Day: August 16, 2021

Police in western China’s Qinghai province stopped a group of Tibetans traveling on the road in a random search on Sunday, pushing one who objected to the search into a river where he later died, and shooting another who attempted to intervene, Tibetan sources said.

Rigdrak, 50, and Sherab Gyatso, 26, were returning to Domda village in the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture with a group of other motorists when they were stopped on the road by Chinese police dressed in plain clothes, a Tibetan living in the area told RFA on Monday.

“Neither of them was aware that the officers carrying out the inspection were actually police, so Rigdrak confronted one of the officers, demanding to know which department he belonged to and why they were being stopped and searched” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“Enraged, the officer pushed Rigdrak off the road and into the Drichu River,” the source said, using the Tibetan name for the Yangtse River, which originates in the highlands of Tibet.

“Local Tibetans later searched for Rigdrak’s body in the river but never found him,” he said, adding that Rigdrak is survived by his wife, named Sangmo, and by two daughters.

A passenger named Sherab Gyatso, who has five family members in Domda, also confronted police and was shot, but is now being treated at a local hospital and is out of danger, the source said.

Random searches

Chinese authorities have been conducting random searches of Tibetans in the Yushu area, also called Kyegudo, since July, paying particular attention to social media and messaging apps on mobile phones, sources said in earlier reports.

On Aug. 8, police arrested three men for sharing photos on social media amid tightened security put in place for the 70^th anniversary of the founding of Yushu prefecture, one source in Yushu said.

Identified as Rinchen Dorje and Kelsang Nyima from Domda village, and Lhundup from Dza Sershul, the men were detained by police conducting random inspections in the area, the source said, adding that the men were charged with sharing photos of local events on the WeChat social media platform with Tibetans living in exile.

Police deployed to Kyegudo town’s market square conducted inspections during anniversary events, and streets and playgrounds were also put under surveillance, the source said.

China has imposed strict communication clampdowns in Tibet and Tibetan areas of western Chinese provinces aimed at stopping the flow of news about protests or other politically sensitive information to Tibetans living exile and other outside contacts, sources say.

Formerly an independent nation, Tibet was invaded and incorporated into China by force 70 years ago.

Chinese authorities maintain a tight grip on the region, restricting Tibetans’ political activities and peaceful expression of cultural and religious identity, and subjecting Tibetans to persecution, torture, imprisonment, and extrajudicial killings.

Reported by Sangyal Kunchok for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Tenzin Delek. Written in English by Richard Finney.

China stands poised to take part in post-war reconstruction in Afghanistan after U.S. troops ended a 20-year occupation, leaving the capital Kabul to be taken over by the Taliban, state media reported on Monday.

State news agency Xinhua reported the Taliban’s claim on Monday that the war in Afghanistan was over after its fighters entered Kabul, accusing the United States of “irresponsibly withdrawing troops” given the “inadequacy of the Afghan government.”

It also reported that President Ashraf Ghani had left the country, as the evacuation of U.S. personnel left several people dead amid panicked scenes at Kabul airport.

It said the main reason for the Taliban’s victory was the failure of U.S. policy in Afghanistan, saying the Taliban had adopted the “correct political strategy,” in describing the Afghan government as a puppet regime and refusing to negotiate with its officials in bilateral talks.

“During the past 20 years, the United States has poured more than U.S.$88 billion to support Afghan government forces, and yet they were defeated under the onslaught of the poorly equipped Taliban fighters,” the Xinhua article said.

The report came as scores of Afghans ran alongside a U.S. military plane as it taxied on a runway at Kabul’s airport, clinging to the side in an apparent attempt to flee the Taliban-controlled capital. Some later fell, presumed dead.

Xinhua also shared the footage, which was published by Afghanistan’s largest private broadcaster, Tolo news.

Meanwhile, at least five people were killed amid chaotic scenes including at least one stampede at the airport, with U.S. soldiers firing “warning shots” to stop people from boarding flights intended for U.S. personnel, Reuters reported.

Videos and photos posted on social media showed hundreds of civilians invading the airport’s runway, jostling to climb stairs onto overhead gangways and sitting on the top of passenger jets in the hope of getting a flight out, the agency said.

Chinese troops unlikely

China’s Global Times newspaper, a nationalistic tabloid with close ties to ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) mouthpiece the People’s Daily, said China was unlikely to send in its own troops, as some have speculated.

“The most China can do is … contribute to post-war reconstruction and development, pushing forward projects under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) when safety and stability are restored in the war-torn country,” the paper said.

It said any humanitarian problems in the wake of the U.S. pullout should be resolved by Washington, not Beijing.

“Many netizens worldwide compared the current situation with the US evacuation from Saigon (now called Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam in 1975, to mock the U.S. failure and pointless military actions in the developing world,” the article said.

It quoted a Chinese internet user as saying in an online comment: “Those U.S. soldiers died for nothing, the Taliban is back, and the only change is that more people have died and U.S. taxpayers have wasted their money to feed the US military-industrial tycoons.”

Both Xinhua and the Global Times — both of which are whitelisted publications under the CCP’s hierarchy of approved news copy and commentary — quoted Zhu Yongbiao, director of the center of Afghanistan Studies at Lanzhou University.

Zhu said the Taliban hadn’t yet sparked a major humanitarian crisis and seemed “not too bad so far.”

“There are some accusations against the Taliban, but we didn’t see hard evidence yet,” Zhu was quoted as saying.

“The current situation is a mess for the U.S., and will impact countries in the region, and then the impact will come to us [China],” the Global Times quoted Zhu as saying. “If the Taliban gains immediate control of the whole country and brings about stability, this would not be bad news.”

High-level contacts

The Global Times said Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi had met with a Taliban delegation in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin on July 28, 2021.

The head of the Taliban’s political commission Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar told Wang that Taliban “will never allow any force to use the Afghan territory to engage in acts detrimental to China.”

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China hopes the Taliban can actually implement its promise of a smooth transition of power.

“China has maintained contact and communication with the Taliban and played a constructive role in promoting the political settlement of the Afghan issue,” Hua said on Monday, citing the July 28 meeting in Tianjin.

“The Taliban has said on multiple occasions that they hope to build sound relations with China, that they look forward to China’s participation in Afghanistan’s reconstruction and development, and that they will never allow any force to use the Afghan territory to engage in acts detrimental to China,” Hua said. “We welcome those statements.”

“The Chinese ambassador to Afghanistan and the diplomatic staff there are remaining at their posts and carrying out their duties,” she said. “Most Chinese citizens have safely returned to China with the help of the embassy.”

“We hope the Afghan people can keep the flames of war at bay, and rebuild their homeland,” Hua said.

Beneficial to China

Beijing-based democracy activist Zha Jianguo says China stands to benefit from the Taliban’s victory.

“This is definitely beneficial to China,” Zha said. “The border with Afghanistan is fairly short and easy to secure, and China has a strong military presence in [the western region of] Xinjiang.”

A Chinese academic specializing in international relations, who requested anonymity, said the CCP was unlikely to get too involved, however.

“It is a possibility open to China following the U.S. withdrawal to try to use the China model [of authoritarian rule] to ensure peace in Afghanistan,” the academic said. “But personally, I don’t believe it will. I don’t think China could handle that.”

The international community called on the Taliban to allow any Afghans to leave who wanted to.

“Afghans and international citizens who wish to depart must be allowed to do so; roads, airports, and border crossing must remain open, and calm must be maintained,” the statement signed by the U.S., E.U., U.K., and dozens of other countries said.

“Those in positions of power and authority across Afghanistan bear responsibility—and accountability—for the protection of human life and property, and for the immediate restoration of security and civil order,” the statement, carried on the U.S. State Department’s official website, said.

Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

Hong Kong’s Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF), which once organized annual mass rallies on July 1 marking the 1997 handover of the city to Beijing, announced it would disband at the weekend following repeated denunciations by media backed by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The front, which was never registered as an organization, served as a communication platform for civil society groups to promote human rights and democratic freedom in Hong Kong, according to its Facebook page.

Its job was mostly to organize large-scale, peaceful protest marches to ensure that citizens’ voices were heard, it said.

“Regrettably, for more than a year now, the government has consistently rejected our applications to hold marches, using the pandemic as a pretext to suppress the rights of our members,” the group said in an Aug. 15 post to its Facebook page.

“With no members participating, the secretariat has been unable to remain operational … and we have no choice but to declare herewith that we are disbanding,” it said.

CHRF convenor Figo Chan was handed an 18-month jail term in May for his role in an unauthorized gathering in 2019. The group said will donate its current assets of H.K.$1.6 million to appropriate organizations.

The announcement came after the CHRF held its AGM, and the decision among member groups was unanimous, the post said.

“We would like to thank the people of Hong Kong for walking side by side with the Front for many years,” it said, citing mass rallies of one and two million people in protest over government plans to extradite alleged criminal suspects to mainland China in 2019.

It also cited marches held during the 2014 pro-democracy movement, or Umbrella movement, and marches against CCP-backed infrastructure projects in Hong Kong.

Threat of investigation

The move came after Hong Kong police chief Raymond Siu warned that the group could be investigated under a draconian national security law imposed on the city by the CCP from July 1, 2020.

According to the CCP-backed Ta Kung Pao, Siu said the CHR had never registered as an organization.

Police responded to the CHRF’s disbanding by saying the investigation into the group’s activities would go ahead regardless.

In April 2021, police ordered the group to submit information on its members, activities, and funding sources, but the group didn’t do so by the date specified.

Hu Xijin, editor of the CCP-backed Global Times newspaper, said via his WeChat account that the decision to disband was in itself likely a bid to evade investigation and destroy evidence that could be used in the investigation.

And Ip Kwok-him, who represents Hong Kong China’s rubber-stamp parliament, the National People’s Congress (NPC), said the group’s dissolution meant that “large-scale anti-China demonstrations to stir up troubles in Hong Kong haver become history.”

But he said more specific protests might be tolerated.

“As long as the activities are not aimed at opposing China and disrupting Hong Kong, but are expressing a demand, they are protected by the Basic Law and we respect that,” Ip told government broadcaster RTHK.

The group’s web page was unavailable on Monday.

Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.