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Category: World

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

Editor08 mins

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

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Tibetan exile leader wraps up first official visit to Washington

Editor06 mins

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

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

Editor09 mins

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

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Zero-covid costs spread

Editor01 mins

Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s decision to stick with a zero-covid policy that worked in 2020 but has not stopped the spread of the Omicron variant has brought lockdowns in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing among 45 mainland cities, affecting nearly 400 million people. The economic damage to China is now spilling over to U.S., Europe, Japan and others in a global economy struggling with shortages, inflation and the Ukraine conflict.

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China’s Politburo promises stimulus, employment measures to boost COVID-hit economy

Editor09 mins

The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on Friday promised a slew of measures to help the country’s COVID-battered economy. The CCP’s Politburo met on Friday to discuss economic growth, which is targeted to reach 5.5 percent this year, an unlikely target in the absence of further stimulus given the supply-chain havoc caused by the pandemic and risks linked to the war in Ukraine. “The COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine crisis have led to increased risks and challenges, increasing the complexity, severity and uncertainty of our country’s economic development, and posing new challenges to stable growth, employment, and prices,” the meeting, chaired by CCP leader Xi Jinping, said in a communique summarized by state news agency Xinhua. Beijing’s dynamic clearance, zero-COVID policy would continue, but measures would be taken to “keep the economy operating within a reasonable range,” the summary said. Measures will include a boost to infrastructure construction and other stimuli to boost domestic demand and jobs, as well as tax rebates, tax and fee cuts and “monetary policy tools,” it said. Measures should “stabilize and expand employment” and “maintain overall social stability,” as well as a national strategy to restore the country’s domestic supply chains and logistics industry, which has been left fragmented by COVID-19 restrictions in major cities and ports, particularly Shanghai. Care should be taken to prevent rare and unexpected “black swan” incidents, as well as more predictable “gray rhino” developments from gathering momentum and getting out of hand, the report said, using buzzwords associated with Xi’s personal brand of political ideology. Reuters quoted a person with knowledge of the matter as saying that the government would be meeting with internet platforms next month. People line up to be tested for Covid-19 coronavirus outside a supermarket in Beijing on April 26, 2022, the day the Chinese capital launched mass coronavirus testing for nearly all its 21 million people. Credit: AFP Outflow of foreign capital Nomura’s chief China economist Ting Lu said he predicts an economic growth rate of just 1.8 percent in the second quarter of this year, with annual GDP growth of 3.9 percent for the whole of this year. The move comes after a U.S.$8 billion selloff of Chinese government bonds by foreign investors in March, with foreign capital outflows of U.S.$17.5 billion in the same month. Foreign investment in Chinese funds fell by 70 percent in the first quarter of 2022, compared with the previous quarter, while the yuan hit a six-month low against the dollar and China’s foreign exchange reserves fell by U.S.$25.8 billion between the end of February and the end of March. Online comments were skeptical that the Politburo could do much to affect the mass outflow of foreign capital. “The higher-ups shout their slogans, while the in-betweens have no policy to implement them, and the lower ranks are just cashing in,” according to one comment seen by RFA on Friday. Others said little would change economically while the CCP’s zero-COVID policy was still in place. The meeting came after the Wall Street Journal quoted a number of people as saying that Xi is insisting that China’s economic growth must exceed that of the U.S. this year. The U.S. posted a 5.7 percent GDP growth rate in 2021. Downward revision Zhu Chengzhi, chairman of Wanbao Investment Consulting, said said four percent GDP growth would be a good achievement for China this year. “[Zero-COVID] must have caused a significant downward revision [in GDP growth forecasts], a very serious downward revision,” Zhu told RFA. “The real estate sector is stuck, and they’ll have to rely on money supply [to boost] domestic demand.” “China’s economy is based on value-added manufacturing, but global prices for raw materials are on the rise around the world, squeezing profits in that sector, so that will also hurt GDP,” Zhu said. In a commentary for RFA, commentator Wang Dan said recent moves by the CCP to regulate entire sectors of the economy by limiting private-sector involvement had affected the labor market, where 11 million new entrants are expected this year. Wang said Xi will likely solve these structural problems by ordering up the results he wants to see. “Why do I say he can still manage it? Because companies in China … do as he tells them,” he said. “This has to do with Xi Jinping’s status and his bid for [a third term] at the 20th party congress.” He said the likelihood is that Xi regards his COVID-19 policy as a crucial part of attempts to demonstrate the superiority of China’s political system to the rest of the world. “But if he elevates his disease control and prevention policy to be a part of that attempt, he will be forcing himself to ride a tiger,” Wang warned. ‘Common prosperity’ Zhu said stock markets in China, even pre-pandemic, had been dealt a huge blow by Xi’s insistence on the “common prosperity” model, which saw a nationwide ban on the highly lucrative private education and tutoring sector. “During the past five years, mainland China and Hong Kong have been the only places where stockmarkets are falling, which is not a good sign,” Zhu said. “Xi Jinping is trying to introduce some bullish sentiment with certain remarks, but it’s just a brief respite.” “It’s not so easy to correct mainland Chinese markets when they are this weak,” he said, adding that GDP figures are already likely artificially inflated, or shares would be performing better. The meeting came as authorities in Beijing shut down more businesses and placed more residential compounds under lockdown on Friday, while extending contact-tracing. Meanwhile, video clips of people banging pots and pans from Shanghai apartments in protest at the ongoing lockdown have been circulating on social media. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Junta troops torch 500 homes in 3 days in Myanmar’s Sagaing region

Editor07 mins

Junta troops torched more than 500 homes in five villages over the past three days in Myanmar’s Sagaing region, residents said Thursday, where nearly three-fourths of townships have been cut off from internet access since early March amid ongoing military raids. The arson attacks occurred between April 25 and April 27 in the Sagaing townships of Mingin, Khin Oo, and Shwebo, residents told RFA’s Myanmar Service, speaking on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal. Soldiers destroyed around 200 and 70 homes in Mingin’s Thanbauk and Zinkale villages, respectively, on April 25, some 220 homes in Khin Oo’s Thanboh village the following day, and an unconfirmed number of homes in Shwebo’s Malar and Makhauk villages on the evening of April 27, they said. The number of homes set alight in Shwebo township was not immediately clear because residents remain in hiding. One resident of Khin Oo said that the fires in Thanboh broke out early in the morning April 26 after two columns of troops entered the village. “The fires were burning almost the whole day and died down only at about 5 p.m.,” he said. “There have been more raids since they cut off the internet. More troops have been brought in and there have been more atrocities committed, such as setting houses on fire and killing people.” Aung San Myint, a 35-year-old villager who was arrested during the raid on Thanbo village and forced to work as a guide, was later shot dead by the soldiers who held him captive, he said. Residents said Thanboh village is home to around 300 houses and is adjacent to Magyee Tone village, where many members of the pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia live. They said that while the military and Pyu Saw Htee often enter the area, Tuesday marked the first time homes there had been set on fire. A resident of nearby Kyauk Myaung sub-township, who declined to be named for security reasons, said the attacks likely took place after informants reported to the army that members of the anti-junta People’s Defense Force (PDF) paramilitaries are active in the area. Other sources said that the military unit responsible for the arson attacks was accompanied by Pyu Saw Htee fighters and identified it as the Kalemyo township-based Infantry Battalion No. 87, with an estimated force of around 150 troops. An aerial view of Chaung Oo village, in Sagaing region’s Pale township, where junta troops and Pyu Saw Htee fighters burned more than 300 homes, Dec. 18, 2022. Credit: RFA Internet restrictions Attempts to contact junta deputy information minister, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, for comment on the burnings went unanswered Thursday. However, in a statement on April 4, he told RFA that soldiers were not responsible for arson attacks in Sagaing. “Some PDFs and [armed ethnic] groups attacked villages where [pro-junta] militias have been formed,” he said at the time. “They set the villages on fire when they leave and blame the military or Pyu Saw Htee. … When villages are destroyed by fire, it is the [junta] who must rebuild them. So, we have no reason to burn the villages.” Since early March, internet access has been cut off in 27 of the 37 townships under the administration of Sagaing — including the embattled townships of Debayin, Kani, Pale, Khin Oo and Shwebo, where much of the fighting between the military and the PDF has taken place in the region. A member of the Monywa University Students’ Union, who declined to be named, called the shutdown a violation of residents’ right of access to information. “People in these areas have no way of learning about what is happening in other parts of Myanmar, about the political situation outside Sagaing region, or how the fight against the military is going on in various townships,” he said. “They only have information from those around them, as if they are cut off from the outside world.” Residents have been reduced to sharing information between themselves via weekly text messages, he said. Data for Myanmar, a research group that monitors how conflict affects communities, recently said that as of April 16, junta troops have torched more than 9,000 homes across the country since the military seized power in a Feb. 1, 2021, coup. More than 60% of the homes — the most of any of Myanmar’s 15 states, regions and territories — were located in Sagaing, the group said. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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Cambodia arrests leader of opposition political party who was in hiding

Editor08 mins

Authorities in Cambodia on Thursday arrested the president of a small Cambodian political party who had been on the run since last week after being charged with forging documents to compete in local elections in June. RFA reported April 18 that Seam Pluk, president of the National Heart Party, had gone into hiding after authorities issued a warrant for his arrest and ordered him to appear in court on April 25. His lawyer, Sam Sok Kong, said that he intended to appear but that the court date did not give sufficient time to prepare to fight the charges. Choung Chou Ngy, another lawyer representing Seam Pluk, told RFA’s Khmer Service that the arrest was not legal because the warrant expired two days ago. “It is wrong for the police to implement an expired warrant. The court should take action against the police,” he said. Choung Chou Ngy also sought to cast doubt over the allegation that Seam Pluk forged registration documents so that his party could participate in elections. “The Ministry of Interior did a unilateral investigation without the National Heart Party’s participation. Was it an accurate audit? It is a secret,” he said. Among the 4,000 thumbprints collected for party registration, the Ministry of Interior only identified 200 that may have been forged, he said. Even if there are forgeries, the party has enough support to register, assuming the remaining prints are legitimate, Choung Chou Ngy said. The political party registration process should not lead to arrests, Kang Savang, a monitor with the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel), said.   “I haven’t seen the ministry file a complaint over thumbprint issues. This is new to me. I am concerned they are using the court to deal with the case. It will affect people’s right to participate in the electoral process,” Kang Savang said. “I think authorities shouldn’t use the court to resolve this issue. The ministry should have just refused to register the party,” he said. The Ministry of Interior moved to prosecute Seam Pluk after they accused him of receiving funds from exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy to participate in the election, an accusation Seam Pluk has denied. Sam Rainsy is one of two prominent leaders of the now-banned Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). Cambodia’s Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP in November 2017 in a move that allowed Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party to win all 125 seats in Parliament in a July 2018 election. Sam Rainsy, 72, has lived in exile in France since 2015. He was sentenced in absentia last year to 25 years for what supporters say was a politically motivated charge of attempting to overthrow the government. Choung Chou Ngy said he will meet Seam Pluk April 29 in prison to discuss an appeal against his detention. RFA reported last week that another small opposition party, the Candlelight Party, believed that Sam Pluk has been targeted because of his previous support for Candlelight. The Candlelight party has been gaining steam over the past year and its leaders believe it can challenge the CPP in the upcoming elections. After the National Heart Party’s registration was denied, Candlelight party leadership encouraged Heart party supporters to join Candlelight. The Candlelight Party, formerly known as the Sam Rainsy Party and the Khmer Nation party, was founded in 1995. It merged with other opposition forces to form the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) in 2012. Freedoms monitor Seam Pluk’s arrest comes as three NGOs released a report that listed hundreds of instances of rights abuses in the country, which Hun Sen has led for decades. “Despite the government’s duty to respect, protect and promote the freedoms of association, expression and assembly, the report records more than 300 restrictions and violations of fundamental freedoms in every province,” the report by the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (Adhoc), and the Solidarity Center said. The report’s findings show that “fundamental freedom is being restricted while opposition parties are being abused by the state, authorities and third-party actors,” Hun Seanghak, who coordinated the report, told RFA. But a spokesperson for a government-aligned rights group dismissed the report’s conclusions. “When individuals break the law, authorities must implement the law. Is that human rights abuse? In Cambodia people enjoy their freedom,” Kata Orn, spokesperson for the pro-government Cambodia Human Rights Committee, told RFA. He said the report was designed to please donors and doesn’t reflect the truth about democracy and freedom in Cambodia. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Canadian, UK lawmakers advance measures on China’s repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang

Editor07 mins

A Canadian parliamentary committee advanced a motion to offer special immigration procedures now granted to Ukrainian refugees to Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities fleeing persecution in Xinjiang, while lawmakers in the United Kingdom moved to ban medical imports from the region in western China. Members of the Standing Committee on Immigration and Citizenship in Canada’s House of Commons unanimously approved a motion on Thursday that includes the issuance of temporary resident permits and single journey travel documents to people without a passport. This measure would allow displaced Uyghurs who face risk of detention and deportation back to China to seek refuge in Canada. Last month Canada said it would introduce new immigration policies, including a Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel, for Ukrainians who want to come to Canada. The government is obligated to respond to the committee’s motion within 30 days, in a process that is expected to later involve a debate in the House of Commons and a vote on the motion, said conservative lawmaker Garnett Genuis, a committee member. Genuis said the motion reaffirms a recognition of the ongoing genocide of the Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims in China and calls for recognition of the vulnerability of refugees from Xinjiang. “We’re seeing a situation in which the Chinese Communist Party is trying to extend its influence beyond its borders and threaten the security of Uyghurs who have already sought asylum in other places,” he told RFA. “So, it [the motion] calls on the government of Canada to work to support Uyghur refugees and create pathways that recognizes particular challenges.” Canada’s Parliament, along with some other Western legislatures, including the one in the U.K., have declared that China’s policies targeting Uyghurs constitute genocide and crimes against humanity. The U.S. government also has declared likewise. In March 2021, the Canada, the U.S., U.K. and European Union announced sanctions against Chinese officials and companies over human rights violations in Xinjiang, bringing swift condemnation of their actions by Beijing along with threats of retaliation. Memet Tohti, executive director of Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project in Canada, said his group lobbied with committee and parliament members to press the demand that Ottawa “treat the Uyghur refugees fleeing the Chinese genocide just like the Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war.” Thursday’s passage of the motion with the support four parties means “they now have unanimous consensus in the Parliament on resetting Uyghur refugees in Canada,” he said. No more blind eyes This week, lawmakers in the U.K. passed an amendment banning the government from purchasing health goods made in the Xinjiang region where China has been accused of forced-labor abuses. The Modern Slavery Amendment was incorporated into a larger health bill to prevent the country’s National Health Service from buying products tainted by modern slavery, including anything made with Uyghur forced labor. A year ago, U.K. lawmakers approved a nonbinding parliamentary motion declaring that crimes against humanity and genocide were being committed against Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic minorities in Xinjiang. Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith, who spearheaded the amendment’s passage, said he welcomed the move by government health officials to outlaw the purchase of goods and services that come from companies and countries where there is slave labor. With the advance of the amendment, “the government has signaled that they will no longer turn a blind eye to forced labor in U.K. supply chains,” he said. Rahima Mahmut, U.K. director of the World Uyghur Congress, said the Uyghur activist group has campaigned for years for the government to take meaningful action against Beijing’s genocide in Xinjiang. “This amendment is the most significant piece of U.K. legislation addressing the Uyghur crisis so far,” she told RFA. “Once the bill comes into law, the Chinese government will no longer be rewarded with million-pound contracts for Uyghur slave-made healthcare products, as they have done throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.” Translated by Alim Seytoff for RFA’s Uyghur Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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China says Taiwan ‘playing with fire’ over alleged Taiping Island plans

Editor07 mins

China has reacted strongly against Taiwan’s alleged plans to extend a runway on the contested Taiping Island in the South China Sea, saying it was “playing with fire.” Taiwanese media reported last week that the island’s military is planning to lengthen the existing 1,150-meter-long airstrip by 350 meters so that it will be able to accommodate F-16 jet fighters and P-3C anti-submarine aircraft. Taiwanese officials have yet to confirm the plans, reported by United Daily News, a conservative Taiwanese newspaper. But recent satellite imagery suggests some kind of changes on the ground at the western tip of Taiping, which is located in the north-western part of the Spratly islands. Taiping, also known as Itu Aba, is the biggest natural feature in the Spratly islands. It is currently occupied by Taiwan but is also claimed by China, the Philippines and Vietnam. On Wednesday, Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office, warned Taipei of “playing with fire” with the Taiping extension plan. “Any attempt to collude with external forces and betray the interests of the Chinese nation is playing with fire and will surely be punished by both sides of the [Taiwan] Strait,” Ma was quoted by the state-run China News Service (CNS) as saying. “It will be rejected by the people and punished by history,” he said. The island, officially considered a “rock” under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is named after the warship “Taiping” that China sent to take over the island after Japan surrendered at the end of World War II. It has been under Taiwan’s control since 1956. ‘Inherent territory’ Ma Xiaoguang was quoted as saying that “the Nansha Islands (Spratly Islands), including Taiping Island, are China’s inherent territory, and China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and its adjacent waters.” Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday rejected China’s statement, saying that the islands in the South China Sea belong to the Republic of China (ROC or Taiwan), and “the Taiwanese government’s determination to defend the sovereignty of the islands in the South China Sea has never wavered,” the island’s news agency CNA reported. The ministry however did not confirm nor deny the alleged runway extension. Taiwan’s air force earlier declined to comment. Taiwan, Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, are all claimants of the South China Sea, but China holds the most extensive claim of nearly 90 percent of the sea, demarcated by the so-called nine-dash line. The U-shaped demarcation line was actually first introduced in 1947 by the ROC and it is now being used by both Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China (PRC or China) to back their claims in the South China Sea. An international tribunal in the case brought against China by the Philippines in 2016 rejected the Chinese “historical claims” in the South China Sea and invalidated the U-shaped line. Both Taiwan and the PRC refused to accept the ruling. Taiwan was not party to the case but its claims in the South China Sea are similar to those of China. Satellite photos Satellite imagery taken on March 24 and April 23, 2022, appears to show topographical changes at the western end of Taiping Island over the past month. Credit: EO Browser, Sinergise Ltd. Taiping is located in the north-western part of the Spratly islands, 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) from Taiwan and 850 kilometers (530 miles) from the Philippines. It is under the administration of Kaohsiung Municipality. The current runway was only built in 2008. Proposed plans to develop the infrastructure on Taiping Island were criticized by the other two claimants – the Philippines and Vietnam – as stoking tensions in the disputed South China Sea. Last week, a Beijing-based Chinese think-tank said it had obtained new evidence of the runway extension plan. The South China Sea Probing Initiative (SCSPI) said satellite imagery obtained via the satellite data provider Sentinel Hub shows that reclamation work has begun on the western tip of Taiping Island, supporting the news about the island’s intention of extending the existing airstrip to 1,500 meters. Satellite photos from Sentinel taken on March 24 and April 23 and seen by RFA show noticeable differences in the topography of the western areas of the island. The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense declined to comment when asked by RFA. In March, the Taiwanese Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-Cheng said that Taiwan had no intention of militarizing Taiping despite reports that China had completed building military facilities on three artificial islands nearby.

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Guangdong tainted milk parent-activist denied compensation for wrongful conviction

Editor05 mins

Tainted milk parent-turned-campaigner Guo Li has been denied compensation for wrongful imprisonment by the Supreme People’s Court RFA has learned. In 2017, a court in the southern province of Guangdong retrospectively acquitted Guo after he served a five-year jail term for demanding compensation after his infant daughter was sickened by the 2008 melamine-tainted milk scandal. The simultaneous interpreter was handed the five-year sentence by a court in Guangdong’s Chaozhou in 2010 for “extortion” linked to his campaign for compensation from Guangzhou-based infant formula maker Scient after his child became ill with kidney stones. Following his release, Guo then lodged an appeal with the Guangdong Provincial High Court, which found that the facts of the case were unclear, that there was insufficient evidence, that the court of first instance had breached due process on two occasions, and that the case was inconclusive. Guo later took his appeal to the Supreme People’s Court in Beijing, learning on April 10 that his attempt to win redress had been unsuccessful, he told RFA in a recent interview. He said his claim for state compensation was ruled “inadmissible” because a time limit had expired. “The court found that no compensation should be paid, and my appeal application was rejected,” Guo said. “I was advised to deal with the matter through other means.” Guo said the ruling was itself in breach of regulations governing state compensation claims. “I think this is a shameful and ridiculous ruling,” he said. “I will continue to pursue those responsible for compensation in the Guangdong Provincial People’s High Court, via the prison service, and through the detention center system.” Beijing-based lawyer Mo Shaoping said the two-year limitation does exist, but that the court should have ignored it. “If the judicial system has wronged a person and that person is eventually acquitted, they it should take the initiative to compensate them,” Mo told RFA. Tainted milk scandal Guo’s daughter was one of 300,000 made ill by infant formula milk laced with the industrial chemical melamine, which saw a total of 21 people convicted for their roles in the scandal, two of whom were executed. The government said after the 2008 scandal that it had destroyed all tainted milk powder, but reports of melamine-laced products have occasionally re-emerged. Guo has previously described three years of harsh treatment, including beatings and solitary confinement, during his prison sentence, as the authorities put pressure on him to “admit to his crimes.” Held in a cell measuring little more than one meter (3.3 feet) wide and deprived of adequate food and water, Guo was given moldy food and dirty ditch-water instead. Campaigners say promises from then-premier Wen Jiabao that the government would foot the medical bills for all of the children affected by melamine-tainted milk haven’t been kept. Instead, the scandal has led major health insurance companies in China to start excluding kidney-related diseases from policies, owing to the huge medical bills racked up following the scandal. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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