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Arakan Army takes fight to Myanmar’s western command in bid to control Rakhine state

Editor6 months ago06 mins

Read RFA coverage of this topic in Burmese. Arakan rebels are fighting within the borders of the junta’s Western Military Command headquarters in Myanmar’s Rakhine state after having taken control of nearby Ann township last week, residents said Tuesday. The Arakan Army, or AA, is fighting for self-determination in Myanmar’s western-most state and has made unprecedented progress over the past year, pushing forces loyal to the junta that seized power in 2021 into a few pockets of territory. On Nov. 30, the AA seized the junta’s last military posts in Ann’s Myo Thit, Lay Yin Kwin, Aut Ywar and Ah Hta Ka neighborhoods, taking complete control of the town, which lies 220 kilometers (135 miles) west of Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw. By Tuesday, AA fighters had penetrated the headquarters of the junta in Rakhine state and the military has responded with aerial strikes and troop reinforcements, a resident of Ann told RFA Burmese. “The AA is now able to break into the western command headquarters and is calling on the remaining troops in the junta’s western command to surrender,” said the resident who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns. RELATED STORIES Myanmar’s Arakan Army captures Ann town, focus now on army HQ EXPLAINED: What is Myanmar’s Arakan Army? A year after offensive, rebels control most of Myanmar’s Rakhine state Another resident, who is familiar with the ongoing conflict and also declined to be named, told RFA that junta troops were advancing to the headquarters along the 150-kilometer (93-mile) road connecting Ann northeast to Minbu township “in large numbers,” and had taken up defensive positions along Chinese infrastructure projects. On Nov. 20, the AA captured the town of Toungup in the center of the state, which is on a road hub including a link to the the Kyaukpyu economic zone on the coast, where China is funding a deep-sea port, and has energy facilities including natural gas and oil pipelines running to southern China. Beijing threw its support behind the junta shortly after the 2021 coup and Senior General Min Aung Hlaing’s regime has vowed to protect Chinese interests in Myanmar amid the country’s nearly four-year civil war. Reinforcements en route Meanwhile, residents said that a junta column of about 200 troops is advancing west towards Ann along the road that links it to neighboring Magway region’s Padan township. All the while, the military has been resupplying its troops in the Western Command headquarters with weapons and other supplies by air, they said. Last week, when the AA took control of Ann, sources told RFA that only a few residents had remained in the township and the AA had taken them to safety, leaving the town empty. Attempts by RFA to contact Hla Thein, the junta’s attorney general for Rakhine state, about the fighting in Ann township went unanswered Tuesday, as did efforts to reach AA spokesperson Khaing Thu Kha. The AA, which largely draws its support from Rakhine’s Buddhist majority, has made steady advances over the past year, from the state’s far north on the border with Bangladesh, through central areas to its far south, and it now controls about 80% of it. On Dec. 6, the AA announced that it had taken control of all of the junta’s more than 30 camps in Rakhine, except for the Western Military Command headquarters. Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Myanmar to organize election in fewer than half of townships, parties say

Editor6 months ago6 months ago06 mins

Myanmar is expected to organize an election next year in fewer than half of its 330 townships in the first phase of a staggered vote, a political party official said on Tuesday, with an insurgency by anti-junta forces likely to prevent the polls from opening in large parts of the country. The generals who seized power in 2021 are hoping that an election will legitimize their rule and please neighbors, including China. The junta’s opponents say a vote under the military, with the most popular politicians locked up and their parties banned, will be a sham. More than 6,000 people have been killed in Myanmar’s war since the coup and some 21,000 have been jailed, U.N. experts said last week, calling on governments around the world to reject the junta’s election plan. No date has been set for the vote but it is expected this year. The chairman of the Election Commission, Ko Ko, met representatives of political parties in the capital, Naypyidaw, on the weekend to outline arrangements, said Myo Set Thway, general secretary of the People’s Pioneer Party. “He’s saying elections will just be held in places that are already safe and trusted,” Myo Set Thway, who attended the meeting, told Us. He cited the commission chairman as saying voting would be held in 161 of the 330 townships. Myo Set Thway did not say which townships would vote first but large parts of the country, including some central areas, have been rocked by fighting over the past year. Insurgents controlled at least 86 towns as of November, said the Burma News International’s Myanmar Peace Monitor. “He’ll hold the next elections in places that can be made secure, that was the connotation,” Myo Set Thway said, referring to the chairman. A spokesperson for the Election Commission could not immediately be reached for comment. China, with energy pipelines and other economic interests in Myanmar, supports the election and has been pressing ethnic minority insurgents to talk peace with the junta. Votes for the displaced In Myanmar’s last election in 2020, voting was held in 315 out of the 330 townships. The party led by democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi swept that vote, as it did in 2015. The army complained of cheating in 2020 and overthrew Suu Kyi’s government on Feb. 1, 2021. She has been jailed for 27 years. Authorities have effectively barred many parties from the vote, including Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, but 53 have registered, said Ko Ko. Voting will likely take place in Mon state and the Thanintharyi region in the south, Yangon and the Mandalay and Ayeyarwaddy regions, where the military retains strongholds, analysts say. A party leader from war-torn Rakhine state said people displaced by fighting had to be able to vote. “The Election Commission must protect the rights of internally displaced people fleeing from the military and sheltering in areas outside their scope,” said Aye Maung, chairman of the Arakan Front party. The U.N. says more than 3 million people have been displaced by the fighting and by flooding this year. Neighbors will be hoping an election can help to bring stability to resource-rich Myanmar. Thailand, China and India have discussed support for a census now underway and the vote. Edited by Kiana Duncan. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Cambodian journalist who reported on illegal logging dies from gunshot wound

Editor6 months ago6 months ago04 mins

A Cambodian reporter who was shot last week while investigating a forest-clearing operation in a wildlife sanctuary has died from his wounds, his wife told us. Chhoeung Chheng, 63, was shot on Dec. 4 as he rode on a motorbike toward the Boeung Per Wildlife Sanctuary in Siem Reap province. He was taken to Siem Reap Provincial Hospital, where doctors removed a bullet from his abdomen, according to his wife, Chiev Chap. However, doctors were unable to stop the bleeding and he died early Saturday, she told. Chhoeung Chheung, who worked as a journalist for online news outlet Kampuchea Aphivath, had previously reported on the destruction of natural resources in a community forest in the sanctuary. He was shot by unknown persons believed to have been hiding along the road, Chiev Chap told Ij-Reportika last week, citing a conversation with her husband. Police have arrested a suspect on attempted murder charges and have said they believe the shooting stemmed from a personal dispute. Siem Reap provincial court spokesperson Yin Srang told us on Saturday that the suspect has been placed under pre-trial detention. Journalists killed in Cambodia It’s been several years since a journalist has been shot in Cambodia, Nop Vy, executive director for the Cambodian Journalists Alliance Association, or Camboja, told us Khmer last week. Since 1994, at least 15 journalists have been killed in the country, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights said in a statement in October. Twelve of them were working on stories that could have posed a direct threat to powerful Cambodians, the center said. In 2014, journalist Traing Try was fatally shot in northeastern Kratie province as he was traveling with other reporters to investigate illegal logging in the region. “This murder is appalling and demands a strong response,” said Cédric Alviani, the Asia-Pacific bureau director of Paris-based Reporters Without Borders. “We call on Cambodian authorities to ensure that all parties responsible for the attack are severely punished,” he said in a statement. “We also urge the Cambodian government to take concrete actions to end violence against journalists.” Chhoeung Chheng was a person with sound character who always maintained good relations with his neighbors, Chiev Chap said. She urged authorities to sentence the offender to the fullest extent. “How can I accept this murder case? I saw him walking daily in front of me,” she said. “It is really unfair. I don’t know what else to do except to depend on competent authorities.” We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Myanmar rebels capture last military post on Bangladesh border

Editor6 months ago6 months ago06 mins

Ethnic minority insurgents have captured the last Myanmar military position on the border with Bangladesh after its defenders, including pro-junta militiamen from the mostly Muslim Rohingya community, abandoned the post and fled, the rebel group and residents said. The Arakan Army, or AA, which is fighting for self-determination in Rakhine state, seized the military stronghold known as Border Guard Post No. 5 near the town of Maungdaw on Sunday, the group said. “The Arakan army successfully captured and neutralized the last remaining outpost … in the Maungdaw region,” it said in a statement. Junta forces and members of Rohingya militia raised by the junta to battle the AA were trying to flee across the Naf River, which forms the border with Bangladesh, “using motorboats and canoes” and launching attacks as they did so, the AA said. “Clashes are still occurring … Therefore, due to military necessities and public security concerns, all river transportation in the Naf River will be indefinitely suspended,” the group said. Residents of Maungdaw said they were worried about the possibility of a navy boat operating offshore opening fire in retaliation for the AA’s capture of the position. “The AA has captured the entire border with Bangladesh,” said one resident who declined to be identified for safety reasons. “There’s still one junta navy ship … we need to keep that in mind, they can still shoot pretty far with their cannon.” The junta that seized power with the ouster of an elected government in February 2021 has been pushed back by insurgents in several parts of the country over the past year, raising questions about the sustainability of military rule. The capture of the entire border with Bangladesh by one of Myanmar’s most powerful insurgents armies comes days after ethnic minority Kachin insurgents in northern Myanmar, seized control of all of the border with China where its forces operate. ‘Commander captured’ A source close to the AA said the commander of military operations in the area, Brig. Thurein Tun, was among junta forces captured as they were trying to flee after the fall of the base. “He was arrested last night on the road that goes down to the river along with his personal staff, majors, captains and senior police officers,” said the source, who also declined to be identified. RFA tried to telephone the AA spokesperson, Khaing Thu Kha, and the junta spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, to ask them about the situation but neither answered calls. Rohingya militia men from groups such as the Rohingya Solidarity Organization, Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army and Arakan Rohingya Army, were among the pro-jutna forces that fled, the AA said. AA fighters were on Monday searching for fleeing junta forces along the Ah Leh Than Kyaw Beach and in various waterways, residents said. The AA draws its support from the state’s Buddhist majority and has a fraught relationship with members of the Muslim minority, particularly since the junta started recruiting Rohingya this year into militias to battle the AA. Human rights investigators said the AA was responsible for killing scores of Rohingya civilians trying to flee from Maungdaw to Bangladesh on Aug. 5, when they were attacked with drones and artillery as the AA intensified its campaign to capture the town. The AA denied responsibility. The AA controls about 80% of Rakhine state – 10 of its 17 townships and one in neighboring Chin state. In townships it does not control, it has pinned junta forces into pockets of territory, such as the state capital, Sittwe, a military headquarters in the town of Ann and the Kyaukpyu economic zone on the coast where China has energy facilities and wants to build a deep-sea port. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Is Laos actually tackling its vast scam Industry?

Editor6 months ago04 mins

In early August, the authorities in Laos delivered an ultimatum to scammers operating in the notorious Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone: Clear out or face the consequences. On Aug. 12, the Lao police, supported by their Chinese counterparts, swooped in. Some 711 people were arrested during the first week. Another 60 Lao and Chinese nationals were arrested by the end of the month, and more arrests have been made since. The way Vientiane frames it, Laos is now getting tough on the vast cyber-scamming industry that has infested much of mainland Southeast Asia. In Laos, the sector could be worth as much as the equivalent of 40 percent of the formal economy, according to a United States Institute of Peace report earlier this year. The think tank estimated that criminal gangs could be holding as many as 85,000 workers in slave-like conditions in compounds in Laos. People in Laos tell me there is some truth to Vientiane’s assertions. This might have been why Laos was downgraded to Tier 2 on the U.S. State Department’s annual human trafficking ranking in July, while Myanmar and Cambodia were downgraded to the lower Tier 3. According to one expert, “Laos is taking this issue more seriously than Cambodia and has more capacity to respond than Myanmar.” An apparent call center in Laos is raided by authorities, Aug. 9, 2024. However, Vientiane would care if scammers are now merely set up shop elsewhere in Laos. One source tells me that they are already embedding themselves in the capital and near the Laos-China border. Depending on how things play out, Laos might end up with a diffuse scam industry that’s structured a lot more like Cambodia’s — and which is far harder to dismantle. Dispersing the scam compounds means increasing contacts between the criminals and officials from other provinces. Less sophisticated syndicates mean more of the scamming profits stay in-country, laundered through the local economy, infecting everything. Narco-states like Mexico and Colombia have learned the brutal lesson that it’s simpler to deal with an illegal industry run by one dominant cartel, even one you have to tolerate, rather than a scorched-earth free-for-all between many warring factions. Possibly, a similar impulse may be why Vientiane seemingly wants to push Zhao and his associates enough for some smaller operators to flee the country, but not enough that the Golden Triangle SEZ collapses. David Hutt is a research fellow at the Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS) and the Southeast Asia Columnist at the Diplomat. He writes the Watching Europe In Southeast Asia newsletter. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the position of RFA. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

INTERVIEW: An Ex-FBI agent helps unravel the mysteries of a spy swap

Editor6 months ago6 months ago08 mins

A secret deal between the US and China announced in November allowed Chinese nationals to be freed in exchange for the release of several Americans imprisoned in China. One of the Chinese nationals who was freed, Xu Yanjun, had been serving a 20-year sentence. He had worked for China’s Ministry of State Security. One of the Americans in China, John Leung, reportedly an FBI informant, had been held in prison for three years. Two other Americans, Kai Li, also accused of providing information to the F.B.I., and Mark Swidan, a Texas businessman, were freed at the same time. In addition, Ayshem Mamut, the mother of human-rights activist Nury Turkel, and the two other Uyghurs were allowed to leave China. They all traveled on the same plane to the United States. Holden Triplett, the co-founder of a risk-management consultancy, Trenchcoat Advisors, has served as the head of the FBI office in Beijing and as director of counterintelligence at the National Security Council. Here, he weighs in on the high-stakes game of exchanging spies. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Interviewer: Spy swaps have a long history. What was it like in the past? Holden Triplett: During the Cold War, there were a lot of spy swaps. It’s kind of a normal way of interacting between two rival powers. But it was always Russia, or the Soviet Union, and the United States. It’s not something that China had typically engaged in in the past. Interviewer: Why would China, or any country, be interested in a spy swap? Holden Triplett: China would be very interested in getting back the individuals who’d worked for them. The longer they’re in prison in the U.S., the more chance they’re going to divulge information about what they’ve done. Also, the Chinese want to be able to say to the people who work for them, ‘Hey, we may put you in dangerous situations. But, don’t worry, if anything happens, we’ll get you back home.’ The down side for the Chinese, of course, is that it’s an implicit acknowledgement of what they’ve been doing. In the past, they’ve denied that they’re [engaged in espionage]. Interviewer: And for the U.S? Holden Triplett: The idea is the same; We get our spies back. It’s more of a game, I guess you could say. There’s a bit more protection for spies than for others. They get arrested, but they don’t serve time. And so, spying on each other is made into a regularized affair. My concern is that the Chinese say, ‘Now that we’ve established this kind of exchange, people for people, now all we need to know to do now is pick up some more Americans and arrest them.’ Then, the Chinese can try and bargain with the U.S. for their release. We’ve already seen that in Russia with Brittney Griner [an American basketball player who was imprisoned in Russia]. Look at who the Russians got back – Viktor Bout [a Russian arms dealer found guilty of conspiring to kill Americans]. The Russians have wanted him for decades. Nothing against Ms. Griner, but that is a pretty easy decision-making process. They pick up somebody who has star power, and they can get someone they want back. If China’s gotten that message, then Americans should be concerned about going to China. They could become a chip in a larger geopolitical game. There’s a possibility that they could get arrested and end up in a nightmare jail. Interviewer: Well, they say you’re not supposed to negotiate with – Holden Triplett: – with terrorists. Look, I think the U.S. is in a really difficult place. There’s pressure on the U.S. government from the families to get them back. Interviewer: Several Uyghurs were also released. What is the significance of that? Holden Triplett: I would assume the Chinese got something for this. They’re very transactional. They’re not doing something for the good of the relationship between the U.S. and China. Interviewer: It didn’t seem as though John Leung, who’d been held in a Chinese prisoner, was an important asset for the FBI. What do you think was behind this? Holden Triplett: I don’t know what role he played for the FBI, or even if that’s true. But regardless, the message from the bureau is: Don’t worry. Even if you’re doing dangerous work, we will protect you. We will come and get you. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative ReportsDaily ReportsInterviews Surveys Reportika

Lao teen says she’s been released from Chinese scam center in Myanmar

Editor6 months ago04 mins

A young woman who was forced to work at a Chinese-run scam center in Myanmar for two years is now in Thailand and expects to return to Laos soon. Last week, Radio Free Asia reported that the woman, who withheld her name out of fear of reprisals, was one of several Laotians trafficked to work as scammers at a place called “Casino Kosai” in an isolated development near the town of Myawaddy in Kayin state. Casino Kosai is in an area near the Thai border where ethnic Karen rebels have been engaged in intense fighting with military junta troops in recent months. It was unclear exactly how the young woman, who just turned 19, had gained her release, but her mother said that scam center operators had agreed to let her go. “It is the happiest moment in my life as soon as I heard from my daughter that the Chinese bosses would release her,” her mother said. “She was preparing to pack her belongings and the car would come to pick her up.” The woman told Radio Free Asia that she faced beatings whenever she failed to scam potential victims. “The Chinese bosses hit me and torture me every day,” she said in a text message. “Why isn’t anybody coming to help me?” The woman’s mother said her daughter was initially promised a factory job in Thailand, but was later sold to the Chinese scam gang and brought to Myanmar. She said her daughter told her about the abuse at the scam center and about working up to 19 hours a day. “I have no idea what to do to bring my daughter back home,” said the mother. “The Chinese bosses use cattle prods to torture her if she doesn’t do her job well.” The young woman told RFA Lao in a voice message that she arrived in Mae Sot on Wednesday, adding that she was unsure when she would continue on to Laos. On Friday, the woman told RFA that she was staying at a police station in Thailand’s Mae Sot district. RFA Lao spoke about the woman’s case with an official from the Lao Ministry of Public Security, who said that rescuing people from scam centers in areas in Myanmar that are not under junta control “is very difficult,” adding that there was little the Lao government could do about the situation. RFA was unable to reach Thai police in Mae Sot to ask for more information. Translated by Phouvong. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Dissident US monk faces terrorism charge in Myanmar

Editor6 months ago06 mins

Read RFA coverage of this topic in Burmese. A Myanmar court has charged a dissident Buddhist monk, who is also a U.S. citizen, with terrorism, which carries a sentence of up to life in prison, as well as other charges used by the military to crush dissent, sources said on Friday. Pinnya Jawta, the 60-year-old abbot of a monastery in Buffalo, New York, returned to Myanmar in November on a religious visit. A former political prisoner, he took part in anti-military protests in 2007 known as the Saffron Revolution, and in earlier activism against military rule. Senior monks appointed by the authorities to oversee the Buddhist clergy had ordered him to disrobe, so he appeared in the Mingaladon court in Myanmar’s main city of Yangon in ordinary clothes on Thursday to hear the charges, a lawyer observing the case said. “Depending on the circumstances of the case, section 50-J is punishable by a minimum of 10 years up to a life sentence,” said the lawyer, referring to the most serious charge levelled, which is used against those suspected of funding, organizing or participating in terrorism or harboring terrorists. He was also charged under section 505-A of the Penal Code, which is an incitement charge used to punish anyone deemed to have encouraged members of the civil service or security forces to mutiny, said the lawyer, who declined to be identified in fear or reprisals by the authorities. It has been used against numerous opponents of military rule since the generals ousted an elected government in February 2021. The third charge was under section 66-D of the Communications Act, which covers defamation. Rights groups say the law is incompatible with international human rights law and standards and is used to limit freedom of speech. Since the monk did not have a lawyer, he was not able to defend himself at Thursday’s hearing, the lawyer said. The U.S. embassy in Myanmar did not immediately respond to a request for comment. RELATED STORIES Rubio as US top diplomat could be a win for Southeast Asian human rights International criminal court seeks arrest warrant for Myanmar junta chief Junta chief vows to complete Myanmar census by year-end — then hold elections Myanmar has been in turmoil since the long-ruling military ended a decade of reform in 2021 and ousted an elected government led by democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi. She and hundreds of political colleagues and supporters have been locked up while democracy activists have taken up arms and joined ethnic minority insurgent groups battling the military. U.N. experts said on Monday the world must pay more attention to Myanmar’s civil war and work harder to deny the military junta access to the weapons it has used to carry out a reign of violent terror against its civilian population. Military intelligence officers arrested Pinnya Jawta in Yangon on Nov. 13. He was later transferred to the city’s infamous Insein Prison, sources close to him told RFA. “I know he’s being detained in a cell block at Insein, not a big one,” one of the sources said. “He’s around 60 and he’s also suffering from diabetes.” He entered the country on a religious visa issued by the Myanmar embassy in the United States, they said. The Yangon region’s junta spokesperson, Htay Aung, told RFA he did not know about the case. Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by RFA Staff. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Activists tell US Congress of China’s far-reaching cultural erasure

Editor7 months ago012 mins

WASHINGTON – A campaign by China’s government to rewrite the cultural identity and history of the country’s minority ethnic groups and political dissidents is increasingly being waged on American shores, activists told a U.S. congressional hearing on Thursday. The Tibetan, Uyghur, Mongolian and Chinese activists said that while the United States once stood as a bastion of free speech and a redoubt of cultural preservation for groups targeted by the Chinese Communist Party, many now feared Beijing’s extensive reach. Rishat Abbas, the president of the U.S.-based Uyghur Academy, told the hearing of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China that his sister Gulshan had been jailed in China on a 20-year sentence due to his and other family member’s anti-government activism abroad. RELATED STORIES Students banned from speaking Tibetan in Sichuan schools Hong Kongers self-censor out of fear, says sacked Tiananmen scholar US officials call for release of detained retired Uyghur doctor The U.S. government says China’s government is carrying out a “genocide” against the mostly Muslium Uyghur minority in the country’s far-west. Many Uyghurs abroad actively campaign to end the genocide and to do what they can to preserve their language and culture. But many look to the treatment of the family members, still trapped in China, of those Uyghurs who choose to speak out, and decide it’s safer not to provoke the Chinese Communist Party, even from abroad. “My sister’s imprisonment is a clear action of retaliation,” he said. “Her detention exposes the CCP’s aggressive policies that target Uyghurs simply for their identity and for the activism of their relatives abroad.” “She has never engaged in any form of advocacy in her life,” he said. Abbas said he was nonetheless not deterred, and hoped to one day bring a Uyghur-language textbook developed in the United States back to China’s Xinjiang region, where Uyghurs live under surveillance. Lawfare It’s not only Uyghur immigrants who have been targeted. In years gone by, American higher education institutions like Stanford University fearlessly curated U.S.-based historical archives about events censored by the Chinese government, said Julian Ku, a constitutional law professor at New York’s Hofstra University. But things have changed. Ku pointed to a lawsuit brought in the United States by the Beijing-based widow of the late Li Rui – a former secretary to Mao Zedong and later dissident who donated diaries to Stanford. Stanford says Li Rui donated the diaries through his daughter, fearing that they would be destroyed by Chinese officials if left in China. But Li Rui’s widow says they are rightfully hers and wants them returned. The widow, Ku explained, was inexplicably being represented by “some of the most expensive law firms in the United States,” and had likely already racked up legal fees in the “hundreds of thousands of dollars – and probably more – on a widow’s Chinese state pension.” Describing the tactic as “lawfare,” he suggested that the widow had powerful backers funding the battle, who may not even care if the litigation is ultimately successful. The nearly four years of costly legal battles sent a message to other U.S. universities, museums or nonprofits to avoid any contentious documents that might attract the attention of Beijing, Ku said. “They might think, ‘Well, maybe I don’t want to acquire that one, because it might subject me to litigation in China and maybe litigation here in the United States,” he said. “It serves as a deterrence for universities, museums and other institutions in the United States.” Living in fear Like Uyghurs, many ethnically Han Chinese in America also fear speaking out against Beijing even while in the United States, said Rowena He, a historian of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing who was last year banned from entering Hong Kong. “It’s very difficult to not to be emotional being in this room again because I remember 5-10 years ago, when I was first invited to testify to Congress,” He recalled. “I was extremely hesitant, because I was so concerned about my family members, and I was so worried.” “I lived with fear ever since the day I started teaching and researching the topic of Tiananmen,” she explained, citing the “taboo” around the topic in China, where the massacre is not openly acknowledged. She said increased funding for curriculums with alternate Chinese histories to the one put forward by Beijing could be one way to counter the “monopoly on historiography” held by China’s government. “If you go to Chinatown, many people are still supporting the CCP, even though they’re physically in the United States,” He said, noting that figures like herself were denigrated as anti-government. “Sometimes people call us ‘underground historians,’ but I do not like the term ‘underground,’” she said. “We are the historians.” Government funding Geshe Lobsang Monlam, a Tibetan monk who authored a 223-volume Tibetan dictionary and helps lead efforts to preserve Tibetan language outside of China, said one of the main obstacles for Tibetans outside China outside of pressure from Beijing was finding needed funds. “Inside Tibet, the young Tibetans have appeared powerless in their ability to preserve and promote their language,” the monk said, pointing to concerted efforts to erase use of the Tibetan language as young Tibetans grow proficient in using Mandarin through smartphones. “If there can be assistance by the United States to help procure technological equipment that can enable those of us in exile to continue our work on preservation of Tibetan culture and language and way of life … that would be very useful for us,” he explained. Temulun Togochog, a 17-year-old U.S.-born Southern Mongolian activist, similarly appealed for more funding for cultural preservation. Temulun Togochog,17, U.S.-born Southern Mongolian activist testifies before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Dec. 5, 2024. Togochog said while the decreased global focus on the plight of Mongolians in China had allowed her family in the United States to openly teach her about Mongolian culture and their native language with little fear of reprisal, resources were few and far between. Mongolians living in China’s Inner Mongolia…

Myanmar’s Arakan Army captures Ann town, focus now on army HQ

Editor7 months ago06 mins

Insurgents in Myanmar’s Rakhine state have captured the military’s last posts in Ann town and have turned their attention to a nearby army headquarters, residents said on Tuesday, another major step in the rebels’ aim to control the entire state. The Arakan Army, or AA, is fighting for self-determination in Myanmar’s western-most state and has made unprecedented progress over the past year, pushing forces loyal to the junta that seized power in 2021 into a few pockets of territory. Residents of Ann, which is 220 km (135 miles) west of the capital, Naypyidaw, said the AA had seized the junta’s last posts in the Myo Thit, Lay Yin Kwin, Aut Ywar and Ah Hta Ka neighborhoods by Saturday, taking complete control of the town. “The Arakan Army has captured the entire town except the Western Command headquarters,‘’ one resident told Radio Free Asia. “Junta forces from their battalion areas captured by AA have gone to gather at the headquarters and are defending there,” said the resident, who declined to be identified for safety reasons. The military had fired at the advancing insurgents, setting fires in some of the town’s neighborhoods but the extent of the damage was not known, said the resident, adding he had no information about casualties in the fighting. AA fighters were now trying to seize the military headquarters on the southern side of Ann, where the defenders were being supported by extensive airstrikes, residents said. “The junta is protecting the Western Command day and night with massive firing from the air,” said the resident, who declined to be identified for safety reasons. Only a few civilians had remained in Ann and the AA had taken them to safety so the town was now empty, the resident said. “There are people staying in the forest in shelters they’ve made waiting to go home if the situation improves,” the resident said. RFA tried to telephone AA spokesperson Khing Thukha, as well as military council spokesman Hla Thein to ask about the situation but neither of them answered phone calls. RELATED STORIES EXPLAINED: What is Myanmar’s Arakan Army? A year after offensive, rebels control most of Myanmar’s Rakhine state Myanmar rebels capture town on main road to Chinese-built port The AA, which largely draws its support from the state’s Buddhist majority, has made steady advances over the past year, from the state’s far north on the border with Bangladesh, through central areas to its far south, and it now controls about 80% of it. On Nov. 20, the insurgents captured the town of Toungup in the centre of the state, which is on a road hub including a link to the the Kyaukpyu economic zone on the coast, where China is funding a deep-sea port, and has energy facilities including natural gas and oil pipelines running to southern China. Residents said that AA was attacking the military’s Number 5 Operation Command headquarters, to the south of Toungup on the road to the town of Thandwe. In the far south of the state, fighting is getting closer to the junta-controlled town of Gwa township, residents there said. The AA has fully captured 10 of Rakhine state’s 17 townships as well as Paletwa township in neighboring Chin state. Edited by RFA Staff We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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