Day: August 21, 2021

China flew in political heavyweights, pumped up a propaganda campaign, and staged a gala celebration in Lhasa this week to mark 70 years since the People’s Liberation Army invaded Tibet, in an event that rekindled resentment among Tibetans over broken promises and repression.

“Only by following the [Chinese Communist party] leadership and pursuing the path of socialism, can Tibet achieve development and prosperity,” Wang Yang, a member of the powerful politburo standing committee, told a crowd in front of the Potala Palace in Lhasa, the traditional home of Tibet’s Buddhist leaders, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.

The intense security and restrictions on movement in the run up to the Aug. 19 anniversary event, however, prompted Tibetans to mock China’s description of the armed invasion 70 years ago as the “Peaceful Liberation” of their region.

“The Chinese government claims that they have liberated Tibet in the last 70 years, but in reality, Tibetans have been under constant restrictions and scrutiny,” said a resident of Lhasa, the regional capital, who complained that local residents had to endure “the same situation of heavy restrictions in place all around Lhasa” at the 60^th anniversary in 2011.

“It’s been 70 years since China forcefully invaded Tibet, but they have not been able to win the hearts of the Tibetans,” said another source in Lhasa, who also spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

 “In attempting to legitimize the invasion of Tibet, Chinese government has been spreading propaganda for the last 70 years using their state media and distorting the historic facts of Tibet and Tibetan identity, which is very disturbing,” the source added.

‘Occupation and oppression’

An independent nation for centuries, Tibet’s incorporation into China by force has been enforced, by tight restrictions on the six million Tibetans’ political activities and expression of cultural and religious identity, as well as a catalog of well-documented persecution, torture, imprisonment, and extrajudicial killings.

“For us Tibetans, what China celebrates as ‘Liberation Day’ is the anniversary of occupation and oppression,” Sikyong Penpa Tsering, the elected head of the exile Tibetan government in Dharamsala, India said during India’s 75^th Independence Day celebration on Aug. 15.

“With human rights violations still ongoing in Tibet and other regions under Chinese occupation, the CCP’s claims of the ‘liberation of Tibet’ begs the question: ‘From what or whom was Tibet liberated?’” he said.

Gonpo Dhundup, president of the Tibetan Youth Congress in Dharamsala said his people had experienced “70 years of sweat and tears” since the Chinese takeover.

“The Chinese government is celebrating the 70th anniversary of the so -called peaceful liberation of Tibet in Lhasa today but for us Tibetans it’s a dark day,” he told RFA.

Wang Yang and the 22-member CCP delegation gave “washing machines to farmers and herdsmen, and present souvenirs such as medical and health kits to cadres and employees, which fully reflects the special support for work in Tibet, care and concern for cadres and masses of all ethnic groups in Tibet from Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core,” said Zhao Huinian, deputy CCP secretary-general of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

“After 70 years of oppression, the only thing the Tibetan people need ‘peaceful liberation’ from today is China’s brutality,” said the International Campaign for Tibet.

“Rather than force an empty celebration on the Tibetan people, the Chinese government should sit down with Tibetan leaders and the Dalai Lama’s representatives to negotiate meaningful autonomy that will bring actual peace and basic freedoms back to Tibet,” the Washington, DC-based advocacy group said.

Broken promises

The Dalai Lama, who turned 86 last month, fled Tibet for India in 1959, eight years after he signed a 17-point agreement with Beijing under duress that promised Tibet would enjoy full autonomy without interference by the Chinese government in the region’s religion, customs, and internal administration.

None of the promises were kept, and Beijing has stepped up its effort to assimilate the Tibetans, while imposing strict surveillance and controls on communications in Tibet and Tibetan areas of western China that make it difficult to learn details of protests, arrests, or other information considered politically sensitive.

“China’s government has relentlessly assaulted the human rights, ​the unique religious, linguistic, cultural freedoms, and dignity of Tibetans,” a U.S. State Department spokesman told RFA’s Tibetan Service.

“We will work with our allies and partners to press Beijing to return to direct dialogue with the Dalai Lama or his representatives to achieve meaningful autonomy for Tibetans, respect for human rights, and the preservation of Tibet’s environment as well as its unique cultural, linguistic, and religious traditions,” the spokesman said when asked about China’s violation of the 1951 pact.

The secrecy and tight security surrounding the 70^th anniversary event “signifies that there is no stability in Tibet,” Ngawang Woebar, a monk in Dharamsala who participated in big 1987 protests in Tibet against Chinese rule, told RFA.

“Those who have not experienced life in Tibet will feel that everything is prosperous. But the Tibetans who have experienced Tibetan religion, culture and customs will know that everything in Tibet about ‘peaceful liberation’ is a façade,” he said.

“If they let Tibetans speak freely. they would know the real aspirations of Tibetans in Tibet.”

Reported by Kalden Lodoe and Yangdon Demo for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Tenzin Dickey. Written in English by Paul Eckert.

A spate of arrests of North Korean wives of Chinese men—raids seizing long-time residents in front of their families—has the put the refugee community in northeastern China on edge, sources in China told RFA.

The latest in periodic crackdowns on North Koreans living illegally in China has seen arrests and threatened deportations in Liaoning and Jilin, the two provinces on China’s side of their 840-mile (1,350 km) shared border, the sources said.

Hundreds of thousands of North Koreans fled to China to escape a mid-1990s famine, with about 30,000 making their way to South Korea. As many as 60,000 North Koreans remain China, despite having no legal status, and some have married Chinese nationals.

After a long period of time in which the North Korean spouses of Chinese nationals were treated leniently, despite Beijing’s commitment with Pyongyang to repatriate all illegal North Koreans found within its borders, police are now actively arresting them.

“Police officers suddenly stormed the house of a North Korean woman in her late 30s, arrested her and took her to prison,” a Chinese citizen of Korean descent from Tonghua city in Jilin province told RFA’s Korean Service.

“After she escaped from North Korea, she got married and has been living in Tonghua for 10 years. She has a small child. Everyone in the neighborhood knew she was a refugee, but she was never reported or arrested,” said the source, who requested anonymity for security reasons.

The source said police took the woman away in late July on human trafficking charges.

“She was well known for providing food and clothing to North Koreans who had just crossed over the border. She helped provide them with shelter and jobs,” said the source.

“She is a kind-hearted person who helps everyone in the neighborhood, not only refugees, so the neighbors are very saddened by the news of her arrest,” the source said.

Trafficking of newly escaped North Korean women in China is a deep-rooted industry as traffickers capitalize on their desperation.

A 2018 report by the Seoul-based Korean Institute of Criminology and Justice (KICJ) estimated that 80 percent of female North Korean refugees in China “are entrapped in a form of trafficking- commercial sex, forced labor, and forced marriages.”

But China has often laid human trafficking charges on aid workers or others who help North Korean refugees, and people in the Tonghua community did not believe that the human trafficking charge should apply to the North Korean woman or her husband, the Jilin province source said.

“She escaped a hard life in North Korea and she supported other North Korean refugees both physically and emotionally while they were in such a difficult situation,” the source said.

“She has a nine-year-old child with her Chinese husband, and the child cries every day looking for mom. The neighbors are all petitioning the police to release her, saying that it is so sad to see the child crying,” the source said.

The arrest was one of two in Tonghua last month involving married North Korean women who had escaped to China a long time ago, according to the source.

“Neighbors are strongly criticizing the inhumane treatment of the public security agents, saying, ‘What will happen to the child if they arrest the mother and ruin a family that is living well?’” the source said.

Another Chinese citizen of Korean descent from Shenyang, in Liaoning province, confirmed to RFA that the crackdown on North Korean refugees was in effect there as well.

“It is making the North Koreans tremble with anxiety. Since early July, the public security agents have been raiding their residences, or going to their workplaces to arrest them,” said the second source, who requested anonymity to speak freely.

“In mid-July, a close friend, an ethnic Korean like myself, called me urgently at night to ask for my help, saying he was unable to reach his girlfriend, a North Korean refugee, who works at a restaurant near Shenyang Station,” said the second source.

“Four days later, I was told that the refugee had been receiving treatment at a hospital in the prison for the past three days. She had difficulty breathing and was going into shock while she was being arrested at the restaurant,” the second source said.

While in prison, the woman was able to borrow a mobile phone to secretly call her boyfriend to avoid police detection, according to the second source.

“She said that there were more than 10 North Korean women imprisoned in addition to herself. Just before hanging up, she told my friend it would be difficult to come back if they send her back to North Korea,” the second source said.

“My friend has been living every day in tears for over a month,” added the source.

News of the crackdown in Shenyang is spreading among the refugee community, and even long-timers and their families are afraid, according to the second source.

“In the past, even if the police knew that there were North Korean refugees living in an area, they did not arrest them unless they started causing problems. Now they are actively searching for them and arresting them, so all the North Korean refugees are terrified.”

RFA contacted the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. for comment but the embassy did not respond.

Beijing claims it must return North Koreans found to be illegally within Chinese territory under two agreements it has signed with Pyongyang, the 1960 PRC-DPRK Escaped Criminals Reciprocal Extradition Treaty and the 1986 Mutual Cooperation Protocol for the Work of Maintaining National Security and Social Order and the Border Areas.

Rights groups, however, say that forced repatriation is a violation of China’s responsibility to protect the escapees under the UN Refugee Convention.

RFA reported last month that China forcibly repatriated 50 North Korean refugees, the first repatriations since the border was closed at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in Jan. 2020. The North Koreans were loaded onto buses in the Chinese border city of Dandong and taken across the Yalu River to the North Korean city of Sinuiju.

According to the Department of State’s 2020 Trafficking in Persons Report, there are up to 30,000 unregistered children of North Korean women and Chinese men. The report noted that the children are stateless and vulnerable to exploitation.

Reported by Jeong Yon Park for RFA’s Korean Service. Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

A Facebook campaign in support of Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) ahead of the United Nations General Assembly, when U.N. member states will select the country’s ambassador, has garnered more than 3 million participants, according to a campaign organizer.

The General Strike Coordination Body (GSCB) launched the “Accept NUG, Reject Military” campaign on Aug. 9, which called on Facebook users to replace their profile pictures with an image of a person raising the NUG flag in front of the U.N. crest in support of the shadow government and its U.N. Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun.

As of the weekend, more than 3 million users had added the image to their profile, despite a directive by the military regime for authorities to take legal action against anyone who had done so, Mandalay-based GSCB member Ma Aye Myint told RFA’s Myanmar Service.

“On Aug. 11, the military announced that it would prosecute those who joined the campaign. So, after that announcement, many people started changing their account profiles [to the NUG image],” she said.

“Before that, many people did not know they could be tracked down by the authorities because of their profile pictures. But after the military directive, they realized they had to change their profiles and then more and more people started doing it.

She added that although the campaign is currently on Facebook, it will soon be added to Twitter to reach more of the international community.

Meanwhile an Australian-based support group has launched a petition campaign online calling for recognition of the NUG by the U.N. General Assembly. According to the group, more than 175,000 international supporters, including former East Timorese President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta, former U.S. Ambassador to Myanmar Derek Mitchell and Czech diplomat Pavel Fisher, have signed the petition. The campaign aims to obtain 200,000 signatures in seven languages.

The two campaigns are underway to show support for the NUG at the 76th U.N. General Assembly in New York, which on Sept. 14 will elect a government and a permanent delegation to represent Myanmar.

A nine-nation Representation Committee that includes permanent member states the U.S., Russia and China, is to make recommendations to the U.N. General Assembly for a vote on Myanmar. The committee is currently chaired by The Maldives and each member state can only vote once, with permanent member states unable to veto, unlike at the U.N. Security Council. If any one country does not agree with the recommendation of the Representation Committee to the U.N. General Assembly, all 193 U.N. members will have to cast a ballot.

Ko Harry, a young protest leader from Myanmar’s largest city Yangon, said the GSBC campaign was aimed at regaining the people’s elected government and power, after Myanmar’s military seized power from the democratically elected government through a coup on Feb. 1, claiming voter fraud in the country’s November 2020 ballot.

The junta has yet to produce any evidence of its claims and has violently repressed protests, killing at least 1,007 civilians and arresting 5,759 others, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

“The General Strike Coordination Body is now taking the lead to show the world our people’s support for the NUG,” Ko Harry told RFA.

“Our aim is for everyone to take part in helping our government and our people return to power.”

Political analysts told RFA the campaign is vital, as there is also a possibility that both sides may be rejected and the post left vacant.

Ko Nang Lin, a protest leader and member of the University Alumni Movement, called the GSCB campaign “an important turning point for our Spring Revolution.”

“After [promoting domestic awareness], the next campaign will seek to unite all people of Myanmar throughout the world and obtain their support to push the governments of the countries where they reside to recognize that crimes against humanity are being committed in Myanmar,” he said.

“That could sway their votes in our favor at the U.N. We will also continue to push further to get our NUG government and Kyaw Moe Tun recognized when the UN makes its decision.”

Celebrities targeted

Meanwhile, the junta is preparing to charge 63 celebrities involved in the campaign under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

A directive from the junta appeared on social media on Aug. 11, instructing the military and police to take systematic action against those who had changed their profiles. The next day, 63 artists who supported the movement were charged under Section 52 (a) of the Anti-Terrorism Law by the military. It said those who had changed their profiles were supporting the “terrorist group NUG,” and are “spreading propaganda for terrorism.”

Some of the 63 artists charged are those already charged with “defamation of the military” under Section 505 (a) of the Penal Code for protesting the coup.

Nang Lin, a protest leader, said people had joined the campaign in the millions because they want to protest the military in any way they can.

“These are typical tactics from the military—they intimidate people with weapons and threaten them with various laws. Now, they are using the charge of associating with illegal terrorist groups,” he said.

“This online campaign has awakened an awareness in people about the election of the NUG delegation and it’s a significant blow to the junta. People are involved in any way they can to show their opposition by using ‘Likes’ or ‘Comments’ or ‘Shares’ on social media.”

Myanmar faced a similar situation at the U.N. General Assembly in 2008. At that time, the U.N. Credentials Committee accepted the junta’s representative instead that of the opposition National Coalition Government of Burma (NCGUB).

NUG radio program

Also on Friday, the NUG launched a 30-minute shortwave radio program called “Radio NUG,” which it plans to air twice daily at 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. on 17.71 mhz, according to NUG defense minister U Ye Mon.

Radio NUG was launched in response to the need for “emergency communications,” as the “next milestone of the Spring Revolution approaches,” he said.

The program’s first broadcast included a report on alleged massacres discovered in Sagaing region’s Kani township, which the NUG said should be classified as war crimes, given that they were allegedly carried out by junta soldiers amid an offensive in the region.

Myanmar’s junta issued a statement on Friday evening through state broadcaster MRTV, saying the Ministry of Information had declared the program and warning that “anyone who, without permission, works with, supports or assists it will have action taken against them in accordance with the law.”

Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Nearly seven months after Myanmar’s junta seized power in a coup d’état and amid a new outbreak of the coronavirus, the country’s banking sector is in shambles and cash is in short supply, leaving account holders fearful about the security of their savings.

Public confidence in the government and banking sector was shattered on Feb. 1, when Myanmar’s military took control of the country and began a campaign of violent repression that has led to at least 1,007 civilian deaths and 5,759 arrests.

Lines now form daily for withdrawals, which have been capped at 300,000 kyats (U.S. $180) per day from A.T.M.s and 200,000 kyats (U.S. $120) per week from savings accounts to help prevent a run on the banks.

Meanwhile, the country’s healthcare system is now at the brink of collapse due to a poorly managed response to a third wave of COVID-19 that has killed nearly 8,400 people in the past month alone.

Amid the political and health crises, the kyat is depreciating while commodity prices are rising, leaving people struggling to make ends meet. New restrictions on banking have made cash transfers even more difficult and rumors abound that the junta plans to withdraw 5,000 and 10,000 kyat (U.S. $3 and $6) currency notes from circulation and that private lenders may go belly up.

Lin Htet Aung, a resident of Myanmar’s largest city Yangon, told RFA’s Myanmar Service that he is terrified that his savings will disappear due to the instability of private banks.

“In recent months, as COVID cases have risen, people have needed cash for hospital payments and other expenses like oxygen tanks, but it’s been nearly impossible to get cash out of A.T.M.s,” he said.

“It’s infuriating. Many people are now unemployed, and they are relying on the money they have deposited in the banks. Now they are afraid of losing their savings. Everyone, including me, is worried about the situation.”

Even with caps on withdrawals, some people have been forced to wait for months to access their money.

An official at Kanbawza Bank No. 1 in the Rakhine state capital Sittwe recently told RFA on condition of anonymity that his bank only gives out cash to up to 20 people per day and said the waitlist for withdrawals is full until November.

Many people are instead turning to moneychangers, who haunt the sidewalks around banks, providing cash up front for hefty fees.

A senior official at a private bank in Yangon who declined to be named said the Central Bank’s restrictions had eroded public confidence in the banks.

“It has become very difficult to rebuild trust between the people and the banks because no one can withdraw their own money,” he said.

“The banks don’t care about customers anymore and you can no longer make withdrawals at A.T.M.s. So, people have lost a lot of confidence in the banks. They mistrust the Central Bank, which controls the private banks.”

The bank official added that although the central bank still allows mobile payments, it will be impossible to rebuild public trust for as long as cash withdrawals are hampered.

Additionally, he said, private banks have been forced to send daily reports of transactions to the Central Bank, in what is seen as a bid by the junta to block funding to entities that oppose its rule. He said the regime is more concerned with its own survival and has little interest in keeping private banks afloat or improving cash flow.

Political exploitation

Myanmar is home to four state-owned banks, 27 private domestic banks and branch offices for 20 foreign banks.

Article 7 of the Central Bank of Myanmar Law, enacted in July 2013, allows the Central Bank to freely exercise its mandate in the performance of its responsibilities in order to achieve its main objectives and objectives.

However, observers say the junta has been politically exploiting the law since at least Feb. 4, when it directly appointed two deputy governors to the Central Bank.

Dr. Sai Kyi Zin Soe, a political and human rights researcher, said the Central Bank now appears to be following the orders of the junta without any independent decision-making procedures.

“When we were under [the prior] military rule [from 1962-2011], the monetary policy and all the related systems were controlled by the military leader,” he said. “The exchange rate had been redesigned only recently to become a truly independent central bank management system connected to the world market.”

“At the moment, I don’t think the Central Bank is allowed independent decision-making power. They must make policies based on orders from the upper echelon when it comes to making necessary decisions. It is clear that they have to get permission before they can make any decision.”

Dr Sai Kyi Zin Soe said it was clear that the central bank had begun controlling the money circulation after the military decided to restrict the flow of money to supporters of the anti-junta CDM movement as well as to the NUG and the CRPH.

Myint Zaw, a businessman based in Sittwe, said the current problems were not just about private banks, but about political exploitation of the financial sector.

“Money is the main commodity in our businesses. If this product is no longer operating effectively, then things go very badly,” he said.

“Some people have speculated that if all the deposits were to be withdrawn, the Central Bank and private banks would not be able to meet the challenge.  But it is wrong to think so … This is not a monetary [supply] issue, just a political one. The Central Bank and the financial sector are being used as hostages in a political crisis.”

Myint Zaw said it is easy for banks to claim that the restrictions are imposed in accordance with Central Bank directives, but the people are being left to suffer.

Additional controls

According to the Central Bank, the amount of money circulating in the Myanmar’s economy—outside of the banking system—increased each year until 2019, when it reached 13 trillion kyats (U.S. $7.9 billion).

But business owners say many cash-strapped businesses have been forced to shut down amid the junta’s restrictions on money flows.

At a press conference in the capital Naypyidaw on July 12, junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun said there were “fundamental reasons” behind the banking restrictions, without providing details, adding that there were no immediate plans to lift them. He also vowed that withdrawal difficulties would be resolved by the end of the month.

However, as of late August, there has been no easing of restrictions on private banks and earlier this week, Central Bank Deputy Chairman Win Thaw announced additional controls, warning that any mobile banking accounts found to be involved in transactions with the country’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) would face unspecified legal action.

Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.