development.

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Tiananmen massacre vigil organizer says Hongkongers ‘refuse to forget’ despite ban

Editor04 mins

Chiu Yan-loy, a community officer in Hong Kong’s Tsuen Wan district and former leading member of the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, won’t be lighting candles in Victoria Park this year. The once-annual vigil commemorating those who died at the hands of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) as it crushed a weeks-long peaceful protest on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square has been effectively banned for the third year running. Chiu has already served eight months in prison for taking part in an unauthorized vigil in 2020. Instead, Hongkongers will be remembering the dead in private, amid a city-wide crackdown on public dissent under a draconian national security law. Chiu Yan-loy: I have no regrets. It was an honor for me to be sentenced as a dissident-in-mourning on June 4. Commemorating the massacre in itself is not a crime, and making it one is political suppression and nothing more. I choose to stay in Hong Kong to endure this situation. More than 10,000 other people in Victoria Park at the same time of me also risked such charges. If I can carry the can for them, then that’s what I’ll do. RFA: Will there be other events in Hong Kong? Chiu Yan-loy: It’s a luxury to hold a ceremony like that in today‘s Hong Kong. June 4 commemorations and candlelight vigils are a way of gathering a kind of strength. We won’t see June 4 rallies again in Hong Kong, nor any [public] mourning. RFA: What can be done instead? Chiu Yan-loy: When I was in prison, I realized that the most unbearable thing was the feeling of loneliness; a sense that nobody cared about me. Visiting inmates is similar to the spirit of mourning June 4. Spiritual support makes them understand that they are not alone … that there are still people who care about them. Helping them overcome their loneliness is the most important thing. RFA: How are your former colleagues doing? Chiu Yan-loy: I’m very sad that every one of them has wound up in jail or been suppressed in some way. However, I respect their choices. [Alliance leader Chow Hang-tung] had previously talked with me about her choices before [her prison sentences] and why she made them. I hope she has enough will-power to hang in there. I wish her well. RFA: How are you doing? Chiu Yan-loy: After I got out, I went back to the community to serve my residents through crowdfunding. There are many unknowns in the future, but I will keep up hope and perseverance. Hongkongers should have hope, and keep moving forwards. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Resumption of conflict would put millions at risk in Myanmar’s Rakhine state: report

Editor010 mins

A resumption of a full-scale conflict between Myanmar’s military and Arakan Army (AA) insurgents could result in the worst violence Rakhine state has seen in years and put the lives of millions of ethnic minorities in the region at risk, according to a new report by an international NGO. In a report released Wednesday, the International Crisis Group (ICG) said AA moves to gain territory in central and northern Rakhine state since it agreed to an informal ceasefire with the military in the latter part of 2020 are likely to prompt intense fighting in the region. It warned that up to 3 million ethnic Rakhines and Rohingyas would be severely affected by the violence and called for the ceasefire to be formalized, despite the AA’s declared goal of establishing an independent state for ethnic Rakhines and a bid by Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) to have the AA join a coalition of anti-junta armed groups. “A resumption of war in Rakhine state would have significant impacts for the 2-3 million people in the state, both Rakhine and Rohingya, who have so far been spared the post-coup violence that has engulfed the rest of Myanmar,” the ICG’s senior adviser on Myanmar, Tom Kean, told RFA’s Burmese Service in an email prior to the release of the report. “The humanitarian consequences would likely be devastating — almost certainly worse than during the two-year war from December 2018 to November 2020, which the state has still not recovered from.” Kean said that in researching the ICG’s report, both Rakhine and Rohingya interviewees expressed fear of conflict resuming, adding that while many believed such a conflict is inevitable, it is something they neither wanted nor supported. And while many in Myanmar would welcome a partnership against the junta between the AA and the NUG-led opposition, the report suggested that such an arrangement could spark violence that would significantly worsen the living situation for civilians in Rakhine state, which is already reeling from a battered economy and years of communal violence. Instead, Kean urged the AA to secure a formal ceasefire with the military, adding that while the insurgent army must decide for itself how best to achieve its political goals, a renewed war is “not the best option.” However, he suggested that the AA “work closely” with the NUG to choose a way to avoid the risk of a recurrence of conflict in Rakhine state. Refugees at a camp in Rakhine state’s Ponnagyun township, Jan. 21, 2022. Credit: RFA ‘The view of the people’ The ICG report follows a recent uptick in tensions between the two sides after the Arakan Army commander-in-chief, Gen. Tun Myat Naing, issued a warning to the military’s Western Commander Htin Latt Oo on Twitter. On May 26, the military and AA fighters clashed near the villages of Abaung-thar and Yote-wa, about six miles from the center of Rakhine’s Paletwa township, and residents have told RFA they are worried that the two-year-old ceasefire had been broken. Nyo Aye, the chairwoman of the Rakhine Women’s Network, called for calm between the two sides in an interview with RFA, noting that it is largely civilians who bear the brunt of armed conflict. “When tensions grow, there is a likelihood for more fighting,” she said. “We find this very worrying. It is our people who suffer because of the fighting. Tensions need to be reduced and I’m not talking about one side. I mean both sides need to compromise. That’s the view of the people.” An ethnic Rohingya Muslim from a village in northern Rakhine’s Buthidaung township told RFA that people there do not want fighting to resume. “Our only desire is to live in peace,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “If there is fighting, there will be hardship. I am worried about the lives of refugees. We just want the fighting to stop.” He said fighting appears likely to resume as the military is regularly entering Muslim villages in Buthidaung, watching for AA movements. Attempts by RFA to reach AA spokesman Khaing Thukha for comment went unanswered Wednesday, but the junta’s deputy information minister, Maj. Gen Zaw Min Tun, responded to inquiries saying that the military is not deploying troops to Rakhine state and is trying to maintain peace in the region. “We only have local security forces who were there [from the previous conflict],” he said, adding that the AA claims the military is sending reinforcements to the area “to frighten the people.” “We are committed to the development of Rakhine state, and we are continuing to work for peace and stability. … If they want to say the [military] is expanding its presence or launching an operation, they should provide some evidence.” Military ‘directly responsible’ for violence Meanwhile, the ICG’s Kean said that if the junta truly hopes to establish peace in Rakhine state and other parts of Myanmar, it must stop oppressing its own people. “The military regime is directly responsible for the violence in Myanmar because it launched the [Feb. 1, 2021] coup and refuses to respect the will of the vast majority of Myanmar people,” Kean said. “Instead, it is using extreme violence to try and cower them into submission,” he said of the junta’s ensuing crackdown that rights groups say has led to the deaths of at least 1,878 civilians and the arrest of 13,915 more, mostly during peaceful anti-coup protests. Kean noted that despite the military’s brutal tactics, resistance to its rule — both armed and non-violent — “remains strong across much of the country.” “The military should of course stop abusing its own people, but this alone is unlikely to end the conflict because most people in Myanmar do not seem willing to accept any form of military government,” he said. “The path to stability is to hand back power to a civilian administration that has the support of the people.” Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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Officials open mosques in Xinjiang cities visited by UN human rights chief

Editor08 mins

Officials in northwestern China’s Xinjiang region opened long-closed mosques in the two cities visited last week by the United Nations human rights chief to give the appearance of normalcy despite a severe crackdown on the religion and culture of Muslim Uyghur residents, local police officers and government officials said. Mosques in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi (in Chinese, Wulumuqi) and Kashgar (Kashi) were opened for a visit by U.N. rights czar Michelle Bachelet during the two days she spent in the region. Bachelet was on a six-day trip to China during which she also stopped in the coastal metropolis of Guangzhou in southern China. Since about 2017, up to 16,000 mosques, or roughly 65%, of all mosques have been destroyed or damaged as a result of government policies, according to the Uyghur Human Rights Project, a U.S.-based activist group. Other mosques have been closed but left standing, and a few famous ones remain open but under surveillance. The moves are part of a larger campaign of repression to erase Uyghur religious practices culture, along with the arbitrary detention of an estimate 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in internment centers and prisons. China has repeatedly denied it has committed rights abuses against Uyghurs and said the camps were vocational training centers to prevent extremism in the region. The United States and the parliaments of several Western countries have issued determinations that China’s policies in the XUAR amount to genocide and crimes against humanity. A person familiar with the situation in Urumqi told RFA that during Bachelet’s visit the Chinese government opened mosques that had long been closed there and in Kashgar. Local police officers interviewed by RFA also said some central mosques were open to the public in both cities, while other officials confirmed that mosques in Ghulja (Yining), Xinjiang’s third-largest city, which was not on Bachelet’s itinerary, remained closed before and during her trip to the XUAR. Though most of the mosques in Urumqi had been demolished or closed since 2016, a number have remained open for exhibition since 2020, said another source with knowledge of the situation. Prayer services are rarely performed, however. Uyghurs urged to pray Ahead of the U.N. team’s visit to Xinjiang, neighborhood committees urged Uyghurs to begin praying at several prominent mosques, including Urumqi’s Aq Mosque, also known as the White Mosque, said the source, who declined to be named for safety reasons. A police officer in the area where the Aq Mosque is located said the imam led Friday prayers on May 27 and that the religious building was open for exhibitions. “The imam of White Mosque led the prayers last Friday. That’s what I know,” he said. A police official in Kashgar told RFA that the historic Id Kah Mosque, which dates to 1442 and has been closed for worship since 2016, was opened for prayers since Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan that fell on May 1-2 this year. The official did not say how many people were going to mosque for prayer or whether they were going voluntarily or being forced by their neighborhood committees. “The only mosque that was opened during the U.N.’s visit was the Id Kah Mosque,” he said. A second security official in Ghulja said the four mosques in his hamlet were all closed and that Uyghurs were still banned from praying. He also described the situation of people not praying as a positive development. “We are telling them all the time that they cannot pray and they should not pray at home,” he said. “Before 2017, when people were allowed to pray, they did. But now everyone listens to the government’s new rules on religion and does not pray. It’s been like this since 2016.” Bachelet first announced that her office sought an unfettered access to Xinjiang in September 2018, shortly after she took over her current role. But the trip was delayed over questions about her freedom of movement through the region. In March, she announced that her office reached an agreement with the Chinese government about the visit. Her may trip was the first visit to China by a U.N. human rights commissioner since 2005. Bachelet said that her visit was not an investigation, but a dialogue and exchange between two sides. But Uyghur rights organizations have criticized her for failing to condemn China for its genocidal policies in Xinjiang and called for her resignation. Washington, D.C.-based Campaign for Uyghurs said Bachelet provided no transparency about the trip and that a prison visit in Xinjiang was a “Potemkin-style sham.” RFA Uyghur has yet to receive a reply to a request for comment from Bachelet’s office. Translated by RFA Uyghur. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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Cambodian diplomat’s club stake to be examined by English Football League

Editor08 mins

The English Football League says that it will be making enquiries with Birmingham City Football Club following the revelation by RFA earlier this week that Cambodian diplomat Wang Yaohui secretly controls an eighth of the club’s shares. Under English Football League regulations, Birmingham City is obliged to disclose both to the league and publicly the identity of any person who directly or indirectly holds “any Significant Interest in the club.” Birmingham’s ownership disclosure does not name Wang, something that could cause problems for the club. Contacted on Tuesday, the English Football League’s communications manager Billy Nickson indicated in an email that the league was looking into the issues raised in RFA’s report. “All Clubs are aware of their obligations in respect of providing the appropriate and necessary disclosures in accordance with EFL Regulations,” Nickson wrote. “The EFL will take the matter up with the Club.” The EFL Championship is English soccer’s second highest division.  Born in China in 1966, Wang Yaohui is a naturalized Cambodian citizen and minister counselor at Cambodia’s embassy in Singapore. He has extensive business ties to one of Cambodia’s most powerful families, headed by ruling party Sen. Lau Ming Kan and his wife Choeung Sopheap. The couple are allies of Prime Minister Hun Sen. Wang’s stake in the soccer club is held through a company listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange called Birmingham Sports Holdings Limited, which owns 75 percent of the club. In December 2017, Wang acquired 8.52 percent of Birmingham Sports Holdings through a British Virgin Islands company called Dragon Villa Ltd. In the years since, filings with the Hong Kong stock exchange show he increased his stake to 17.08 percent, giving him a 12.8 percent interest in the club itself.  In its own disclosure statement, Birmingham City identifies Dragon Villa as being owned by a Chinese citizen named Lei Sutong. However, documents seen by RFA suggest that he is owner in name only. Corporate secrecy laws in the British Virgin Islands make it virtually impossible for members of the public to ascertain who the true owner of Dragon Villa is. However, filings lodged with the Singapore High Court reveal that it is in fact Wang. Gold Star Aviation Pte Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dragon Villa involved in the owning and operation of private jets. It is currently the defendant in a civil action in Singapore. Among its co-defendants is a Taiwanese-American named Jenny Shao, who Wang has granted power-of-attorney over his affairs since at least 2009. In a sworn affidavit submitted by Shao’s lawyers on her behalf and dated October 2020, she describes herself as Dragon Villa’s “authorized signatory.” She adds that Dragon Villa “is beneficially owned by Mr. Wang.” A beneficial owner is a person who enjoys the benefits of owning a company, even if it is held in someone else’s name. Former associates of Wang, who asked not to be identified citing security concerns, confirmed to RFA that Wang was Dragon Villa’s beneficial owner. The statement is also echoed in other affidavits lodged as part of the Singapore court case. Records also show that Dragon Villa has been involved in the ownership networks of several other Wang-linked enterprises. Should the EFL find the club violated regulations by failing to disclose Wang’s control of Dragon Villa – and therefore 12.8 percent of the club – then Birmingham City could face sanctions from the league. Wang Yaohui’s first Cambodian diplomatic passport bearing his Khmer name Wan Sokha. The passport was granted to him in 2015 in recognition of his role as an advisor to Prime Minister Hun Sen. Absentee owners Birmingham City fan Daniel Ivery has been raising concerns over Wang’s possible association with the club for years. He wrote on his blog Almajir on Tuesday that he had, “repeatedly attempted to raise this issue of Wang Yaohui with the EFL since December 2017.” Each time he raised the issue, he writes, the league refused “to even acknowledge that there may be an issue.” While it seems the league is now taking notice, it remains to be seen what, if anything, they will do about it. Ivery is not the only one who has been sounding the alarm over Birmingham City’s ownership. Local member of parliament Shabana Mahmood wrote to the UK Minister of Sport in January decrying “financial and professional mismanagement of absentee owners” at the club. For its part, Birmingham City has so far remained silent. The club acknowledged RFA’s enquiries for the first time on Wednesday when media manager Dale Moon promised to raise the issue with the club’s board and senior management – although he did not expect a statement to be forthcoming. “In all honesty,” Moon wrote, “given their historical stance on ownership, I don’t expect they will want to make any comment.” As of publication, no statement had been issued by the club.

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China demands information on COVID status of exiled Tibetans

Editor05 mins

Authorities in western China’s Sichuan province are demanding that local Tibetans report the COVID status of relatives living outside the country, threatening them with the loss of housing subsidies and other support if they fail to disclose the information, RFA has learned. Local officials in the province’s Drago (in Chinese, Luohuo) county have gone door to door to collect the required data, a Tibetan living in exile said, citing contacts in Drago. Sichuan shares a border Tibet, which was invaded and incorporated into China by force more than 70 years ago.  “Chinese authorities are now forcing Tibetans in Drago to disclose the COVID vaccination status of their relatives living abroad. The information should include proof of vaccination and details of additional doses,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “Tibetan families must also reveal the cell phone numbers and social media accounts of their relatives living outside of China,” the source said. “They are being told that if they fail to hand this information over, they will be removed from household registries and denied any state assistance they may be receiving from the government,” he added. The reason for the data collection is still unclear, the source said. “However, there have been a few Tibetans living overseas who have been submitting their COVID vaccination records in the hope of someday returning to Tibet. “On the other hand, the Chinese authorities may want to collect data on Tibetans living abroad simply to gather information,” he said. China closely tracks communications from Tibetans living in Tibetan areas of China to relatives living abroad in an effort to block news of protests and other politically sensitive information from reaching international audiences, sources say. In May, RFA reported that Sichuan authorities were forcing Tibetan monks in Drago, a county located in Sichuan’s Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, to sign affidavits claiming responsibility for the destruction of a sacred statue torn down by China. The move came after news of the demolition reached the international community, prompting widespread condemnation. The 99-foot tall Buddha that stood in Drago was targeted for destruction in December by officials who said the statue had been built too high. Monks from a local monastery and other Tibetan residents were forced to witness the destruction, an action experts called part of an ongoing campaign by China to eradicate Tibet’s national culture and religion. Eleven monks from a nearby monastery were later arrested by Chinese authorities on suspicion of sending news and photos of the statue’s destruction, first reported exclusively by RFA, to contacts outside the region. Using commercial satellite imagery, RFA later verified the destruction at the same time of a three-story statue of Maitreya Buddha, believed by Tibetan Buddhists to be a Buddha appearing in a future age, at Gaden Namyal Ling monastery in Drago. Communications clampdowns and other security measures meanwhile remain in place in the county, Tibetan sources report. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.

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