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Junta chief offers Myanmar’s ethnic armies rare in-person peace talks

Editor010 mins

Myanmar junta chief, Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, on Friday offered to meet with leaders of armed ethnic groups to end conflict in the country’s remote border regions but was met with a mixed response from the armies, who said the military has broken vows in the past and needs to deliver on promises of peace. The offer also was not extended to representatives of the country’s ousted, democratically elected government and the prodemocracy People’s Defense Forces that sprang up in an effort to return it to power. “I have said that 2022 is the year of peace and that we will work for an end to all armed conflict in the country,” he said in a speech broadcast on state-run television. “I call on the leaders of the ethnic armed groups to meet and negotiate, as peace needs to be implemented in practice. I will meet all the groups in person and later talks could be held with a delegation made up of members of the [junta].” Min Aung Hlaing proposed that the meeting include the heads of each ethnic army and two of their lieutenants — the names of whom should be submitted by May 9. He said a date would be set for full talks after the initial meeting. Junta deputy information minister, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, told RFA’s Myanmar Service that the military regime would assume responsibility for the safety of those attending the event. “We fully guarantee the safety of the people who will be attending the talks, and the [junta] will pick them up wherever they feel comfortable … and bring them in [for the meeting].” He said China had also agreed to help broker the peace process and that the junta is willing to work with all stakeholders. Col. Khun Okkar, the leader of the Pa-O National Liberation Organization (PNLO), told RFA he believes the junta is determined to work for peace in the run-up to a general election, and suggested Min Aung Hlaing proposed the meeting to “find a way to stabilize the country.” At the time of Myanmar’s Feb. 1, 2021, coup, Min Aung Hlaing promised elections within a year, but he has since pushed the date back to August 2023. More recently, the junta has said elections would only be held if there is “stability” in the country. Khun Okkar said that by proposing the talks on television, Min Aung Hlaing was likely trying to bypass the red tape required to get talks started. “There’s too much centralization. … There are a lot of steps and sometimes things don’t get to the point in time,” he said. “It seems he wanted to be more effective when he said he would take charge himself. Time is running out … and as he needs time to prepare for the elections, I think he wanted to have the talks as quickly as possible.” Padoh Saw Tawney, foreign affairs officer for the Karen National Union (KNU), said past experiences with the peace process have raised doubts within his group about the military’s tactics. “We have never rejected peace, but peace cannot be achieved with words only. So, we need them to show us real facts and actions that can lead to peace,” he said. “Without these, we cannot accept any offers — even if he meets with us personally. … We have taken part [in previous peace talks] and we know every little trick they use. So, there cannot be peace talks without accepting our conditions,” he added, without providing details. Ethnic minority Karen troops approach a Myanmar army outpost near the Thai border, which is seen from the Thai side on the Thanlwin, also known as Salween, riverbank in Mae Hong Son province, Thailand, April 28, 2021. Credit: Reuters Political ‘act’ in response to pressure Sai Kyi Zin Soe, a Myanmar-based political analyst, called Min Aung Hlaing’s call for peace “useless” and suggested it was a political act to alleviate international pressure over the junta’s brutal repression of its opponents. According to rights groups, security forces have killed 1,782 civilians and arrested nearly 103,000 since the coup, mostly during peaceful anti-junta protests. Proper peace talks cannot be held without all stakeholders, Sai Kyi Zin Soe said, and must also include the country’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG), prodemocracy People’s Defense Force (PDF) paramilitaries, and other opposition forces. The junta has ruled out talks with the groups, which it accuses of terrorism. “The path he is taking and the work he is doing is just a figurative demonstration of a desire for real political stability,” he said. “[Failing to include groups beyond the ethnic armies] shows he’s making the offer because of pressure from China or ASEAN amid international criticism, rather than out of a genuine desire for real peace.” Ye Tun, a former member of parliament with the deposed National League for Democracy (NLD), said he believes Min Aung Hlaing may be trying to “keep the ethnic armed groups in check” until he can eliminate the PDF and other armed opposition groups. Ethnic armies have been fighting against Myanmar’s military since the country’s 1948 independence. In the aftermath of the coup, several groups have thrown their support behind anti-junta resistance fighters, while others are joining forces with the local PDF branches to fight the military. Only 10 ethnic armies have signed a Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement with the government since 2015, when the document was inked in the presence of international observers and Myanmar’s highest legislature. The 10 groups have suggested that the deal remains in place, despite an already flailing peace process that was all but destroyed by the unpopular junta’s coup. However, they say they will not pursue talks with the military, which they view as having stolen power from the country’s democratically elected government. While the junta has made peace overtures to the ethnic armies in the past, Friday marked the first time Min Aung Hlaing offered to meet with them in person. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written…

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In North Korea, a soldier’s biggest threat may be the censor

Editor08 mins

The North Korean military is harshly punishing soldiers for divulging “sensitive” information —including their location or unit’s size — in letters back home, sources in the military told RFA. In most of the world’s militaries, especially during wartime, soldiers are typically forbidden from relaying certain facts about their deployment. But in secretive North Korea, which is still technically at war with South Korea, even honest mistakes can bring consequences that last a lifetime. One soldier was recently punished when censors found that a letter he wrote revealed where the unit was located and the name of the battleship he served on, a military source from Sinpo, a city in the eastern province of South Hamgyong, told RFA’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “The soldier was arrested and interrogated by the State Security Department for nearly two months and was eventually separated from the service with a dishonorable discharge,” he said. “If you fail to fulfil your military service time and are punished and discharged this way, that’s the end of any prospect for a good life.” Every North Korean male serves about seven years in the armed forces, according to South Korean intelligence. All the mail that they write is read and censored. Soldiers are supposed to use military postcards to write to their families or sweethearts to make it easier for censors to identify offending passages. But postcard supplies are down, so soldiers are sending more letters written on ordinary paper, in makeshift envelopes, according to the source. That affords more opportunities for mistakes. “Military mail takes more than a month or two for the letters to come and go, and the soldiers are never able to write down everything they want to say on the postcard,” the source said. If letters containing sensitive information are caught by censors, the person who delivered the letter to the post office can be punished alongside the sender, he said. “Earlier this month, an East Coast squadron naval unit in the city of Sinpo held an educational session on how not to divulge military secrets in letters,” the military source said. “The session pointed out how soldiers have been sending letters to civilian addresses with confidential information that the public should not know. The soldiers were warned not to reveal the location of troops, details about combat missions and troop movements. These are acts of treason and in violation of the military oath,” he said. Another soldier who was caught by censors was sent to work in a coal mine, a resident of the South Hamgyong province told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely. “My friend’s younger brother, who enlisted to the army, was punished and separated from the military with a dishonorable discharge earlier this year. He bragged about his unit’s arms equipment in a letter to a friend at home who couldn’t join the military due to his physical condition, and this was caught in postal censorship,” said the second source. “My friend’s brother was then deployed as a coal miner in a rural county. If you are discharged from the military for a mistake, you are placed in the most difficult areas of society and will be excluded from all personnel appointments. This includes membership in the Workers’ Party, commendations and university recommendations,” she said. Party membership unlocks certain privileges like better education, housing and food rations — perks no longer available to the former soldier. “Mining work is difficult and dangerous, so my friend’s parents tried to get their son out of the mine any way they could, but it didn’t work,” the second source said. “My friend’s parents found out that there was a note in their son’s discharge document, saying ‘He must be assigned as a coal mine worker at the toughest coal mine. He should never be transferred to another company,’” she said. Though a market economy has begun to emerge in recent years, North Koreans still must report to their government-assigned jobs. Toiling away in the mine provides no opportunity for the former soldier to earn money on the side. “What I know about my friend’s younger brother is that he was bright and active. Now he is quiet and rarely speaks. He doesn’t meet his friends and he is very lonely. His parents are so sad,” she said. “It seems excessive to impose a lifetime of punishment on young soldiers for inadvertently bragging about information related to military secrets. The fact that every letter we send and receive is inspected by the state security department is also terrifying,” she said. Translated by Claire Lee and Leejin Jun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Malaysian media, officials urged not to fan hatred of Rohingya amid hunt for escapees

Editor09 mins

Malaysian police have detained two Rohingya they suspect of having instigated a riot and mass breakout at a detention center that led to six escapees being fatally struck by vehicles on a highway in the middle of the night, authorities in northern Kedah state said Friday. Eighty-eight Rohingya remained at large, including nine women and eight children, according to police chief Wan Hassan Wan Ahmad, who urged local people not to help them. Sheltering people who violate immigration laws is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, he said. “It’s been three days. These people are hungry, barefoot. They will not be able to last, with children in tow. We ask the public to immediately report to the police if any refugees seek help from them,” he said.  A total of 287 officers in three states – Kedah, Penang and Perak – have been mobilized to look for the remaining escapees, Wan Ahmad said. Meanwhile, amid ongoing updates about the manhunt, a Malaysian media advocacy group urged local officials and media not to use language that could foster hatred or fear of Rohingya people. “Publishing authorities’ comments that label Rohingya detainees as ‘highly dangerous’ … or that ‘they may also act out of control to survive’ presents the detainees as ‘violent and irrational,’” said a statement by the Malaysia-based Center for Independent Journalism (CIJ). Reporters should “interrogate the root causes behind the breakout, and not … sensationalize the issue by framing it as a crime,” it said. “While we understand the need for balanced and accurate reporting, there is a fine line that could potentially trigger increasing xenophobia and discrimination,” CIJ executive director Wathshlah Naidu she told BenarNews. Death hours before riot being investigated  On Thursday, Kedah Criminal Investigation Department chief G. Suresh Kumar said the riot occurred hours after a detainee died at the Sungai Bakap Temporary Immigration Depot. “For the record, there was a death involving a detainee in his 30s late at night, hours before the early morning rioting took place. We are conducting a post-mortem on the body and until we have the autopsy report, I wish to call on everyone to refrain from speculating,” he said. “So far, what we know is that the escapees only wanted their freedom and it was not because they were unhappy with the camp management,” he said. No serious injuries were reported in the riot early Wednesday, officials said then, adding that security personnel on duty were quickly overwhelmed as 528 people escaped. Two children were among the six later struck and killed on a highway about six km (3.7 miles) away. Most of the escapees have since been captured and taken to a detention facility in Semenyih, Selangor, about 350 kilometers (218 miles) from the place they escaped. “We have taken statements from 420 Rohingya detainees and also took their fingerprints for record. [The riot occurred] probably due to congestion and having been in detention for too long,” Wan Ahmad, the police chief, said Friday. On Wednesday, Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin had said the Rohingya who broke out of the detention center were brought there after being apprehended in Langkawi, off the coast of Kedah, in 2020. But the Kedah police chief on Friday said the main instigator of the unrest had been there three years – and was transferred there from another immigration facility. “He was transported here from Semenyih Depot three years ago,” Wan Ahmad said. “As of now, we believe his main motivation in orchestrating the riot was to create an opening to flee from the depot,” he said of the 34-year-old suspect. Kedah Police Chief Wan Hassan Wan Ahmad (right) and colleagues shows images of four Rohingya men accused of instigating a riot at an immigration depot two days earlier, Bandar Baharu, Kedah, April 22, 2022. Two of the four have been captured. Credit: BenarNews. Hamzah, the home minister, said Thursday that the reason the Rohingya had been detained for more than two years at immigration centers was because the Myanmar government did not recognize them as citizens. “If we want to send them back, where do we want to send them to? This is our problem,” he told reporters. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 saw a sharp rise in negative sentiment toward Rohingya people in Malaysia, with increased hate speech directed at the group. Dozens of NGOs spoke out against the treatment of Rohingya refugees during health-related government round-ups of immigrants and by citizens who took to social media to post views that included threats and dehumanizing language and images. The tragic events on Wednesday drew international attention, along with calls for a probe of what led to the unrest and for transparency about Malaysia’s secretive immigrant detention centers, where people are held indefinitely and incommunicado.  Jerald Joseph, a member of Malaysia’s Human Rights Commission (Suhakam), called on immigration authorities to allow representative from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to meet with the detainees. “The Immigration Department has to give access to UNHCR so they can determine whether the ones detained were really Rohingya. If so, they should be freed like the 150,000 Rohingya who are here in the country,” he said. While Malaysia allows refugees to enter the country, it has not signed the U.N. Refugee Convention. Those caught by the authorities, including children, are often detained in immigration detention centers indefinitely. Close to 1 million Rohingya who have fled persecution in Myanmar are living in crowded refugee camps in southeastern Bangladesh, but many undertake perilous sea journeys in search of a better life in Southeast Asian countries including Malaysia. BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news service.

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Vietnamese journalist serving 5-year sentence loses appeal

Editor04 mins

A Vietnamese journalist who has been serving a five-year sentence for livestreaming videos on hot-button social and political issues lost his appeal of the conviction this week, said his wife, who only learned of the decision days later. Le Trong Hung was arrested on March 27, 2021, after declaring his candidacy for a seat in the country’s National Assembly in a challenge to the ruling Communist Party. He was charged with “creating, storing, disseminating information, materials, items and publications against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.” On Dec. 31, 2021, after a trial that lasted less than four hours, he was sentenced to five years in prison. On Tuesday, authorities watched Hung’s house but didn’t inform her of the appeal, his wife Do Le Na told RFA’s Vietnamese Service. “On April 19, I had no reason to go out of the house, and had no idea that my house was being watched. At 11 a.m., my son came home from school and told me that someone was watching our house,” she said. “After lunch, a friend of Hung’s messaged me to ask if the appellate trial was being held that day,” Na said. Hung’s friend told Na that his house was also under watch on April 19 and a security agent told him that the reason was because Hung’s appellate trial was on that day. Na then searched for news about her husband online but could not find anything. It was not until Friday, when she came to the prison where her husband is being detained, that she was able to confirm news of the trial. Hung, 79, is a former teacher and founder of CHTV Television, which formerly livestreamed videos on controversial social and political issues. He was accused of violating Article 117 of Vietnam’s Penal Code, which has been widely used by authorities to arbitrarily detain journalists and critics. The case against Hung was based on four videos posted to his Facebook page covering sensitive issues, including a deadly Jan. 9, 2020, police crackdown during a land dispute in Dong Tam Commune. Translated by Chau Vu. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Former national immunization director sentenced to 3 years in prison by Myanmar junta

Editor03 mins

The head of the COVID-19 virus vaccination program of Myanmar’s ousted government has been sentenced by the military junta to three years in prison with hard labor for actions to resist the army takeover, according to the country’s Anti-Corruption Commission. Dr. Htar Htar Lin, a former director of Myanmar’s Public Health Department, was arrested in Yangon in June 2021, four months after the army overthrew the elected government, along with other senior medical figures who had acted in support of the Civil Disobedience Movement, a campaign of professionals resisting junta rule with work stoppages and other actions. The physician allegedly ignored ministerial orders when she returned a vaccine and immunization grant of 168 million kyats (U.S. $91,000) from UNICEF and the World Health Organization on Feb. 10, 2021, nine days after the coup, the online journal The Irrawaddy reported Thursday, citing junta-controlled newspapers. The same day, the commission also sentenced retired Dr. Soe Oo, former director-general of public health, to two years in prison for failing to investigate Htar Htar Lin. The junta’s Anti-Corruption Commission set up set up a team on April 20 to investigate Htar Htar Lin and other officials of the Ministry of Health and Sports. Since June 2021, junta authorities have charged Htar Htar Lin with three more charges that carry penalties of up to 20 years in prison, including high treason and incitement and under the Unlawful Associations Act for allegedly assisting the shadow National Unity Government (NUG), which the junta has designated as a terrorist group, The Irrawaddy reported. The military regime has targeted medical professionals, killing some, arresting dozens of others, and driven hundreds more into hiding since it overthrew the elected government more than two years ago, undermining the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, doctors in Myanmar told RFA in a September 2021 report. Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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China military PR video hints at 3rd aircraft carrier launch

Editor09 mins

A newly released military propaganda video suggests that the third aircraft carrier of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could be launched soon, Chinese media and experts said. A six-minute video, produced by the PLA Navy Political Publicity Bureau and the army broadcaster, was posted on Friday. It provides a glimpse into China’s aircraft carrier program and how the PLA carriers and personnel operate. China already has two aircraft carriers in operation, named Liaoning and Shandong. The third is being built and the promotional video seems to give a hint that its launch is imminent. At the end of the video, timed for China’s Navy Day which falls on Saturday, an officer is shown taking a call from his mother who appears to urge him to have “the third child,” to which the man replies: “That’s being arranged.”  The camera then moves to two photos of a carrier’s flight deck – an apparent reference to the first two aircraft carriers – before shifting to a blank screen and closing credits. This bizarre hint nevertheless got some Chinese media excited. The state-run tabloid Global Times wrote: “This is a very clear implication that the country’s third aircraft carrier is coming soon.” The Global Times quoted Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, as saying that the third carrier, known as Type 003, could be launched “in the second half of 2022.” The paper said the carrier may be named Jiangsu, after the province in eastern China. A file photo showing China’s aircraft carrier Liaoning taking part in a military drill of Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy in the western Pacific Ocean, April 18, 2018. Credit: Reuters. Covid lockdown “From the video, it does seem that the third Chinese carrier would be launched in the near future,” said Sheu Jyh-Shyang, a military expert at the Taiwan’s Institute for National Defence and Security Research (INDSR). The U.S. think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a report last November that the launch “could be as soon as February 2022” but it has been delayed several times as China is struggling with the Covid pandemic. Recently severe lockdown measures have been imposed in Shanghai, home of the Jiangnan Shipyard where the Type 003 is being constructed – and where the Covid situation has disrupted shipping and may have caused delays in arrival of components for the vessel. Compared to the first two carriers, the Type 003 appears to be larger, and it has some new important components including catapult systems, used for launching aircraft from the ship.  “It is the first CATOBAR (Catapult Assisted Take-Off Barrier Arrested Recovery) carrier that China has,” said Sheu from INDSR. “CATOBAR carriers have much better capabilities, but they still need to have enough operating experience,” he added. The CSIS report last November also said that after launch, it would still be years before the Type 003 is commissioned into the PLA Navy and achieves initial operating capability. China already has the biggest naval fleet in the world, according to the US Office of Naval Intelligence. But the U.S. has far more aircraft carriers: 11 compared to China’s two. A screengrab from a video to mark China’s Navy Day on April 23, 2022, jointly produced by the Propaganda Bureau of PLA Navy’s Political Department and the official Weibo and WeChat accounts of the Chinese military. Credit: Global Times. Vulnerable as the ‘Moskova’ Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, which is watching China’s military developments closely, said in a report published earlier this year that the Type 003 would enable the PLA Navy to project power past the “first island chain.” The first island chain, conceptualized during the Cold War, commonly refers to the major archipelagos that lie off the East Asian mainland coast. The chain stretches from the Kamchatka Peninsula in the northeast to the Malay Peninsula in the southwest, and includes the territory of U.S. allies Taiwan and the Philippines. Taiwanese observers also pay attention to the PLA’s plan to procure new warplanes for the Type 003. “The first two (aircraft carriers) have only J-15 fighters and maybe some helicopters but the third one may have some airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) KJ-600 aircraft,” military analyst Sheu said. The Xian KJ-600 is said to accurately detect and track other airplanes and so greatly increases the effectiveness of carrier-based combat aircraft. Meanwhile, Taiwanese media have been looking at the sinking of Russia’s flagship “Moskva,” reportedly by Ukrainian Neptune missiles, last week. Russia said it was damaged in an unexplained fire. The missile cruiser Moskva was built in the same Black Sea Shipyard Mykolaiv in Ukraine as China’s first aircraft carrier back in the Soviet days. Beijing bought the ship, then called Varyag, and renamed it to Liaoning. The Liaoning regularly patrols the Taiwan Strait and may be deployed in the event of armed conflict with the self-governing island. China considers Taiwan a breakaway province that shall be united with the mainland. Taiwanese newspaper Liberty Times quoted an analyst as saying that “Taiwan has a bigger and more powerful anti-ship missile arsenal than Ukraine.” The Chinese aircraft carriers could be “as vulnerable as the ‘Moskva’ to Taiwan’s anti-ship missile,” it said.

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Uyghur lecturer sentenced to 13 years, allegedly for writings, foreign connections

Editor06 mins

A Uyghur academic who studied in Germany has been sentenced to 13 years in prison in northwestern China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, according to a security officer at a university where the man worked. The officer who spoke with RFA did not give the reason for the imprisonment of Ababekri Abdureshid, a lecturer at Xinjiang Normal University in Urumqi (in Chinese, Wulumuqi). “He was sentenced for 13 years in prison, I believe,” the security officer said, adding that Abdureshid’s family would know the reasons behind his arrest and imprisonment. “We don’t know anything about this man’s case,” he said. The scholar, who studied for a year as a visiting scholar in Germany in 2012, was apprehended in early 2018 after returning to Xinjiang, according to his friend and former colleague, Husenjan, who now lives in exile in Norway. Husenjan said he heard through social media from sources in Xinjiang that Abdureshid had been sentenced. “I got the news from a very close colleague of Ababekri Abdureshid that he was sentenced to over 10 years in prison,” Husenjan told RFA. “[He] published academic articles on Uyghur culture and literature in both regional and national magazines.” Abdureshid, a university lecturer on philology, the study of languages, faced a difficult choice between staying in Germany or returning to Xinjiang. He decided to return home even though Uyghur higher education had been deteriorating, Husenjan said. When RFA contacted officials at Xinjiang’s Education Bureau for information about Abdureshid’s incarceration, they suggested calling judicial authorities. In an earlier report, RFA confirmed Abdureshid, who had been missing since 2018, was in captivity, although it was unknown whether he had been sentenced to prison. Abdureshid was born in 1981 in Qaraqash (Moyu) county, Hotan (Hetian) prefecture, the second-largest county in Xinjiang by population with more than half a million Uyghurs. He was admitted to the Xinjiang University in 2006 to pursue a master’s degree in modern Uyghur literature. From 2009 to 2012, Abdureshid studied for a doctorate at Minzu University of China in Beijing. During this time, he was a visiting scholar in Germany for a year. While in Germany, Abdureshid once visited Turkey and met with colleagues there to exchange views on research topics, according to Husenjan, who added that the scholar’s connections to colleagues and friends in Germany and Turkey were a further reason for his detention by authorities in Xinjiang. Officials at Xinjiang Normal University have consistently refused to comment on Abdureshid’s imprisonment when contacted by RFA. But a Chinese judicial official in Korla (Kuerle), capital of Bayin’gholin Mongol (Bayinguoleng Menggu) Autonomous Prefecture, told RFA that the Chinese government had sent people who returned from studies in foreign countries to “re-education centers.” After he had returned to Xinjiang, Abdureshid married and began working at the university in 2013. He was interrogated by Chinese police multiple times for refusing to drink alcohol. Chinese authorities have arrested numerous Uyghur intellectuals, businessmen, and cultural and religious figures in Xinjiang as part of a campaign to control members of the mostly Muslim minority group and, purportedly, to prevent religious extremism and terrorist activities. More than 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities are believed to have been held in a network of detention camps in Xinjiang since 2017. Beijing has said that the camps are vocational training centers and has denied widespread and documented allegations that it has mistreated Muslims living in in the region. The purges are among the abusive and repressive Chinese government policies that have been determined by the United States and some legislatures of Western countries as constituting genocide and crimes against humanity against the Uyghurs. Translated by RFA’s Uyghur Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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Hong Kong’s Chinese University evicts student media as PolyU cuts ties with union

Editor09 mins

A Hong Kong university has evicted a student newspaper and radio station, after another cut ties with its student union, amid an ongoing crackdown on freedom of speech on university campuses in the city. The student newspaper and radio station at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), which cut ties with the student union last year after it played a key role in recent pro-democracy protests, “CUHK Campus Radio moved out of Room 302 of the Benjamin Franklin Centre on April 20,” the radio station said in an announcement on its Facebook page on Thursday. “[We] started broadcasting in 1999, 23 years ago, and now we have reached the end,” the statement said. Students running the CUHK Student Press were also told to move out of the club room by university management on the same day, so repairs could be carried out. Asked if they could return after the work was completed, management declined to reply. The newspaper had been running since 1969, and hosted a huge archive of former news and features produced by students, the more historically valuable of which were sifted out and removed by student journalists before they vacated the space, local media reported. No mention was made of the eviction on the paper’s Facebook page, and no stories had been posted since April 20, when the paper reported on a compulsory vaccination program for students. The evictions came after the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) cut ties with its student union. CUHK Campus Radio, which has been evicted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, is the latest casualty in an ongoing crackdown on freedom of speech on university campuses in the city under a draconian national security law imposed by Beijing. Credit: CUHK Campus Radio. Campus protests Both CUHK and PolyU were besieged by riot police during the 2019 protest movement, and saw days of pitched battles between protesters and riot police in November of that year. Rights groups hit out at the Hong Kong police for ‘fanning the flames’ of violence, as desperate protesters were trapped for several days inside the PolyU campus, while hundreds more waged pitched battles with riot police on the streets of Kowloon. The U.S.-based group Human Rights in China condemned police action in and around Poly U as “trapping students, journalists, and first aiders, and reportedly handcuffing the latter group.” “[We] received an email from the Student Affairs Office on the evening of [April] 14 … [in which] the union was officially ordered to drop Hong Kong Polytechnic University from its name,” the Poly U student union said in a Facebook post. “All organizations linked to the union are required to move out of the PolyU campus on or before July 15, 2022,” it said. “The union has been trying to negotiate … with the university for years, but has been unable to reach a consensus,” the statement said. “The university will stop providing all venues and other support [previously] provided to the student union.” The April 15 post called on students to pay attention to the move. “A student union is not just a student organization, but also an expression of collective consciousness,” it said. “We hope PolyU students won’t give up their right to protect themselves.” Meanwhile, the Law Society of Hong Kong served notice on a prominent human rights law firm, which will be forced to close in June after representing an 18-year-old woman who accused several police officers of gang-rape during the 2019 protest movement. Vidler & Co. also represented Indonesian reporter Veby Mega Indah, who lost vision in one eye after being hit by a non-lethal projectile fired by police while covering the protests, although she later terminated her instruction of the firm. Firm founder and senior partner Michael Vidler told RFA he wouldn’t be able to comment on the reasons for the Law Society’s order to cease practicing until June 3, owing to a legal injunction in force until that date. Vidler has also worked with other high-profile Hong Kong dissidents including Joshua Wong, and in 2013 assisted a trans woman — in W V. Registrar of Marriages — to win the right for any transgender person in the city to marry as their affirmed gender. In January, the Education University of Hong Kong became the latest of the city’s universities to cut its student union loose, amid an ongoing clampdown on public speech, under a draconian national security law imposed on the city by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The university said it hadn’t “authorized” the union. Hong Kong student unions have provided various types of activities and benefits for students for decades, receiving funding and premises to do so, as well as participating in the formulation of policy by sending elected representatives to sit on university committees. But since the national security law took effect on July 1, 2020, they have been increasingly criticized by officials and denounced in the CCP-backed media, often a harbinger of official reprisals. Media reports said the University of Hong Kong (HKU), CUHK, City University, Polytechnic University, Lingnan University and Baptist University have all stopped collecting student union dues since the start of the current academic year. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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On the ‘run’ from China

Editor01 mins

China’s zero-COVID policy of mass compulsory testing, stringent lockdowns and digital health codes has sparked an emigration wave. Keyword searches on social media and search engines, as well as immigration lawyers, attest to spiking interest in emigration to Western countries among middle-classes fed up with food shortages, confinement at home, and other intrusive policies. The tide of emigrants has sparked a meme playing on the Chinese character “run” in late supreme leader Mao Zedong’s birth name, Mao Runzhi, and the English word “run.”

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Indonesia wants Chinese lender to fund overrun for high-speed rail line

Editor06 mins

Indonesia will ask the China Development Bank to finance 75 percent of the nearly U.S. $2 billion cost overrun for the construction of a Beijing-backed fast train project linking the capital Jakarta with Bandung, a project official said Thursday. The cost of the rail line, which is now projected to be completed next year, has swelled to nearly $8 billion. The project is part of the Belt and Road Initiative, China’s $1 trillion-plus program to finance and build infrastructure projects across the globe. “Obviously the first one to be offered is CBD [China Development Bank], the lender financing 75 percent of the project,” said Dwiyana Slamet Riyadi, president director of the consortium, PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia China (KCIC), according to a report by Tempo, the Indonesian news outlet. Dwiyana said the Indonesian government had proposed that the same financing structure apply to the cost overrun, with the consortium covering 25 percent.  KCIC is a joint venture of a consortium of four Indonesian state-owned companies – KAI, Wijaya Karya, PTPN VIII, and Jasa Marga – and a consortium of Chinese companies. The Indonesian consortium controls 60 percent of KCIC, while China Railway Engineering Corp. and other Chinese companies control the rest. The 89-mile (143.2-km) Jakarta-Bandung rail line is expected to slash travel time between the Indonesian capital and Bandung from three hours to 40 minutes, officials have said. In January, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said the project was expected to be operational by June 2023. The contractor, meanwhile, said the project was 82 percent complete. Since construction began in 2017, the project has been dogged by criticism about its impacts on surrounding areas as well as concerns about rising costs. On Wednesday, Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi witnessed the laying of the first section of track for the rail link in West Java. Last October, Jokowi decided to allow the government to share the cost of the railway project, contradicting an earlier pledge and decree in 2015 that prohibited the use of state funds for its construction. A presidential spokesman said Jokowi’s directive would allow the project to be completed. A month later, the finance minister told a parliamentary panel that the government had decided to inject 4.3 trillion rupiah ($299 million) into the project. Critics had expressed concern that the move could deplete state coffers and lead Indonesia into a debt trap. Yusuf Rendy Manilet, an economist at the Indonesian Center for Reform of Economics, a private think-tank, said renegotiating funding for the project is necessary. “The government should also look at whether the risks [to state coffers] remain the same or there are adjustments or additional risks,” Yusuf told BenarNews. The economist said potential overruns should have been agreed upon during the project’s planning stage. “This needs to be especially noted considering that China will become one of Indonesia’s main economic partners in the next few years,” Yusuf said. Now, the government and other stakeholders need to recalculate the cost because of the overrun, he said. Knock-on effects from capital move In February, the consortium said the high-speed rail service was expected to become profitable 40 years after completion – not 20 as earlier projected – partly because plans to move the national capital from Jakarta to Borneo could sharply reduce the number of riders. Moving the seat of government away would cut the projected number of passengers using the railway connecting Jakarta to Bandung in West Java nearly in half because many government employees are expected to relocate to the new capital, a company spokesman said. An AidData study released last year noted that Indonesia owes $17.28 billion in “hidden debt” to China, more than four times its $3.90 billion in reported sovereign debt. Nearly 70 percent of China’s overseas lending is directed to state-owned companies and private-sector institutions and the debts, for the most part, do not appear on government balance sheets, said the U.S.-based international development research lab. BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news service.

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