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Category: World

Detained former opposition chief meets with Cambodia’s Hun Sen

Editor010 mins

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen met with the detained former leader of a dissolved opposition party on Sunday, weeks before local elections are to be held in the Southeast Asian nation. Few details were released about what the two men discussed, but one Cambodian political analyst said that the meeting was unlikely to lead to any significant changes in the political climate of the country, where opposition candidates continue to face harassment. Kem Sokha, who led the now-banned Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), faces up to 30 years in jail on treason charges over an alleged plot purportedly backed by the United States to overthrow Hun Sen and his government. Kem Sokha and the prime minister met in Kampong Cham province during the funeral of Hun Neng, Hun Sen’s 72-year-old brother, who died on May 5. For about four hours, the two discussed national policy issues, including measures to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the status of the vaccination campaign and post-crisis economic recovery, Muth Chantha, a close aide to Kem Sokha, told news website Cambodianess. It was not disclosed whether Kem Sokha, whose trial resumed in January after two years of delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, asked Hun Sen to help resolve his case. “Today, I and my colleagues went to pay homage to the soul of Samdach Oudom Tepnhan [honorific] Hun Neng at his home in Kampong Cham. On that occasion, I and Samdach Techo Hun Sen, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, discussed many issues, especially the country’s issues. And the Khmer people too,” Kem Sokha said on his Facebook page on Sunday. The funeral meeting comes days before Hun Sen begins a rare visit to Washington for a summit hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden for leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The U.S. has been critical of the rapid shift to authoritarian rule in Cambodia that began with the arrest of Sokha in September 2017 and the banning of the CNRP two months later. Exiled political analyst Kim Sok said while the meeting was unexpected, he does not believe that it will lead to Hun Sen allowing Kem Sokha to participate in local commune elections on June 5. “It may be just a slight relaxation, for example, to allow Kem Sokha to meet his supporters without such restrictions,” he told RFA. “But will there be a political solution to release Kem Sokha so he can lead the CNRP again or launch a new party to engage in politics to his full potential? “This is not the time for Hun Sen to be thinking that he should give in to Kem Sokha, or else he should wait until he [Sokha] is no longer a rival to him and his son,” Kim Sok said, referring to Lt. Gen. Hun Manet, an army commander expected eventually to succeed his long-ruling father. Since being charged with treason, Kem Sokha has met with Hun Sen one other time. The two talked for almost an hour at Hun Sen’s residence on May 5, 2020, when Sokha paid his respects to the prime minister’s deceased mother-in-law. Harassment of Candlelight Party activists Sunday’s meeting came two days after the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on the Cambodian government to stop persecuting political opponents ahead of the local elections next month and a national election in 2023. But there is no indication that the two are related, and Thach Setha, vice president of the Candlelight Party, a small opposition party that has itself been gaining support, told RFA on Monday that officials from Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) continue to harass candidates and activists from his party. Khem Monikosal, president of the Candlelight Party in Pailin province, was called by a local prosecutor to appear in court for second time on May 11 to face incitement and discrimination charges in connection with a Facebook post criticizing government health care workers for not performing their duties in a COVID-19 quarantine center in 2021. Khem Monikosal, a former health officer, told RFA that the summons was meant to intimidate him after authorities fired him from his post in 2021. “We are busy with political activities, organizing work, but the court summoned me twice, causing a lot of trouble,” he said. “This is an oppression of political party activists, and especially of me because I represent the Candlelight Party in Pailin.” Chea Sa, deputy prosecutor of the Pailin Provincial Court, told RFA that he could not comment on the matter. The Koh Kong Provincial Court meanwhile issued a summons for Pal Kep, a Candlelight Party member running to be Stung Veng commune chief, in response to a complaint filed by CPP lawyers. The complaint accuses Pal Kep of forgery, falsifying public documents to endanger national security, public defamation and illegal election campaign activity. Pal Kep said he applied for an adjournment with the provincial court on Monday. He said the summons is an effort to intimidate him. “The accusation against me is very cruel, but I will use my legal rights to protect me and to confront this,” he said. Wai Phirum, deputy governor of the Koh Kong Provincial Court, denied that the case was politically motivated, in an interview with RFA. RFA could not reach the CCP’s Koh Kong lawyers for comment. Ny Sokha, president of the rights group Adhoc, said that the cases against the Candlelight Party members was meant as a political threat. “We think that in order to create a pre-election atmosphere in which political parties can compete in a free and fearless [arena], the court system should not be used to charge or detain or intimidate for political motivation purposes,” he said. Translated by Sum Sok Ry for RFA’s Khmer Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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ASEAN foreign ministers to meet in Washington before summit with US

Editor07 mins

Southeast Asian foreign ministers will meet “unofficially” in Washington on Wednesday to discuss the Myanmar junta reneging on a consensus with ASEAN to move the country back towards democracy, Malaysia’s foreign ministry said. At the meeting to be held on the eve of a two-day U.S.-ASEAN summit in the American capital, Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah will call for unofficial engagement by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations with Myanmar’s parallel civilian National Unity Government (NUG), the ministry said Monday. “The meeting will be held on the 11th in Washington,” Saifuddin’s press secretary told BenarNews. “It will be held face to face as most leaders will be there.” The official also confirmed that Saifuddin had told a local newspaper, The Star, that the May 11 meeting was being held unofficially and to discuss the post-coup crisis in Myanmar. “We will put forward several views on how we can ensure the 5PC is implemented properly,” the minister said in an interview Saturday with The Star. Saifuddin was referring to a five-point consensus agreed upon among ASEAN members, including the Burmese junta, which overthrew the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1, 2021, three months after her party won re-election by a landslide. Most analysts agree that implementation of the consensus, which was reached on April 24 last year, has been a colossal failure. ASEAN envoys appointed by successive chairs of the regional bloc have not been able to meet with all parties concerned, and the junta’s forces have unleashed even more violence after agreeing to the consensus. More than 1,800 people, mostly civilians, have been killed by Myanmar’s security forces since the coup, and nearly 11,000 people have been arrested, charged or sentenced by the military regime. The consensus had called for the “immediate cessation of violence”; a constructive dialogue among all parties; the mediation of such talks by a special envoy of the ASEAN chair; provisions of humanitarian assistance coordinated by ASEAN; and a visit to Myanmar by an ASEAN delegation, headed by the special envoy, to meet with all parties. ‘Engage the NUG’ Meanwhile, Saifuddin, who had earlier said he would propose that ASEAN start an informal dialogue with the NUG and the National Unity Consultative Council, reiterated that he would make this proposal at this week’s meeting. The NUCC includes representatives of the NUG, civil society groups, ethnic armed organizations, and civil disobedience groups. “It’s okay for us to show impartiality but we should engage [the NUG] because according to the 5PC, we need to engage all stakeholders,” he said. This did not imply ASEAN was taking sides, he noted. Besides, Saifuddin had said in late April that he already contacted the NUG. “We have no business in choosing sides. We have to take into consideration that the NUG is a government that was formed through an election and the NUCC is the grouping of all kinds of organizations, parliamentarians, civil society organizations, ethnic groups and regional groups,” Saifuddin told The Star. The Malaysian foreign minister’s comments came about a week after the Myanmar junta’s foreign ministry reacted furiously to his earlier suggestion that ASEAN engage unofficially with the NUG. On May 3, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper quoted the junta’s foreign ministry as saying it “protests and rejects” the Malaysian foreign minister’s remarks, because “they could abet terrorism and violence in the country, hampering the Myanmar Government’s anti-terrorism efforts and infringe international agreements related to combatting terrorism.” Separately, a group of Southeast Asian parliamentarians on Monday urged ASEAN and the U.S. to take the opportunity of their meeting next week to initiate tougher action against the Myanmar military. “We urge the U.S. and ASEAN to adopt much stronger measures than those taken so far, including the suspension of Myanmar’s membership in the group, travel bans in the region for Min Aung Hlaing and his generals, and targeted sanctions against the leaders of the coup,” ASEAN parliamentarians for Human Rights said in a statement.

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Hong Kong’s one-horse leadership poll marks end of city’s special status: analysts

Editor011 mins

Hong Kong’s one-horse leadership poll, which selected former security chief John Lee — the only candidate — for the city’s top job at the weekend, has wiped out any distinction between the city and the rest of mainland China, commentators said on Monday. Lee, a former police officer who oversaw a violent crackdown on the 2019 protest movement, was “elected” by a Beijing-backed committee under new rules imposed on the city to ensure that only those loyal to the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) can hold public office. Ninety-nine percent of the 1,500-strong committee voted for Lee, who was the only candidate on the slate. Lee, who takes office on July 1, the anniversary of the 1997 handover to China, vowed to “start a new chapter” in Hong Kong, which has seen waves of mass, popular protest over the erosion of the city’s promised freedoms in recent years. He also denied that anyone had been detained or imprisoned for “speech crimes” under a draconian national security law imposed on the city by Beijing from July 1, 2020, saying that people were only taken to court because of their “actions.” Incumbent chief executive Carrie Lam said Saturday‘s “election” showed why a citywide crackdown on dissent and political opposition, which included the changes to electoral processes, was needed. “[The] chief executive election was very important, because … it meant we were able to fully implement a political system in which Hong Kong is ruled by patriots,” Lam told reporters. She thanked Beijing for restoring “stability” in Hong Kong with the national security law and the electoral changes. The national security law ushered in a citywide crackdown on public dissent and criticism of the authorities that has seen several senior journalists, pro-democracy media magnate Jimmy Lai and 47 former lawmakers and democracy activists charged with offenses from “collusion with a foreign power” to “subversion.” “National security education” — a CCP-style propaganda drive targeting all age-groups from kindergarten to university — is also mandatory under the law, while student unions and other civil society groups have disbanded, with some of their leaders arrested in recent months. Chan Po-ying (2nd R) of the League of Social Democrats waits as police question two of her colleagues before they hold a protest against the selection process of the city’s chief executive in Hong Kong , May 8, 2022. Credit: RFA. ‘Steady erosion of political and civil rights’ In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. criticized Lee’s “election” as “part of a continued assault on political pluralism and fundamental freedoms.” “The current nomination process and resulting appointment … further erode the ability of Hongkongers to be legitimately represented. We are deeply concerned about this steady erosion of political and civil rights and Hong Kong’s autonomy,” they said. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Lee’s selection had “violated democratic principles and political pluralism in Hong Kong.” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Beijing believed that Lee would lead a new administration and the people of Hong Kong to “a new prospect of good governance.” A Taiwan-based Hongkonger who have only the surname Wong said the city had entered a “new era,” referencing the political ideology of CCP leader Xi Jinping. “What is this era? It is one of rule by a military regime and of white terror of a kind that Taiwan has seen before; an era of dictatorship,” Wong said. “I don’t think there is any more room for breakthroughs or changes to the way things are developing for civil society in Hong Kong, or to the system,” he said. “There’s no going back from this.” A former 2019 protester who gave only the nickname Joker said he had also left his home city for democratic Taiwan, and has no prospect of going back there any time soon. “It makes no difference to me whether John Lee comes to power or not; the government has had no respect for us since [the protests],” he said. “For me, Hong Kong is no longer the Hong Kong I once knew. It is no longer our home.” Former Causeway Bay bookstore manager Lam Wing-kei, also exiled in Taiwan, said the process had accelerated quicker than he had expected. “Things are worse in Hong Kong than I had previously thought they would get,” Lam told RFA. “It’s just like … [the rest of China] … The main thing now is obedience; obeying orders from central government,” ‘A tragedy for Hong Kong’ Taiwan-based current affairs commentator Sang Pu said Lee is likely to take an even harder line on matters deemed “national security” by Beijing than Carrie Lam. “John Lee is a security chief, not a decision-maker; he’s the white glove [concealing the iron fist] of the CCP,” Sang told RFA. “It’s clear from his record that he has a tough style, and may be even more vicious than either Carrie Lam or [her predecessor] Leung Chun-ying.” “[For example,] I understand that prisons in Hong Kong are becoming more and more indistinguishable from prisons in China,” he said. “I think CCP will seize even more control of Hong Kong in future, with religion, families and communities deeply impacted … no different from Xinjiang or the Soviet Union.” “This is a tragedy for Hong Kong.” Huang Chieh-chung, associate professor of international affairs and strategy at Taiwan’s Tamkang University, said Lee will also likely preside over even harsher national security legislation under Article 23 of Hong Kong’s Basic Law. He said it was a move in the wrong direction. “The best thing would be for Beijing to govern Hong Kong as little as possible, and let the people of Hong Kong decide what the [differences between Hong Kong and China are],” Huang said. “The more Hongkongers have a right to speak up, the better.” Fan Shih-ping, professor at the Institute of Politics at Taiwan Normal University, said any distinction between Hong Kong and mainland China has been eroded with Lee’s accession to power. “Hong Kong…

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Police sent to Beijing university campus amid growing public anger over zero-COVID

Editor010 mins

Police were deployed to the campus of Beijing International Studies University at the weekend, as authorities in Shanghai step up forcible, mass isolation of residents in the wake of a top-down directive from ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping. A post on the BISU leaders’ message board said restrictions on people entering and leaving the school campus and the fencing off of living areas to prevent the spread of COVID-19 had been implemented with no consultation, and before any official announcement had been made. It said workers sent in to implement the restrictions and carry out disinfection work weren’t wearing masks, and that the measures had done little to stem the spread of the virus. “Please could the leaders take charge on behalf of ordinary people,” the post said, adding that people were bound to gather in public spaces if they were prevented from moving around freely. A video clip apparently shot at the BISU campus over the weekend showed rows of uniformed police officers standing ready, while a law enforcement officer gave a warning by megaphone. “This is your first warning,” the officer says. “We hope you will cooperate with the school CCP committee … and disperse immediately.” “If you are still here after the third warning, then the police will take lawful action to clear the area,” the officer says. After an official tells them to use official channels to pursue complaints, one person shouts: “You’re crazy! What channels do I have?” The BISU website posted a call for the university to obey CCP leader Xi Jinping’s call on colleges and universities to take part in his zero-COVID policy, which has led to grueling lockdowns enforced by steel barriers, forcible transfers to isolation facilities and ongoing mass testing in major cities including Shanghai, affecting tens of millions of people. The BISU party committee said it viewed disease control and prevention as “the political priority for the present,” and would “resolutely implement” the policy, without need for local centers for disease control and prevention (CDCs) to get involved. City lockdown In Beijing’s Chaoyang district, residents of the Jiayuan residential compound were placed under lockdown by officials, who welded them into their apartment buildings with steel barriers. Beijing resident Wang Qiaoling said dozens of families were confined to their homes by the move. “These are 28-story high-rise apartment buildings, usually with three households to a floor, and sometimes four, so multiply 28 by three … it’s really scary,” Wang said. “Are any of them patients needing dialysis? Any who need to attend hospital or get out to buy medicines on a regular basis?” Shanghai’s lockdown has resulted in an unknown number of seriously ill patients dying due to lack of access to hospitals, which are insisting on negative PCR results, a test that can take up to 48 hours to return a result. “Is this what they mean by serving the people?” Wang said. “I bet the person giving this order didn’t have any family members in that block.” “We had the Wuhan lockdown of 2020, and they’re still locking cities down. Not just lockdowns, either, but welding people’s buildings shut.” Beijing-based current affairs commentator Ji Feng said Chaoyang is one of the most densely populated districts in Beijing. While most people in the city are currently going about their lives in a normal manner, the targeted lockdown in Chaoyang show how far local officials are willing to go to please those higher up. “It’s overkill at each level of the hierarchy,” Ji said. “If something gets said at the highest level, then every level below that overdoes the response, for fear of [spoiling their service record].” “If nothing bad happens, there are no bad consequences for overdoing things … in China, no questions get asked by leaders or those lower down about the process; only the result,” he said. ‘Many are resisting’ Since Xi’s speech reiterating his commitment to the zero-COVID policy, authorities in Shanghai have also stepped up lockdown measures, emptying entire residential buildings and taking residents away to isolation centers if only one person tests positive for COVID-19. “Please don’t go out,” a residential official is heard saying in one video posted to social media. “The entire building will be taken away if even a single person tests positive.” Other videos showed enforcement personnel in PPE white suits forcing their way in to people’s homes, spraying disinfectant all over their belongings, and separating a woman from her child. In one video, a resident refuses to leave with officials or to hand over the keys to her apartment. A Shanghai resident surnamed Chen said people are trying to resist. “Many people are resisting,” Chen told RFA. “I told them that it didn’t matter which leader came up with this idea; that it was totally unreasonable.” Signs of widespread dissent are also emerging online, only to be rapidly silenced. Chinese constitutional expert Tong Zhiwei had his Weibo account shut down after he wrote a post arguing that the forcible removal of residents to isolation centers, as well as the requisitioning of their homes for isolation purposes, is illegal in the absence of emergency legislation. “These agencies have no right to use coercive means to force residents to be quarantined in makeshift hospitals,” Tong wrote. “Public authorities at all levels and of all types in Shanghai have the responsibility and obligation to immediately stop the use of coercive means to send any residents other than patients, pathogen carriers, and suspected patients to isolation facilities.” He said the forcible requisitioning of people’s homes is also illegal. “Officials in Shanghai forcing residents to hand over their house keys, then sending people into their homes for ‘disinfection’, is trespassing illegally in citizens’ homes,” Tong wrote, adding, “this practice has already been implemented in some areas.” Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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China steps up drills around Taiwan, Japan scrambles jets due to airspace intrusion

Editor09 mins

The Chinese military conducted live-fire drills around Taiwan over the weekend, its official website said Monday, while Japan reported scrambling fighter jets because of a suspected intrusion of its airspace over the East China Sea. In a short dispatch on Monday, the military’s website said “naval, air and conventional missile forces of the Chinese PLA Eastern Theater Command held drills in seas and airspace to the east and southwest of Taiwan Island from May 6 to 8, in a bid to test and improve the joint operations capability of multiple services and arms.” PLA stands for People’s Liberation Army. It didn’t provide further details. The Japanese Ministry of Defense’s (JMOD’s) Joint Staff also confirmed via its social media that from May 6 to 8, Japanese air force’s fighters “scrambled to cope with a suspected intrusion into Japan’s airspace over the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean.” Before that on Sunday, the JMOD issued a press release saying that the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning and four other warships were spotted on May 7 in the waters about 150 kilometers (95 miles) south of Ishigaki Island, Okinawa Prefecture. On May 6, the number of ships in the flotilla was six, the ministry said. ‘Future operations against Taiwan’ The Chinese vessels were conducting live-fire drills with carrier-based fighters and helicopters, the JMOD said, adding that Japan’s Izumo light aircraft carrier was dispatched to monitor the situation. RFA has approached the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense (MOND) for comment on the latest Chinese drills. Taiwan’s local media reported that he ministry has deployed Sky Bow III missiles, which have a maximum range of 200 kilometers (125 miles), to deal with threats to eastern Taiwan. F-16V fighter jets will be deployed at Taitung’s Chihang Base and a number of Hsiung Feng III and Harpoon missiles will also be moved to the east. Taiwanese people consider themselves citizens of a sovereign country but China claims the self-ruling, democratic island is a breakaway province of China and vows to unite it with the mainland, by force if necessary.   A file photo showing a rocket being fired from a Thunderbolt 2000 multi-rocket launcher during military exercises in Taichung City, central Taiwan, July 16, 2020. (AP Photo) Experts said that the appearance of the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning and aircraft near eastern Taiwan was a direct challenge to the island. Qi Leyi, a Taipei-based military analyst and commentator for RFA Mandarin, said that the PLA joint combat drills will escalate further in the future. “The sea and the airspace east and southwest of Taiwan will remain the focus of future operations against Taiwan,” Qi said. “Besides naval and air forces, the conventional missile force will be utilized, too, to attack Taiwan’s important political and military targets,” he said. Shen Ming-ShiI, acting deputy chief executive officer at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a government think-tank, said that in addition to demonstrating the capabilities of the aircraft carrier battle group, the Chinese drills around Taiwan also aim “to demonstrate the PLA blue water combat capabilities.” “It’s likely that one or two Chinese submarines have also conducted coordinated exercises underwater,” Shen said. The Taiwanese MOND said on May 6, 18 Chinese military planes entered the southwestern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, the largest intrusion by Chinese military aircraft so far in May. Put on alert A week ago on May 2, the Japanese and Taiwanese militaries were put on alert after spotting a flotilla led by the Liaoning aircraft carrier sailing from the East China Sea towards the Pacific Ocean. On that day, the aircraft carrier was accompanied by seven destroyers and supply vessels, forming the largest Liaoning carrier group in recent voyages, according to the Chinese mouthpiece Global Times. Among seven warships in the Liaoning carrier group were the Type 055 large guided missile destroyer Nanchang, the Type 052D guided missile destroyer Chengdu, and the Type 901 comprehensive supply ship Hulunhu. The Liaoning – China’s first aircraft carrier – was seen carrying a number of J-15 fighter jets as well as Z-8 and Z-9 helicopters. The carrier group is on a “routine, realistic combat training mission,” said the hawkish newspaper. Last December, the aircraft carrier and five other vessels conducted drills in the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and the West Pacific for 21 days in order to boost its combat capability. The Global Times quoted Shi Hong, the editor of a Chinese military magazine, as saying that the waters where the Liaoning carrier group is holding drills is “a vital sea region should a reunification-by-force operation take place.” “By moving in tandem with aerial and maritime forces from the Chinese mainland, the carrier group could completely cut off the routes foreign forces may take if they militarily interfere with the Taiwan question,” Shi was quoted as saying. Taiwanese military analyst Shen Ming-Shih however pointed out that the fact that China uses the Liaoning aircraft carrier as the flagship to command and the other active carrier Shandong is in port for maintenance, shows that “the PLA still has the problem of dual aircraft carrier maritime confrontation, and its navigation scope is also limited.” “It can try bullying Taiwan, but in the face of the U.S. naval and air superiority, China still has great concerns,” he said.  

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A Reporter Looks Back: Better times in Shanghai

Editor010 mins

The current plight of Shanghai after weeks of draconian COVID-19 lockdowns causes me to recall better times in the 1980s when I enjoyed walking through the streets of China’s most populous city in search of a story. I always thought of Shanghai as a place where you could meet everyone from workers to leading intellectuals and discover that they would be honest with you. Or they’d at least let you know that under Communist Party rule they couldn’t be honest about everything. I covered demonstrations by protesting students and workers in Shanghai in 1986, and most were eager to explain why they were protesting for political reforms as long as I didn’t use their names. The demonstrations took place in Shanghai and other Chinese citizens in the context of high inflation rates leading to increased living costs. I remember once trying to board a bus in Shanghai and being pushed aside until a few people realized that this foreigner needed help in getting on board. They kindly stepped back until I could get up into the bus. One of the most bizarre meetings which I participated in in Shanghai took place in 1988 when Katherine Graham, the publisher of The Washington Post, met with Jiang Zemin, then the city’s mayor. Jiang later went on become General Secretary of the Communist Party, the most powerful position in China. I was the Beijing bureau chief for The Washington Post at the time. In the meeting with Mrs. Graham, Jiang seemed to be determined to avoid addressing serious issues. Instead, he spoke at length about difficulties facing Shanghai’s garbage collectors. It sounded as if watermelon rinds littering the streets was issue number one for him. The Christian Science Monitor summed things up well recently when it reported that Shanghai has now emerged as “an epicenter in China’s worst coronavirus outbreak since the pandemic began in Wuhan in 2019.” The report described how Shanghai citizens are now using social media to share information that the city government has failed to provide to them. ‘Big white’ The report described quarantine enforcers—nicknamed “da bai,” or “big white”— shouting through megaphones at an intersection. They were summoning city residents for testing, carrying out an extraordinary order issued by municipal officials to test the whole city in a single day to combat COVID-19. Individuals in Shanghai are now tracked through their phones for test results, their locations, and even whether they bought medicines. It assigns them a risk status that determines whether they can move around, are restricted at home, or are quarantined. Their data is then shared with the police. People in Beijing worry they will face draconian lockdowns similar to that in Shanghai. In Beijing, local news reports showed road closures and apartment buildings sealed off with metal fencing as officials imposed “targeted lockdowns” in neighborhoods. Officials in Beijing are under pressure to makes sure that the capital city doesn’t become a repeat of Shanghai’s lockdown, which was marred by food shortages, clashes with authorities, and angry citizens venting their frustrations online. Foreigners in Shanghai are concerned about crowding, traffic congestion, and air pollution, among other things. Shanghai is the home to some 150,000 officially registered foreigners. This includes some 31,500 Japanese, 21,000 Americans, and 20,700 Koreans. These numbers are based on official figures, so the real number of foreigners based in China’s financial capital is probably much higher. The number of foreigners who have left Shanghai since the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus isn’t clear. The South China Morning Post reported that foreign residents rushed to supermarkets to stock up on food following the outbreak of the virus at the end of March this year. On April 22, foreign businesses reported that less than half of their employees were able to get to their factories due to lockdown restrictions. Cleaner air Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal recently described how China’s strictly controlled, top-down political system was affecting Shanghai’s e-commerce. Until recently, Shanghai boasted one of the world’s most robust delivery services. With a few taps on their smartphones, consumers could find groceries at their door steps within 30 minutes to an hour. But the rigid lockdown of Shanghai that began in late March put an end to that network. It had been built on sophisticated technology and an army of delivery workers. The network collapsed as Shanghai began fighting a surge in COVID-19 cases, according to reporters In late April, Beijing was reaching a critical point in its efforts to halt a COVID-19 outbreak, as new cases spread from school students and a tour group, while deaths in Shanghai more than tripled from a day earlier. As of May 8, Shanghai had reported 554 deaths, while Beijing recorded nine–out of a total of 5,185 deaths nationwide. While still low by global standards, the numbers are a challenge to the ability of China’s top leaders to halt outbreaks with their zero-COVID policy. Shanghai is an important financial and shipping center both for China and the world. Its port has ranked first for container ship throughput in the world in recent decades. There is fear that China’s COVID shutdowns could feed inflation by disrupting the supply chains that many manufacturers rely on, pushing up the cost of making and transporting goods. A major downside of Shanghai’s industrialization has been air pollution. According to the Washington, D.C.-based Wilson Center, the Shanghai government has intended to invest 100 billion yuan, or more than $15 million, in 200 projects to reduce air pollution. According to the website “Health and Safety in Shanghai,” air pollution has been one of the main concerns of foreigners living there. But it claims that much improvement has been made in recent years. A “Shanghai Clean Air Action Plan” was unveiled in 2013. A report issued in 2014 said that Shanghai’s air pollution was derived from motor vehicle and factory emissions, power stations, and straw burning by farmers, among other things. Shanghai introduced the strictest air pollution law in China. It went into effect on October 1, 2014.  Dan Southerland is RFA’s founding executive editor.

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Hong Kong’s intrepid press corps battle dislocation, nostalgia and unemployment

Editor013 mins

Former members of Hong Kong’s once-free press corps are launching their own media outlets aimed at covering the city from overseas, from a pro-democracy point of view. While the implementation of a draconian national security law since July 1, 2020 has ushered in a crackdown on pro-democracy media organizations, activists and politicians in Hong Kong, many journalists have already joined the steady stream of people leaving their home to seek a less restricted life elsewhere. The Chaser, a Chinese-language news site, was set up “to preserve press freedom, defend democracy and human rights, and serve Hong Kong people around the world,” according to its Patreon page. It cited the recent forcible closure of Jimmy Lai’s Next Digital media empire, including the pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper, as well as the closure of Stand News and Citizen News, and the “rectification” of iCable news and government broadcaster RTHK to bring them closer to the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s official line. “Any independent media that remain are struggling for support, and are in danger of being banned at any time,” The Chaser said. “Our news platform hopes to provide readers with the most authentic, in-depth reports without red lines and official censorship by recruiting independent and quality professional journalists, and strive to maintain the position of press freedom of the Hong Kong media.” The outlet aims to become the biggest source of news for Hongkongers in exile, while still serving those who remain in the city, it said. Since its inception six weeks ago, The Chaser has filed daily news on Hong Kong, Taiwanese and international affairs, posted exclusive investigative reports and kept Hongkongers overseas connected with each other. Another media platform — Commons — has been started by Hongkongers based in democratic Taiwan, although its editorial team were reluctant to go on the record due to security concerns for those they left behind in Hong Kong. “The Hongkongers in Hong Kong, including some who are interested in migrating overseas, are very curious about the lives of Hongkongers overseas, and want to know everything about them,” Commons’ editor-in-chief told RFA, giving only the pseudonym A Muk. File photo of 2019 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong that were followed by a crackdown and the imposition of the National Security Law for Hong Kong, which has made it virtually impossible for journalists to work in the Chinese city. Credit: Liang Mingkang. Diaspora journalists Commons is focusing on in-depth interviews, and all of its content is free to read online, unlike The Chaser, which requires a subscription through Patreon. “The environment in Hong Kong is no longer conducive to journalism, so I wondered if there could be opportunities and a more suitable environment overseas, to set up a media outlet for Hongkongers overseas,” he said. Commons currently employs around 8-10 people, as well as stringers in Canada and the U.K., to keep track of the newly arrived Hong Kong communities there. “Now that Stand News and Citizen News are gone, there is an even bigger gap, and an even greater need among Hongkongers,” A Muk said. “We thought we should try to use our environment and platform to report news from overseas, to see if we can fill that gap, to meet the demand among Hongkongers for news.” New media platforms like Commons and The Chaser could also provide limited opportunities for Hong Kong’s growing community of former journalists in diaspora. When Stand News folded on Dec. 29, 2021 under the threat of investigation by national security police, reporter Lam Yin-bong was the one who turned off all of the lights in the office for the last time. Lam said he had been hugely reluctant to leave the building. “There was a sense that it was all over, and, even though we were expecting it, that night, we really didn’t want to leave,” Lam said. “We knew that from that day onwards, nothing would be the same.” “I still have nostalgia for those times, but I also know that nostalgia is pretty useless, and not worth clinging to,” said Lam, whose 10-year career as a journalist ended overnight. ‘ Photojournalist Liang Mingkang moved to Manchester, England at the beginning of 2022 and put down his camera to put on a uniform and become a traffic inspector in the northern British city. Credit: Liang Mingkang. A way of life’ He described being deprived of his professional identity and way of life, something he had enjoyed for 10 years. “It wasn’t just a job, but a way of life, but then suddenly that way of life is gone completely. It’s a horrible feeling,” Lam said. What Lam finds harder than losing his own job is a more generalized silence emanating from Hong Kong’s once-crowded media landscape. He was stunned to find that the boundaries with the rest of mainland China were also fading rapidly, citing the building of a new bridge with neighboring Shenzhen and a mainland Chinese-style makeshift hospital staffed with mainland Chinese staff under emergency regulations in March. “This was a huge development. Suddenly there’s this bridge between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, and extraterritorial powers not regulated by Hong Kong laws,” Lam said. “Why did nobody care about this story?” “I thought maybe the world needs this information, and that maybe I could still do my bit … to remind people what is going on in Hong Kong,” he said. Lam’s “bit” took the form of his blog “ReNews,” which describes itself as a “one-person news platform founded by an unemployed journalist.” He hopes at least to use it to chronicle the death of the Hong Kong he once knew. “People often say that Hong Kong is dead, or dying,” Lam said. “So people living here should know how it died, and what the process entailed.” “Even if you can’t change it, at least you know,” said Lam, who offers all of his content free of charge, although paid subscriptions are available. Stand News reporter reporter Lam Yin-bong, who turned off all of the lights…

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European Parliament calls on Cambodian government to stop targeting opponents

Editor07 mins

The European Parliament on Thursday adopted a resolution calling on the Cambodian government led by Prime Minister Hun Sen to stop persecuting and intimidating political opponents, trade unionists, human rights defenders and journalists ahead of local elections in June and national campaigns next year. The government of Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia since 1985, is now five years into a no-holds-barred crackdown on its political opposition and civil society, jailing or driving into exile scores of opposition figures. The resolution, which was adopted with 526 votes in favor and only five votes against (another 63 members abstained), condemns the Cambodian Supreme Court’s dissolution of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), the country’s largest opposition party, in November 2017. The European Parliament repeated its call for charges against former CNRP leaders Kem Sokha, Sam Rainsy and Mu Sochua and other opposition officials to be dropped and urged authorities to release all prisoners of conscience, journalists, human rights defenders, environmental activists and union members. The CNRP was banned for its supposed role in an alleged plot to overthrow the government. With the CNRP out of the picture, Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) went on to win all 125 seats in the country’s July 2018 general election. Since then, the government has continued to target activists associated with the CNRP, arresting them on arbitrary charges and placing them in pretrial detention in overcrowded jails with harsh conditions. Government spokesman Phay Siphan said he doesn’t understand why the resolution was passed given discussions with the Cambodia’s EU representative on the progress the country has made in regard to human rights. “So far, individuals have breached the law, so [that] is the issue between the court and those individuals,” he said. “What the EU raised was a political matter that we already have explained. If they raise the same issue, we will explain it to them again because we are strengthening the law and the rule of law.” Men Vanna, who served as leader of the youth movement for the CNRP, told RFA that the resolution will give hope to Cambodian’s fighting for a more democratic country. The government “must change if they love democracy and the country,” he said. ‘Friday Wives’ petition US Embassy Also on Friday, a group of spouses whose husbands are in jail for political activities staged a protest in front of the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh to call on the government to push for their release before a special U.S.-ASEAN Summit in Washington on May 12-13. Cambodia currently holds the rotating chair position of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). About 10 women from the group “Friday Wives” handed a petition to the embassy seeking U.S. support. At least 60 CNRP activists have been imprisoned. Some of the former members of the banned political party have been convicted as others are being tried. “Please release our husbands. We are suffering, our families are splitting apart,” one of the women, Prum Chantha, said. “In Cambodia, people don’t give credit to politicians, but rather prosecute them. This shows that Cambodia doesn’t respect human rights and democracy.” Another protester, Ouk Chanthy, whose husband has been detained for two years, said she hopes that the U.S. will pressure the Cambodian government at the summit to release her husband “in order to restore Cambodia’s reputation.” “Hun Sen is heading to the U.S. as the ASEAN chair,” she said. “I urge him to drop all charges against political opponents and release them. Should Hun Sen represent ASEAN when Cambodia has imprisoned politicians who haven’t committed any crimes?” Phnom Penh security guards harassed the women, injuring at least two of them and destroying their banners. Kata Orn, spokesman for the Cambodian Human Rights Committee, an organ for the government, said the guards responded to the women because they allegedly assaulted the guards. He also said the government has nothing to do with the cases against the women’s husbands. “Cambodia isn’t worried about international pressure during the U.S.-ASEAN Summit,” he said. Translate by Samean Yun for RFA’s Khmer Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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Laos’ ‘circle of cronies’ keeps a tight lid on country’s news outlets, report says

Editor011 mins

Laos is an information “black hole” where the government exerts complete control over news outlets, Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) said in its 2022 World Press Freedom Index this week that ranks the Southeast Asian country near the bottom of its list in terms of allowing journalists to challenge authorities. Laos placed 161st out of of 180 countries in the index, a slight improvement over 2021, when it was ranked 172nd. But the index still painted a dismal picture of press freedom in Laos, a finding that local reporters and citizens backed up in interviews with RFA this week. “The government essentially controls all press. Laos’ 24 newspapers, 32 television networks and 44 radio stations are required to follow the party line dictated by the Peoples’ Propaganda Commissariat, which is disseminated by the three dailies that the ruling party publishes,” the index, released this week, said. “The Lao Popular Revolutionary Party (LPRP) keeps the press under close surveillance and makes the creation of independent media impossible. The circle of cronies at the heart of the system, in many cases descendants of the old aristocracy, keep a lock on information,” the report said. Laos’ guarantee of freedom of expression is undone by laws prohibiting media outlets from harming the “national interest” or “traditional culture.” “The penal code provides for imprisonment of journalists who criticize the government, a provision extended in 2014 to internet users. Internet service providers are required to report web users’ names, professions and data search histories to the authorities,” the index said. The small boost in the rankings was likely due to more reporting on drugs and corruption, a former reporter for Lao state media told RFA’s Lao Service on condition of anonymity for safety reasons. “In March this year, a drug lord, Sisouk Daoheuang, was sentenced to death for drug trafficking and smuggling. State media also report some more details like the number of corrupt officials who have been disciplined, dismissed and charged,” the former reporter said. But one current reporter who is an employee of the Information, Culture and Tourism Department of Savannakhet Province told RFA’s Lao Service that journalists’ work is still restricted. “Despite improvement in ranking, we in the Lao media still don’t have much press freedom. There are no independent news outlets. All the news agencies belong to government and are controlled by government,” the reporter said. “We’re all members of the state media and we’re not independent and there is no variety of news in Laos. So, our reporting is restricted especially when reporting about corruption of the Party members and government officials. We can’t be critical to the Party and government at all. Even reporting on social media is restricted,” said the source. Reporters must run their stories by their department directors before they are published and they cannot cover any events without permission from at least the head of the department, the reporter said. Another reporter in the capital Vientiane told RFA that no media outlet there is free or independent. “If we’re told to cover that event, we’ll go and do it. They’ll tell us whether we can or can’t go and we must follow government policy. We only report what is approved and permitted by the authorities,” the Vientiane reporter said. “Sometimes, we know that what we are reporting is not true, but we can’t do anything about it. For example, we know that those government officials in that ministry are corrupt and are embezzling state money, but we can’t report that. We can’t report any news that the government considers as dangerous to the national security, the political process or is too critical of the leaders,” said the Vientiane reporter. Another problem with freedom of the press is that too many people are afraid to speak the truth, a resident of the southern province of Savannakhet told RFA. “If we speak out we’ll be thrown in jail. In this country, if someone tries to speak the truth, they will end up missing like Mouay,” the resident said. Houayheuang Xayabouly, better known by her nickname Mouay, was arrested Sept. 12, 2019, a week after she published videos critical about the government’s inability to rescue people from flooding in the country’s southern Champassak and Salavan provinces. The delayed government response had left many Lao villagers stranded and cut off from help, she said in the video, which was viewed more than 150,000 times. “She criticized the government, and actually what she said was true, but now she’s in jail for five years. People outside the country can speak out, but no one inside can. The people of Laos are afraid and worried, even when they express themselves on social media,” said the resident. A resident of Vientiane province told RFA that people can get in trouble for complaining about their lives. “The government will suppress you right away before you can do more harm. It’s like they’ll put out the fire before it spreads. Even if you escape to Thailand, the government will get you. That’s why many people here don’t get involved in politics,” the Vientiane province resident said. An aid worker in Laos told RFA that social media has in some ways given people more of a voice, as it provides more access with less restrictions than traditional media like radio, television and newspapers. “More and more Laotians are hungry for information and they turn to social media for it. The trend will continue because Laotians can express themselves more on social media. They want to vent their frustration because the government can’t do anything to solve the problems like the crumbling economy and financial crisis.” The number of social media users among Laos’ population of 7 million people increased to 51% this year, up from 49% last year and from 43% year before, data from statista.com shows. “Social media is a voice and a tool of people. When they see an official doing something wrong or judges making an unfair decision, they can post their comments…

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Auction of activists’ homes seen as revenge for sale of junta assets

Editor010 mins

An announced plan to auction off the homes of anti-coup activists is the military regime’s bid for revenge after Myanmar’s shadow government began selling shares of assets appropriated by Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing and other junta officials, according to analysts. On April 27, junta deputy information minister, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, told reporters at a press conference in the capital Naypyidaw that the sealed-off homes of detained activists had been “presented to the court” and would be sold at auction sometime in the future. When asked for clarification on Thursday, Zaw Min Tun told RFA’s Myanmar Service that the junta had obtained court permission to proceed with the sales. “You must present evidence according to court procedure,” he said. “Once the court has ruled on the evidence, there are certain procedures to follow. Right now, we have presented the evidence as needed.” The deputy minister provided no other details on the homes in question, including who they had belonged to or what the former owners are being charged with. Last week’s announcement came six days after National Unity Government (NUG) Minister for Finance and Investment Tin Tun Naing told RFA of plans to sell a number of properties he said were identified by the shadow government as having been illegally occupied by senior junta officials when the military seized power in a Feb. 1, 2021, coup. Among the properties is the former guesthouse of Myanmar’s military and accompanying two-acre plot of land at No. 14 Inya Road in Yangon, which now serves as Min Aung Hlaing’s home. Tin Tun Naing said the NUG plans to sell the estate for U.S. $10 million — about one-third of the property’s current value — in 100,000 shares of U.S. $100 each. On Thursday, Tin Tun Naing provided additional details of the sale, which he said involves 100,000 shares of the estate priced at U.S. $100 apiece. “Once we identified it as state property, we started to sell it to facilitate the end of the dictatorship and to raise funds needed for the success of the Spring Revolution, in the interest of the people,” Tin Tun Naing said. “As soon as it was announced that it would go on sale, there were several purchases. One single person has already bought shares worth U.S. $100,000.” The NUG’s Ministry of Finance and Investment said the sale will involve around 400 acres of land occupied by junta officials in Yangon, Mandalay, and Naypyidaw, which will be “confiscated and made available to the public in May on a pre-purchase basis.” The sale assumes that the NUG will claim control of the country from the junta, at which point it would deliver on the promised asset. Proceeds from the sale will be donated to the opposition movement and used to compensate victims of junta arrest and torture, rehabilitate members of the Civil Disobedience Movement who left state jobs in protest of the coup, and assist people whose homes have been burned in arson attacks by junta forces, the ministry said. The NUG said that its plan to seize junta assets “is to discourage likely dictators who want to abuse power from illegally taking over state-owned land and properties in the future.” ‘No legal right to confiscate’ Lawyers and political analysts told RFA that while the sale of the former military guesthouse involved returning public property to the people, the military has no legal right to confiscate and sell private assets. A spokesman for the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) called the junta’s announcement a form of “retaliation” against democracy and human rights activists, adding that many of the homes belong to people whose trials have not been ruled on by the courts. “The law does not allow for the confiscation of properties of innocent people,” they said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Some of the houses they sealed off were not even owned by the person they arrested. Now we are seeing family-owned properties being confiscated too. It’s a form of revenge.” High Court lawyer Kyee Myint, who assists with human rights cases, told RFA that the junta plan to sell private property is in violation of the law. “I am very pleased that the NUG has said it will auction off the former military guesthouse on Inya Road, now taken over by Min Aung Hlaing. But how can it be legal for them to retaliate against us,” he asked. “They are robbers. The courts are now under their control. The chief justice is a military officer. The judiciary in our country has been destroyed for a long time. It is a violation of the law to seize properties of ordinary politicians.” Well-known singer Chan Chan, who has a warrant out for her arrest on charges of incitement, said in a May 1 post to her Facebook page that she heard the junta is preparing to sell her house in the port city of Thanlyin near Yangon and urged fans to protest. Other properties seized by the junta are owned by artists, anti-junta activists, members of the deposed National League for Democracy and paramilitaries with the prodemocracy People’s Defense Force. On May 3, authorities sealed off the family home of Myint Zaw Oo, an NLD member of Parliament in Sagaing region’s Kanbalu township. “They have no rules or laws. They just act blindly,” he said. “They think we may be demoralized if they do these things. It is seen as a kind of psychological warfare. But we have already thought of the consequences of our actions, so it doesn’t matter whether they seize our property or even burn it.” According to the AAPP, authorities have killed 1,825 civilians and arrested some 10,545 since February last year, mostly during peaceful anti-junta protests. The group said the junta has confiscated more than 570 homes and buildings since the coup. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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