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Category: World

Two more Uyghurs detained in Saudi Arabia face risk of deportation to China

Editor09 mins

Two more Uyghurs — a mother and her daughter — are in danger of being deported from Saudi Arabia back to China, where they could face severe punishment at the hands of authorities there, an international human rights group said. Police detained Buhalchem (in Chinese, Buheliqiemu) Abula and her 13-year-old daughter near the holy city of Mecca on March 31 and told them that they faced deportation to China along with two Uyghur men already held, according to a message received by Abula’s friends, London-based Amnesty International said in a statement on Monday. One of the men held, Nurmemet Rozi (Nuermaimaiti Ruze), is Abula’s former husband and father of the 13-year who are now also being held. Rozi and Hamidulla Wali (Aimidoula Waili), a religious scholar, have been detained without charge in Saudi Arabia since November 2020. The two men traveled to Saudi Arabia from Turkey on a religious pilgrimage to Mecca and were arrested, though authorities allegedly never told them why they were being held, RFA reported in March. Family members of the two men told Amnesty that the pair had been transferred from Jeddah to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, in a move they believed was a precursor to extradition. “Buhalchem and her daughter were detained in the evening of March 31,” Wali’s daughter, Nuriman Hamdulla, told RFA. “I spoke to her as she and her daughter were taken away. They were given no reason for the detention. We’re not sure where they’re detained now.” “They’re innocent,” she said. “They must be detained at the request of the Chinese government because they didn’t break any law.” Hamdulla also said that she had not received a response from the Saudi authorities about whether her father and Rozi had been sent back to China. “Deporting these four people — including a child — to China, where Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities are facing a horrific campaign of mass internment, persecution and torture, would be an outrageous violation of international law,” said Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty’s deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa. “With time seemingly running out to save the four Uyghurs from this catastrophic extradition, it is crucial that other governments with diplomatic ties to Saudi Arabia step in now to urge the Riyadh authorities to uphold their obligations and stop the deportations,” she said. Rights groups, the United Nations and some Western countries have denounced China’s persecution of Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in Xinjiang. China is believed to have detained about 1.8 million people in a network of internment camps across the region, with survivors reporting forced labor, torture and rape. Call for international action Under the international law principle of nonrefoulement and as a state party to the U.N. Convention against Torture, Saudi Arabia is prohibited from returning people to countries where they would face torture, cruel punishment, persecution or other serious harm. Alkan Akad, Amnesty’s China researcher, told RFA that the Uyghurs would likely face arbitrary detention and torture if they were deported to China. “They would be taken to internment camps, and the daughter also would be forcibly separated from her family,” he said. “And so, we call on the Saudi government to release them immediately unless there is international recognizable crime they are charged with.” An official at the office of the Permanent Mission of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations in New York told RFA that the country’s “policy on the Uyghur issue is very clear in all our statements,” but said that she was not responsible for the issue. Amnesty also called on the international community, especially the United States and the United Kingdom as strategic allies of Saudi Arabia, to take action to prevent the illegal extradition of the Uyghurs to China. The call came after two U.N. experts, Fernand de Varennes and Ahmed Shaheed, urged Saudi Arabia on April 1 to abide by the nation’s nonrefoulement obligations and to refrain from extraditing Rozi and Wali. “We are alarmed by the arrest of two Uyghur men in Saudi Arabia, since November 2020, and their continuous detention without proper legal justification or implementation of fundamental safeguards, reportedly on the basis of an extradition request made by China,” the experts said in a statement. “Detention should remain an exceptional measure subject to an individual assessment and regular judicial review, otherwise Saudi Arabia would be depriving the two men of their fundamental rights provided for under national and international law,” they said. De Varennes and Shaheed also requested that Saudi authorities immediately allow the two men to contact their families. The Saudi government has publicly supported China’s antiterrorism measures in what rights activists have said is a tacit approval of the crackdown on predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in Xinjiang. Saudi authorities have returned other Uyghurs back to China after they traveled to the country for work or to make a pilgrimage to Mecca. “We call on the Saudi authorities to immediately release the detained Uyghurs and refrain from deporting them to China, a country that’s committing active genocide against Uyghur Muslims,” said Dolkun Isa, president of the World Uyghur Congress in Germany. “We urge the Saudi government to allow the Uyghurs to leave for a third safe country.” Translated by RFA’s Uyghur Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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North Korea cracks down on private fuel sales during shortage

Editor06 mins

Authorities in North Korea are cracking down on citizens who privately sell gasoline as fuel shortages spread across the country, sources in the country told RFA. Private ownership and sale of fuel reserves is technically illegal in North Korea but is tolerated under normal circumstances. Now that fuel is hard to come by the government is finding the private sellers and seizing their fuel. The crackdown began at the beginning of the month, a resident of the northeastern province of North Hamgyong told RFA’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity for safety reasons. “This investigation is a move to confiscate privately owned fuel in the country as it faces a fuel shortage,” he said. “These days in North Korea, the economic sectors including transportation, agriculture and fisheries are experiencing a severe shortage of gasoline and diesel fuel.” Demand is higher this time of year with the start of the farming season, but fuel reserves are lower than normal because of a two-year trade moratorium with China due to coronavirus concerns. Though the ban ended at the start of 2022, trade has not yet reached its former volume, so stocks have not yet been fully replenished. Global prices are also high right now due to sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. “At the beginning of this year, the price of fuel at the gas station operated by a trading company was 9,800 won per liter of gasoline [U.S. $6.17/gallon], 7,500 for diesel ($4.72/gallon),” the source said. “No one expected that gasoline would rise to 17,000 won per liter [$10.71/gallon] or 12,000 won per liter [$7.56/gallon] for diesel by the end of March,” he said. Prices of gas sold by individuals also shot up but is still 1,000 won cheaper per liter ($0.60 cheaper per gallon) than the government price, according to the source. “People began to prefer trading with the individual sellers. Also, everyone knows that the fuel sold at gas stations is of inferior quality to that of private individual sellers,” the source said. Gas stations are known to mix gasoline with cheaper fuels, such as naphtha (lighter fluid), during times of shortage. Though it stretches the gas reserves further, the adulterated gas can damage vehicles or machines intended to run on gasoline. It was this very practice that drove people in the northwestern province of North Pyongan to flock to the individual sellers, a resident there told RFA. “As the individual traders started selling fuels more actively, authorities began to take preliminary measures to take away their business,” the second source said. “Residents of the city of Sinuiju believe that the reason the price of fuel is soaring these days is because of the government’s series of missile test launches. … These continuous missile launches are preventing the smooth phase-in of fuel,” she said. She said the government tried to put price controls on gas in the city on the Chinese border, but it still has risen to unbelievable highs. Despite its proximity to China, gasoline in Sinuiju costs $7.10 per gallon and diesel costs $4.26. “Food and other necessities are skyrocketing right now as well,” she said. “Residents are very unhappy with the police department’s crackdown on … the private sellers.” “In springtime gas is in high demand for farming, fishing and transportation, but the authorities’ crackdown is making it difficult to get fuel because the private sellers are hiding so they don’t get caught. It is causing a major disruption to our daily lives,” the second source said. RFA reported last month that people were trying to cash in on the fuel shortage by buying fuel vouchers in one part of the country and selling them in other parts where gas was more expensive. Fuel vouchers, however, can only be redeemed at gas stations. Translated by Claire Lee and Leejin Jun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Water release from Vietnamese dam floods villages in southern Laos

Editor05 mins

A sudden discharge of water from a dam on the Sekong River in Vietnam flooded downstream villages in Laos, destroying property and sending residents scrambling to higher ground, sources in Laos told RFA. The 170-megawatt A Luoi Dam near the border between the two countries in Vietnam’s Thua Thien-Hue province has been releasing water since April 2 as the dam’s reservoir swelled to alarming levels after days of rain in the region. Sources downstream in Laos’ Sekong and Attapeu provinces told RFA that whole buildings were washed away by the rising waters after the release. “More than 30 restaurants out of 40 have been swept away and other food stands have all been lost too,” a restaurant owner on the banks of the river in, Sekong province told RFA’s Lao Service. “The district authorities issued a warning notice saying that the release wouldn’t pose any danger to the residents, but the water level has jumped higher than expected. We didn’t have time to move our chairs, tables and equipment to a safe place at all,” the restaurant owner said. The warning came on the afternoon of April 1, so few had time to prepare, according to the owner. “Then the water from the dam in Vietnam came so quickly. The water is now almost overflowing the river bank. The strong current hit the river wall causing a lot of landslides and damage. For an exact damage toll, the authorities of Sekong Province are still assessing the cost.” A villager in Attapeu province told RFA that residents received a vague warning message on their smartphones. “That warning didn’t specify how much water was being released. The Lao authorities should’ve warned us several days earlier and they should have told us how much water will be released so people below the dam could have avoided a lot of the dam,” the villager said. A district-level official in Attapeu told RFA that the sudden discharge was because of nonstop rain. Satellite imagery of the A Luoi dam in Vietnam. Credit: CNES/Airbus The dam operator warned the Energy and Mines Department of Attapeu province earlier on April 1, an official of the department told RFA. “After that, Sekong province and Attapeu province publicly issued a similar warning to residents along the Sekong River to move their belongings to higher ground and stay away from the river.  All activities in the river were banned, including fishing and boating. But many villagers didn’t heed the warning,” the official said. “Many residents assumed that the water current wouldn’t be that strong. That’s why there is some damage to property of the people who live on the river bank. Their homes, cars, motorcycles and some heavy equipment of a sand dredging company, including a pick-up truck, sand trucks and a backhoe, are flooded. The discharge is causing quite a bit of damage to floating restaurants, food stands and huts because their owners didn’t have time to rescue them,” the official said. RFA reported on two previous floodings of Attapeu and Sekong provinces by the A Luoi dam in October and November 2018. A villager in 2018 told RFA that every time A Luoi releases water it floods the community. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Vietnam approves 17 religious texts for use in prisons

Editor07 mins

Vietnamese authorities announced plans to deliver thousands of religious books to the country’s prisons, but former inmates and activists told RFA that prisoners are still likely to be prohibited from freely practicing their faith behind bars. Several government ministries collaborated to approve a list of 17 books, including the Bible, and distribute 4,400 copies to 54 prisons. The books include religious and theology texts, books on the history of religions, and analyses of Vietnamese laws regarding religion, state media reported. Maj. Gen. Thuong Van Nghiem, deputy director of the Ministry of Public Security’s Department of Homeland Security, said that the plan demonstrates Vietnam’s commitment to ensuring religious freedom, and conveys a message about the country’s efforts to support civil, political and human rights. But distributing the books is just a public relations move, Tran Minh Nhat, a Catholic who was jailed from 2011 to 2015 on charges of “attempting to overthrow the government,” told RFA’s Vietnamese Service. “The important thing is what books they are, who the author is, who published them, where they are placed and how they are managed,” said Nhat. “In most cases, their inclusion of scriptures or religious publications is mainly for embellishment purposes. The government or the Ministry of Public Security review and provide religious publications mainly to deceive public opinion and cover the public’s eyes, not to meet the needs of those who are serving jail sentences. It’s just for the sake of doing it,” he said. Nhat spent time at six different prisoners during his five-year sentence. In each, prisoners were prohibited from having their own Bibles, Buddhist scriptures or any kind of religious publication, even items that had been licensed by the government. Prisoners of any faith are prohibited from praying in groups, he said. “The practice of religious rites is prohibited. This is not only applied to Catholics but also Buddhists and Protestants. Because of such a ban, many people do not ask for the right to practice their religion,” said Nhat.  “There can be exceptions though, for example, when I myself went on a hunger strike for almost a month, then they finally gave me a Bible to read.” The Vietnamese government has never cared about religious, political or ethnic rights, Siu Wiu, who spent 13 years in prison for “disturbing security” by performing Protestant rituals in public, told RFA. “As far as I know, the Communists never tell the truth. They say one thing but do another. I’m living proof, there’s no such thing,” he said.  During his years in prison, Wiu was only able to pray alone and quietly, as the prisoners were not allowed to pray publicly. Punishments for practicing his religion were severe. “One time my wife visited me and smuggled a Bible in an instant noodle packet for me. When prison staff spotted the Bible, they chained me up for seven days,” said Siu. “Prior to that, I was disciplined and shackled for two weeks and then put in solitary confinement for six months because one time, when I called home, I asked the people in the village to pray for me on Sundays,” he said. Allowing religious texts in prison should raise awareness about the Communist Party’s guidelines and governmental policies and laws on beliefs and religions as well as the values and influences of religion on social life, Maj. Gen. Nguyen Viet Hung, deputy director of the Police Department of Prisons, Correction Centers, and Juvenile Reformatory Management, told RFA. RFA confirmed that 17 approved texts include the Bible, Ho Chi Minh’s “Viewpoints on Mobilizing Religious Followers,” and “Study on Religions and Beliefs” by Do Lan Hien, who is the director of the Institute of Religion and Belief at the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics.  RFA did not have access to the latter two books to verify their content. The latest report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, released on Feb. 7, 2021, marked the 15th consecutive year that Vietnam was included by the U.S. on its list of “countries of particular concern” on religious freedom because of its repression on independent religious groups not recognized by the government. Translated by Anna Vu. Written in English by Eugene Whong.  

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Police in China’s Guangdong move ahead with subversion trial of feminist journalist

Editor06 mins

Authorities in the southern province of Guangdong have moved to prosecute feminist activist and journalist Sophia Huang and fellow activist Wang Jianbing, rights groups reported. Police issued a notification that they had transferred the cases of Huang and Huang to the Guangzhou municipal prosecution service on March 27, the Free Xueqin and Jianbin campaign said in a statement on its Github page. “The Guangzhou police never allowed [their] lawyers to meet with them during the more than six months of investigation and detention, on the grounds that national security was involved,” the statement said. “Now that the investigation has been completed, we expect [their][ lawyers to be able to read [the files] and meet with them without any problems.” It said Huang and Wang, who face charges of “incitement to subvert state power,” have been transferred to the Guangzhou No. 1 Detention Center from the No. 2 Detention Center in Huang’s case, and from solitary confinement “for interrogation” in Wang’s. “It is reported that in the last month they have been retransferred to the Guangzhou No. 1 Detention Center (Hougang North Street, Baiyun District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province),” the April 1 statement said. Huang had planned to leave China via Hong Kong on Sept. 20, 2021 for the U.K., where she planned to take a master’s degree in development with a prestigious Chevening Scholarship. Wang, who is a labor and healthcare rights activist, had planned to see her off on her journey. But both were detained before she could board her flight. The Japan-based group Human Rights Now said in a recent testimony to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva that the initial arrests were “due to social gatherings at Wang’s apartment.” “The police acquired photos and a list of nearly 40 people who had participated in the gatherings from surveillance cameras installed at the apartment’s front door,” it said in a video testimony to the Council. “After the arrests, police continuously harassed and summoned the other participants for interrogation, asking them to identify material that they deemed as politically sensitive, and forcing them to sign false confessions that were drafted and fabricated by the police,” it said. “We urge the Guangzhou police to release Huang and Wang unconditionally as soon as possible,” the group said. “We … call for UN officials, independent experts, and governments to increase their monitoring of Huang and Wang’s situation, as well as of all journalists and activists in China.” Wang Jianbing in an undated photo. Credit Wang’s Facebook #MeToo activist Before being targeted by the authorities in 2019, Huang had been an outspoken member of the country’s #MeToo movement, and had carried out a survey of sexual harassment and assault cases among Chinese women working in journalism. Huang was present at a million-strong protest in Hong Kong on June 9, 2019 against plans to allow extradition to mainland China, and was detained for “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble” in October 2019, before being released on bail in January 2020, a status that often involves ongoing surveillance and restrictions on a person’s activities. Her travel documents were also confiscated after her return, preventing her from beginning a law degree in Hong Kong the fall of 2019. Huang had previously assisted in the investigation and reporting of a number of high-profile sexual harassment allegations against professors at Peking University, Wuhan University of Technology, Henan University and Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou. Wang started to work in rural development after graduating in 2005, before joining the Guangzhou Gongmin NGO in 2014 and director and coordinator for youth work. In 2018, he started advocacy and legal support work on behalf of workers with occupational diseases, and was a vocal supporter of China’s #MeToo movement. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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More than 130 journalists arrested in Myanmar, media group says

Editor07 mins

A total of 135 journalists have been arrested in Myanmar since the Feb. 1, 2021, military coup that overthrew civilian rule in that country, according to a local press freedoms group. Among those arrested, 109 were men and 26 were women, while three other journalists were killed in the course of their work, said Han Zaw, a spokesman for Detained Journalists Information Myanmar, speaking to RFA. “Right now, 55 journalists — 42 men and 13 women — are being held in detention, 22 of whom have now been convicted, and another six were given jail sentences in March,” Han Zaw said. The detentions and arrests of journalists in Myanmar are still ongoing, he added. Jailed in March were Han Thar Nyein, managing editor of Kamaryut Media; Than Htkine Aung, editor of Mizzima News; Neyin Chan Wai, a correspondent for the Bago Weekly Journal; Aung Zaw Zaw, editor-in-chief of the Mandalay Free Press; Ye Yint Tun, a correspondent for the Myanmar Herald; and freelance journalist Naung Yoe. All were charged with defamation and obstruction of the country’s military and were given sentences ranging from one-and-a-half years to 11 years in jail, with Han Thar Thein also charged with violations of Myanmar’s Electronic Communications Act. Conditions in Myanmar are now unsafe for journalists working for independent media groups, said veteran reporter Myint Kyaw, speaking to RFA from Myanmar’s commercial center and former capital Yangon. “There have been cases of torture,” Myint Kyaw said. “Not for everyone arrested, but there have been victims, and Myanmar has the second highest number of arrests after China, which means the second largest number of journalists arrested around the world,” he said. “It’s dangerous now to work for independent media, and it’s dangerous to report on any of the incidents now happening in the ongoing conflict,” he said. Veteran lawyer Khin Maung Myint told RFA that journalists arrested before June 2021 were charged only with defamation. But since June 30, charges under anti-terrorism and explosives statutes that allow for as long as 20 years have also been added, he said. And though most of the journalists arrested were able to prove in court that they were simply carrying out their professional work when detained, none were released following their conviction at trial, he said. ‘Enemies of the country’ Speaking to RFA, junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun said however that no journalists were arrested in Myanmar for doing their work but only for instigating violence. “On Armed Forces Day [March 27], more than 40 local media outlets and 26 local reporters working for overseas media attended the event, and they were able to work and write freely. Even RFA has reporters in Myanmar,” Zaw Min Tun said. “If a journalist is doing the work of a journalist, we have no reason to arrest him. But if a journalist commits crimes and incites others to violence, we will arrest him not as a journalist but as a supporter of terrorism and a source of false news,” he said. Also speaking to RFA, Aung Kyaw — a senior correspondent for the Democratic Voice of Burma who was arrested and released in March last year — said that Myanmar’s military members hate the journalists held in interrogation camps and treat them as enemies of the country. “While I was being questioned, they would read news reports, and if they found something they didn’t like, they’d hit me and torture me, even though those reports were published by other media,” he said. “I told them that we were not a foreign news agency, that our news agency was officially registered in Myanmar, that we paid taxes to the country, and that we were paid only in kyats, not in dollars. But they wouldn’t listen.” Soe Ya, editor-in-chief of the Delta News Agency, said that journalists are now fleeing Myanmar due to junta suppression, causing a loss of human resources in the country’s media. “Many journalists are leaving and moving to other countries to pursue their livelihood and because of the lack of security in Myanmar,” he said. “Our media world is now suffering a big loss because experienced people have to leave, as they cannot continue to survive in the present situation.” Translated by Khin Maung Nyane for RFA’s Myanmar Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.

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Shanghai extends lockdown as armed police patrol gates of residential communities

Editor013 mins

Authorities in Shanghai announced they would extend citywide lockdowns while they assessed recent mass COVID-19 test results, leaving residents facing further food shortages and lack of access to medical treatment. A two-stage lockdown has been in place across the city of 26 million people since March 28, although some residential communities where infections were discovered before that date have been under tight restrictions for far longer. “The city will continue to implement closures and controls, and continue to strictly implement the stay-home policy except in the case of people seeking medical treatment due to illness,” the Shanghai municipal government said in an April 4 announcement on its official Weibo account. It said a mass, citywide COVID-19 tests had been completed on Monday, with further testing, review of results and evaluation to be carried out while residents stayed home. Tens of the thousands of healthcare workers, including 2,000 military personnel, have been dispatched to the city to aid in the testing, isolation and quarantine operation under the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s zero-COVID policy. A front-line healthcare worker in the central city of Wuhan told RFA that some of his colleagues have been ordered to go to Shanghai to help with the testing program. “Wuhan sent 1,000 people … they told me yesterday it was to carry out PCR tests,” she said. Shanghai on Sunday reported 8,581 newly confirmed asymptomatic COVID-19 cases and 425 symptomatic COVID cases, calling on all residents to carry out rapid antigen tests at home. A Shanghai resident who gave only the surname Feng said armed police had also been drafted into the city, with a constant roar of planes taking off at landing at an airport near her home. “The armed police came on March 28 and 29, and there are a lot of armed police around right now,” Feng said. “They had been keeping a low profile, but they are much more open since vice premier Sun Chunlan arrived here.” “Those of us who live near the airport were kept up all night because the rumbling sound from the military transports was so loud, and there were also helicopters flying constantly back and forth overhead,” Feng said. Sun urged the Shanghai authorities on Saturday to “make resolute and swift moves” to curb the pandemic. ‘Keeping order’ Zhang Jin, an academic who lives in the downtown area of Puxi on the west side of the Huangpu river, said armed police are currently patrolling the gates of his residential community. “There are special police with guns stationed at the gates of our community, because the older people on the neighborhood committee can’t keep control of the situation,” he said. “They’re afraid there’ll be some kind of incident in Shanghai, which would be a big deal, so they’ve been brought in to keep order.” But he said he thought the measures wouldn’t be enough to contain the spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant of COVID-19. “It’s like a broken old paper lantern; you try to patch it up with sticky tape, and then another hole appears,” Zhang said. A leaked audio recording, apparently between a member of the public and a member of the city’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), posted to social media on April 2, suggested that the authorities’ capacity to implement Beijing’s zero-COVID policy on the ground is under huge strain. “Let me tell you this; hospital wards are full to bursting; there’s no space left in isolation facilities, and there are no ambulances available because they are answering hundreds of calls a day,” the official says. “This has totally overturned the image that Shanghai used to have [in the eyes of the rest of the world].” “They are now writing down people’s positive tests as negative … our professionals and experts are being driven crazy because nobody is listening to what they have to say,” the official says. “This pandemic has become a political disease, consuming so much manpower, material and financial resources.” Zhang agreed, saying all of China’s COVID-19 measures are now purely political. “I heard there were people testing positive at the National People’s Congress (NPC) [in March], but they weren’t being allowed to report it [as a positive result].” The secretary of one neighborhood committee admitted the system is now “a mess.” “I need decent policies coming down from higher up that I can explain to the residents, but that’s not what is happening here, not at all,” she said. “This job is leaving me physically and mentally exhausted, and my heart-rate is up to 100 beats per minute right now. I just can’t do this.” “Right now I’m trying to order food supplies for residents [before it runs out], and I’m taking your call. I’m under a lot of pressure,” the neighborhood official said. Logistics nightmare Shanghai residents have been taking to Twitter with fears that they could run out of food entirely, as takeout and supermarket deliveries are becoming less and less available in some districts. Feng confirmed these reports, saying many of the delivery drivers have themselves been forced into isolation camps by the HealthCode app, while deliveries are being prevented from entering the city from elsewhere in China, leaving huge quantities of food to spoil at roadsides and be wasted. Current affairs commentator Si Ling said the restrictions have made it well nigh impossible for logistics firms to operate in and out of Shanghai. “Even if trucks can get into Shanghai, it’s hard for them to get out,” Si said. “A lot of logistics companies are therefore reluctant to send vehicles into Shanghai … because they think it’s too expensive and time-consuming.” “The Chinese government has made every aspect of the pandemic very bureaucratic, with huge amounts of red tape, and it hasn’t taken the needs of logistics companies [part of the supply chain] into account,” he said. Sun’s comment during her visit to Shanghai was interpreted by a leaked Zhejiang provincial document as showing hard-line support from CCP leader Xi Jinping for…

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Shanghai extends lockdown as armed police patrol gates of residential communities

Editor013 mins

Authorities in Shanghai announced they would extend citywide lockdowns while they assessed recent mass COVID-19 test results, leaving residents facing further food shortages and lack of access to medical treatment. A two-stage lockdown has been in place across the city of 26 million people since March 28, although some residential communities where infections were discovered before that date have been under tight restrictions for far longer. “The city will continue to implement closures and controls, and continue to strictly implement the stay-home policy except in the case of people seeking medical treatment due to illness,” the Shanghai municipal government said in an April 4 announcement on its official Weibo account. It said mass, citywide COVID-19 tests had been completed on Monday, with further testing, review of results, and evaluation to be carried out while residents stayed home. Tens of the thousands of healthcare workers, including 2,000 military personnel, have been dispatched to the city to aid in the testing, isolation, and quarantine operation under the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s zero-COVID policy. A front-line healthcare worker in the central city of Wuhan told RFA that some of his colleagues have been ordered to go to Shanghai to help with the testing program. “Wuhan sent 1,000 people… they told me yesterday it was to carry out PCR tests,” she said. Shanghai on Sunday reported 8,581 newly confirmed asymptomatic COVID-19 cases and 425 symptomatic COVID cases, calling on all residents to carry out rapid antigen tests at home. A Shanghai resident, who wanted to be identified only by his surname Feng, said armed police had also been drafted into the city, with a constant roar of planes taking off at landing at an airport near her home. “The armed police came on March 28 and 29, and there are a lot of armed police around right now,” Feng said. “They had been keeping a low profile, but they are much more open since vice premier Sun Chunlan arrived here.” “Those of us who live near the airport were kept up all night because the rumbling sound from the military transports was so loud, and there were also helicopters flying constantly back and forth overhead,” Feng said. Sun urged the Shanghai authorities on Saturday to “make resolute and swift moves” to curb the pandemic. Zhang Jin, an academic who lives in the downtown area of Puxi on the west side of the Huangpu river, said armed police are currently patrolling the gates of his residential community. “There are special police with guns stationed at the gates of our community, because the older people on the neighborhood committee can’t keep control of the situation,” he said. “They’re afraid there’ll be some kind of incident in Shanghai, which would be a big deal, so they’ve been brought in to keep order.” But he said he thought the measures wouldn’t be enough to contain the spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant of COVID-19. “It’s like a broken old paper lantern; you try to patch it up with sticky tape, and then another hole appears,” Zhang said. A leaked audio recording, apparently between a member of the public and a member of the city’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), posted to social media on April 2, suggested that the authorities’ capacity to implement Beijing’s zero-COVID policy on the ground is under huge strain. “Let me tell you this; hospital wards are full to bursting; there’s no space left in isolation facilities, and there are no ambulances available because they are answering hundreds of calls a day,” the official said in the recording. “This has totally overturned the image that Shanghai used to have [in the eyes of the rest of the world].” “They are now writing down people’s positive tests as negative… our professionals and experts are being driven crazy because nobody is listening to what they have to say,” the official said. “This pandemic has become a political disease, consuming so much manpower, material and financial resources.” Zhang agreed, saying all of China’s COVID-19 measures are now purely political. “I heard there were people testing positive at the National People’s Congress (NPC) [in March], but they weren’t being allowed to report it [as a positive result].” The secretary of one neighborhood committee admitted the system is now “a mess.” “I need decent policies coming down from higher up that I can explain to the residents, but that’s not what is happening here, not at all,” she said. “This job is leaving me physically and mentally exhausted, and my heart-rate is up to 100 beats per minute right now. I just can’t do this.” “Right now I’m trying to order food supplies for residents [before it runs out], and I’m taking your call. I’m under a lot of pressure,” the neighborhood official said. Shanghai residents have been taking to Twitter with fears that they could run out of food entirely, as takeout and supermarket deliveries are becoming less and less available in some districts. Feng confirmed these reports, saying many of the delivery drivers have themselves been forced into isolation camps by the HealthCode app, while deliveries are being prevented from entering the city from elsewhere in China, leaving huge quantities of food to spoil at roadsides and be wasted. Current affairs commentator Si Ling said the restrictions have made it well nigh impossible for logistics firms to operate in and out of Shanghai. “Even if trucks can get into Shanghai, it’s hard for them to get out,” Si said. “A lot of logistics companies are therefore reluctant to send vehicles into Shanghai… because they think it’s too expensive and time-consuming.” “The Chinese government has made every aspect of the pandemic very bureaucratic, with huge amounts of red tape, and it hasn’t taken the needs of logistics companies [part of the supply chain] into account,” he said. Sun‘s comment during her visit to Shanghai was interpreted by a leaked Zhejiang provincial document as showing hard-line support from CCP leader Xi Jinping for zero-COVID, despite the massive logistical challenges it brings. Zhejiang and Jiangsu authorities are now being forced to…

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Philippine, Chinese foreign ministers hold talks amid South China Sea tensions

Editor04 mins

The top diplomats of the Philippines and China met over the weekend in a Chinese district and exchanged views on the South China Sea, Beijing said, amid fresh accusations from Manila over alleged Chinese aggression in the disputed waterway. Filipino Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. and Chinese counterpart Wang Yi held talks on Sunday in Tunxi, Anhui province, days after Manila and Washington launched one of their biggest joint military exercises in years that observers described as a show of force. “On April 3, 2022, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with visiting Philippine Foreign Minister Teodoro Locsin in Tunxi, Anhui province,” said a statement on the meeting posted on the Chinese foreign ministry’s website. The two sides believe “that maritime issues should be put in a proper place in bilateral relations,” the statement added, without giving details. Also without naming any nations or parties, Wang said Manila and Beijing “should eliminate interference, and calmly and properly manage differences, so as to prevent the overall China-Philippines relations from being affected.” Wang added that China was willing to fast track key infrastructure projects in the Philippines and continue providing COVID-19 vaccine assistance, the Chinese foreign ministry statement said. Attempts by the RFA-affiliated Benar News service to contact Locsin’s office for comment on the meeting went unanswered Monday. The talks came amid this year’s joint Balikatan military exercises between the Philippines and the United States that involve about 9,000 troops from both sides. The exercises in the Philippines will go till April 8. Wang and Locsin’s meeting comes after the Philippines in late March lodged a new diplomatic protest against China alleging that a Chinese coast guard ship maneuvered dangerously close to a Filipino vessel in the contested Scarborough Shoal earlier last month. China’s foreign ministry, meanwhile, insisted that it was within its rights when its ship allegedly engaged in what the Philippine Coast Guard described as “close distance maneuvering” in South China Sea waters. China’s envoy to Manila, Huang Xilian, did not say whether the issue of the Chinese coast guard ship was discussed at Sunday’s talks, but noted that the meeting of the two nations’ top diplomats produced “fruitful results.” “The talks included China’s reaffirmation of its priority neighborhood diplomacy with the Philippines, the maintenance of amicable policies for continued and stable bilateral relations, and the peaceful and proper resolution of differences,” Huang said. “China also reiterated its readiness to streamline key infrastructure projects’ construction with the Philippines.”

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North Korea tries to cover up failed ICBM launch

Editor010 mins

North Korea is attempting to discredit reports of a failed intercontinental ballistic missile launch, dismissing the accounts as hearsay even though many people in Pyongyang saw the rocket explode over the city, sources in the capital told RFA. North Korean media reported on March 24 that it successfully completed tests of the new Hwasong-17 ICBM, attributing its success to leader Kim Jong Un’s bravery. South Korean military authorities, however, reported Tuesday that the Hwasong-17 was involved in an earlier failed test launch on March 16. The March 24 launch was actually the older Hwasong-15 missile, they said. The North Korean government is now denying “rumors” of loud sounds and flashes that could be heard and seen over Pyongyang on March 16. “I have heard on various occasions through meetings and gatherings that there have been baseless rumors circulating about missile explosions. These rumors undermine the defense technology of our republic,” a Pyongyang city official told RFA’s Korean Service March 30. “There is an emphasis from higher ups that we should not believe or get involved in these false rumors spread by hostile forces, and evil people who hold a grudge against our way of life,” said the official, who requested anonymity for security reasons. The official admitted that the so-called rumors were in fact true. “On the morning of March 16th, people in the districts of Sunan, Hyongjesan and Ryongsong heard a loud roar that seemed to pierce the sky and a ‘bang’ sound and witnessed pieces of debris falling and smoking,” he said. “I heard from a friend in the same department who has a house in Sunan … that his wife went outside to hang clothes and heard a big airplane passing by and heard a ‘bang.’ After a while, she saw small pieces of shards falling nearby while smoking,” the official said. The official said that others in Ryongsong and Hyongjesan districts saw similar events unfold. “I even heard from a friend who lives in Ryongsong district that two people in Chungi-dong were struck by large pieces of debris falling,” he said. “About a week after these testimonies, there was a report that the launch of new intercontinental ballistic missile ‘Hwasong-17’ on March 24th was a great success under the direct guidance of Kim Jong Un,” said the official. Pyongyang has not only been trying to pass off the launch on the 24th as the Hwasong-17, it is also trying to use the event to lionize Kim. “People say that Kim Jong Un seems like an actor in a well-produced music video on the TV reports he appears in. The missile launch failed, but I don’t understand the government’s effort to hide it,” he said. North Korea has sent agents into the provinces for damage control, a resident of South Pyongan province, north of Pyongyang, told RFA. “Last week, an executive appeared at the morning assembly at my company, saying there were rumors that a missile launch failed. He emphasized that we were not to believe the false rumors spread by evil forces intent on internally breaking us down,” said the resident, who requested anonymity to speak freely. “But people are acknowledging the missile explosion as a fact. In Pyongyang as well as here, people saw flashing lights and smoke from the sky, and small fragments of debris fell here and there,” she said. The resident said others, including her cousin who lives in another South Pyongan town, saw flashing lights and heard bangs in the sky. “Although the incident has been witnessed by many, the authorities are dismissing it as a rumor spread by evildoers. There are many citizens who directly witnessed the explosion in the air, but I don’t know what the authorities are afraid of that they would hide the truth,” she said. More sanctions The U.S. Treasury Department Friday sanctioned five North Korean entities for their involvement in ballistic missile development programs in violation of several United Nations Security Council resolutions. In a statement, the Treasury Department said the sanctions target a North Korean organization that conducts research and development of weapons of mass destruction and four of its revenue-generating subsidiaries. “The DPRK’s provocative ballistic missile tests represent a clear threat to regional and global security and are in blatant violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions,” said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in the statement. “The United States is committed to using our sanctions authorities to respond to the DPRK’s continued development of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles. I also commend Japan for their actions today against the DPRK, and stand ready to continue to work together to counter the DPRK’s continued threatening behavior,” she said. Analysts applauded the move. “It’s a positive sign, in that the U.S. is taking action against North Korea’s weapons development and testing,” Soo Kim of the RAND Corporation told RFA. “But I would underscore that the latest designations are subsidiaries of organizations that should probably have been designated. So it’s unclear whether this will have teeth in terms of impact,” she said.  Bruce Klingner of the Heritage Foundation, a group that promotes free enterprise and limited government, that there are any remaining North Korean entities to sanction, given its long and expansive history of violations of U.N. resolutions and U.S. laws. “It raises the question as to why Washington chose not to [sanction them] until now and how many other North Korean and other country entities the US could sanction but has not done so,” Klingner told RFA. “Each U.S. administration has claimed to be tough on North Korea and other violators but chose not to fully enforce U.S. laws. Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ was never maximum. Indeed, he announced he was not sanctioning 300 North Korean entities and 12 Chinese banks that had violated US laws. Sanctions, like diplomacy, are a tool that should be used in conjunction with other tools of international power,” he said.  Translated by Claire Lee. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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