Tourists from China are pouring into Tibet’s capital Lhasa in large numbers despite a surge in COVID-19 cases in Chinese provinces that has seen authorities ban tourism in areas outside Tibet, sources in the region say.
A spike last week in COVID cases in 11 Chinese provinces has led China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism to announce tightened restrictions on travel into worst-hit areas, with tourism entirely suspended in some locations, government sources said.
Tibet’s regional capital Lhasa is still left open to tourism, however, sources in the city told RFA in recent interviews.
“There is a huge number of Chinese tourists at the moment in Lhasa,” one source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The Barkhor [old town] area is especially full of Chinese tourists, who are taking pictures everywhere.”
“It’s frightening to see such large crowds here when the pandemic hasn’t ended yet,” he said.
Occasional large-scale protests against China’s rule have left Tibet’s capital city often barred for entry to Tibetans coming from outside, with pilgrims and other travelers required to show permits in order to visit, another source said.
“And yet, despite the climb in COVID cases, Lhasa has been flooded with Chinese tourists,” he said.
“In the Tibet Autonomous Region, government employees, students, and retired state workers are banned from making religious visits to the Potala Palace,” the former residence of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, the source said.
“But one can see that Chinese tourists are free to visit these religious places.”
“These acts by the [ruling] Chinese Communist Party violate China’s official commitment to religious freedom,” he said.
Lhasa’s famous Jokhang Temple, located in the city’s center, is also open to Chinese tourists, said another Tibetan source, adding that Chinese tourists are now flocking to Tibet’s historic capital city. “But they are only being asked to show negative COVID test results,” he said.
Taking extra precautions
Chinese tourists visiting northwestern China’s Qinghai province, part of Tibet’s historic Amdo region, have recently tested positive for COVID, the source said.
“So Tibetans have been taking extra precautions and are avoiding the places where those tourists usually go,” he said.
Kumbum monastery in Qinghai’s Tsoshar (in Chinese, Haidong) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture has been temporarily closed to visitors because of an increase in COVID cases in the region, the source said.
“Local Tibetans are being very cautious right now, but the Chinese government doesn’t appear to be taking the pandemic very seriously. For instance, schools in this area are still open in spite of these surges in COVID cases.”
A formerly independent nation, Tibet was invaded and incorporated into China by force nearly 70 years ago, and the Dalai Lama and thousands of his followers fled into exile in India and other countries around the world following a failed 1959 national uprising against Chinese rule.
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 and Taring Tenzin Norbu for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi. Written in English by Richard Finney.
The disputed South China Sea features prominently in the relationship between Vietnam and the United States, and bullying by China of it neighbor helped deepen relations, the former U.S. ambassador to Hanoi has revealed.
“In fact, even in my very first meeting with President Truong Tan Sang when I presented my credentials, we talked about the importance of the South China Sea,” said Ted Osius, who is now president and CEO of the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council, a trade promotion group.
“Pretty much every meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and later Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, we also talked about the South China Sea; so did President Tran Dai Quang and the Communist Party General Secretary (Nguyen Phu Trong),” he told RFA in an interview.
In his new book, “Nothing is Impossible: America’s Reconciliation with Vietnam” (Rutgers University Press, 2021), Osius serves up a vivid first-hand account of the development of Vietnam-U.S. relations in the last quarter century.
In his opinion, the “critical turning point” that made the Hanoi leadership realize that they needed new strategic partners was in May 2014, when China moved a large oil rig to the waters near the Paracel Islands which Vietnam and China both claim in the South China Sea.
The incident led to an unprecedented wave of anti-China protests in Vietnam and was seen by many as one of the most serious developments in long-running territorial disputes between the two countries.
“It alerted Vietnam’s leaders to the fact that China was going to continue a pattern of bullying,” Osius said. Those in Vietnam who were “hesitant to embrace the United States became more open to the possibility of having a close relationship with the United States,” he added.
Since then, military cooperation between Hanoi and Washington has expanded greatly and U.S. Navy has held regular joint activities, including port calls, with Vietnamese partners.
Osius, who was ambassador in Hanoi from 2014-2017, told RFA that his new book is “not a policy book but much more, as I believe reconciliation is about people”.
“So it’s a set of stories about people and mainly the people who took great risks and were very brave to turn United States and Vietnam from enemies into friends.”
“And I tell stories about what it was like in the early years when I first went to Vietnam, just after normalization and how welcome I felt in the country then,” he said.
US President Donald Trump (R) meets with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the White House in Washington, DC, May 31, 2017. Credit: AFP
‘Nothing is Impossible’
The formal normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries was only announced in 1995 under President Bill Clinton, 20 years after the end of the Vietnam War. A year before that, in Feb. 1994, the U.S. lifted its decades-old trade embargo on Vietnam.
“I think the transition in our relationship… is quite phenomenal. I call the book ‘Nothing is Impossible’ because Pete Peterson, who was the first U.S. ambassador to Vietnam and a former prisoner of war, on the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations stood up and said: ‘You know, in U.S.-Vietnam relations, nothing is impossible!’” Osius explained.
When Vice President Kamala Harris visited Hanoi in August, there were talks about upgrading the bilateral relationship to a so-called “strategic partnership,” which Vietnam has with a number of countries deemed very important in terms of security and economic development.
The strategic partnership was not announced during the visit, yet “we already have a strategic partnership,” argued Osius.
“It just doesn’t have that name, and I think that’s OK… I actually think there’s been a lot of trust that has developed over the years. But leaders of Vietnam are careful as they have to strike a balance – they’ve got a very powerful neighbor to the north who they have to keep good relations with,” he explained.
In an apparent reference to then President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement in 2017, Osius said: “I think we made a mistake and actually damaged trust somewhat because many Vietnamese leaders had taken great risks for Vietnam to join that trade agreement, and then we kind of pulled the rug out from under them.”
The veteran diplomat, who served as ambassador under both Obama and Trump, resigned from the foreign service in 2017 after falling out with the Trump administration over a plan to deport thousands of refugees who fled Vietnam after the war.
In his new book, Osius didn’t hide his criticism of Trump, who he described as “untruthful and erratic.”
“President Trump showed no interest, he wasn’t even interested in five minutes of briefing” before his meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in May 2017, according to the former ambassador.
“I think it was disrespectful to the Prime Minister of Vietnam. In President Trump’s worldview, it’s all transaction and it’s the worldview of a person who has been involved in real estate deals his whole life and who does not invest in relationships.”
Ted Osius, with his spouse Clayton Bond and their children, in an undated photo. Credit: Ted Osius
Patchy record on rights
Osius described how Trump made “a ridiculous joke” about the Vietnamese PM Phuc’s name and said nothing could have prepared him for the meeting which was “very, very strange.”
“Diplomacy is about building trust and showing respect, investing in relationships and doing things together – it’s not just about money and power. In my view, one president did not understand that.”
Trump’s policies, Osius said, made it difficult to “press the Vietnamese about human rights,” which were “the hardest issues that I dealt with as ambassador.”
Vietnam has constantly been criticized for severe restrictions on freedom of expression, religious freedom and civil society. Vice President Kamala Harris said during her recent visit she raised human rights concerns, including the release of imprisoned dissidents in meetings with Vietnamese leaders.
Hanoi always denies that there are political prisoners in the country, saying people are only detained for violating laws.
“I started by being super clear about what we were looking for. I carry in my shirt pocket all the time a little card. It was America’s asks on human rights, and there were names on that card,” said Osius.
“Every six months we would refresh that card with a top list of names, top list of requests.”
“We were urging the release of certain people who had spoken out to express their own views, and I was frustrated at times because I would call for the release of somebody and then more people would be put in jail. There were activists who were beaten up, there were people who blogged and then were put in jail for expressing their views,” he recalled.
“I raised those issues all the time, and sometimes I was successful and some people were released, and sometimes I was not successful. So the record was mixed.”
Osius admitted he “was never a big fan of exile” when a prisoner of conscience gets released and goes in exile to the United States.
“I don’t think that’s the solution at all, because those people who are brave enough to speak out on behalf of their nation should stay in Vietnam and continue to work for society to improve,” he said.
Osius said , however, that looking at the long-term changes in Vietnam, “the trajectory is good,” and people have much more freedoms these days than before.
“I think the society will only improve if leaders are able to hear criticism from members of society, to have a free exchange of views and it won’t destabilize the country. That’s my very strong belief that Vietnam can withstand internal criticism and can come out stronger.”
Strict Chinese censorship of movies and television, which has ramped up under Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping, has ceded the entertainment field to free and democratic neighbors like South Korea. Although Netflix is blocked by China’s Great Firewall of internet censorship, the platform’s global hit Korean-language TV show “Squid Game” has been pirated on dozens of streaming sites in China, while manufacturers are pumping out knock-off merchandise of the dystopian show.
A new luxury apartment complex built over the former residence of North Korea’s founder Kim Il Sung is seen by citizens as an example of third-generation leader Kim Jong Un trying to erase parts of his grandfather’s legacy, sources in the country told RFA.
The cult of personality surrounding the Kim family has dominated North Korean culture for more than 50 years. The country is littered with monuments to Kim Jong Un’s grandfather, who ruled from 1948-94, and father Kim Jong Il, who ruled from the elder Kim’s death in 1994 until he died in 2011.
Portraits of the Communist world’s only hereditary leadership, both of whom enjoyed god-like status, adorn the walls of every building and home, and grand murals depicting their revolutionary exploits can be found in almost every major town and city in the country of 25 million people.
Places they visited for a few hours many years ago still maintain shrines commemorating the occasion, but sources told RFA’s Korean Service that the housing development going up on the national founder’s former residence was just one of many examples of Kim Jong Un de-emphasizing his grandfather’s significance.
“Terraced houses are being built on the banks of the Potong River, and they are being touted as an example of modern development in the Kim Jong Un era,” a Pyongyang resident told RFA Oct. 20.
The new riverside apartments are under construction over the site of a former residence used by Kim Il Sung in the 1950s to 1970s, referred to as “Mansion No. 5” by North Koreans.
“Many people find it difficult to understand why they are converting Kim Il Sung’s long time residence into a high-end residential district,” said the source, who requested anonymity for security reasons.
South Korea-based Yonhap News reported that the site had been left vacant after it was destroyed in 2009 — until they started to build the new luxury apartments.
“As far as I know, Mansion No. 5 was where Kim Il Sung lived the longest. He was there from the 1950s until he moved to Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in 1977,” the source said, referring to the late national founder’s last residence, which was posthumously converted into a grand mausoleum to house his sacred remains.
Mansion No. 5 is also historically significant, according to the source, because it was a rare example of a luxurious villa built in a scenic spot constructed before 1980, when North Korea was rebuilding after the destruction of the 1950-53 Korean War.
“Many people do not understand the idea of building luxury apartments over an important Kim Il Sung historical site, especially when the country builds monuments and museums on places where Kim Jong Il or Kim Jong Un merely briefly visited,” the source said.
“I really wonder if it is more important to build apartments rather than other structures at this historic location,” said the source.
The current North Korean leader is not oblivious to the criticism over the project, and he addressed the controversy, according to the source.
“Kim Jong Un was concerned enough about public reaction, so he said, ‘It is a pity that I can’t show this place to the public by turning it into a revolutionary museum,’ after the media emphasized that it was a sacred historical site,” said the source.
“But they are turning it into a luxurious residential site overlooking the Potong River, where some high-ranking officials loyal to Kim Jong Un will live.”
In this file photo, a woman and her daughter their respects at statues of North Korea founder Kim Il Sung (L) and late leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang, North Korea. Credit: Reuters
The source also said Pyongyang’s new general hospital has received similar criticism, because the massive structure obstructs sight lines between the revolutionary site Mansudae Hill, and the Workers’ Party Foundation Monument.
The hammer, sickle and brush that make up the monument were intended to be visible from the hill across the Taedong River, where two 20-meter (21.8-yard) statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Un gaze upon the capital.
“As the hospital was built in the middle of the view,… Pyongyang’s scenery became meaningless,” said the source.
“The terraced apartments built on the site of Mansion No. 5 are referred to as ‘Kim Jong Un’s exhaustive efforts for the people,’ but it is clear that it’s just an attempt to erase all traces of Kim Il Sung,” said the source, who further explained that many in North Korea long for the days of his rule.
Another source, also a resident of the capital, told RFA that military academies named after Kim Il Sung’s extended family have curiously been renamed for important political figures not related to the Kim dynasty by blood.
“Kim Hyong Jik Military Medical University was renamed Yim Chun Chu Military Medical University,” said the second source.
Kim Hyong Jik was Kim Il Sung’s father, while Yim Chun Chu was a guerilla who fought against Japan’s 1910-45 colonial occupation of the Korean peninsula and later North Korea’s vice president.
Academies named for Kim Il Sung’s uncle Kim Hyong Gwon and brother Kim Chol Ju underwent similar changes, according to the second source, but those named after the national founder, and his first wife Kim Jong Suk, remain unchanged.
“This has not yet expanded to civilian society but if it does, the names of Kim Hyong Jik University of Education, Kim Chol Ju University of Education, and Kim Bo Hyon College [named after Kim Il Sung’s grandfather] are likely to change soon,” said the source.
“A few years ago, many people were puzzled when even the portraits of the ‘three generals’ on the signboard at the main gate of the Mansudae Art Studio disappeared,” the source said, referring to picture murals of Kim Jong Il as a child with his guerilla parents.
A guide adjusts flowers under a mural showing former North Korean leader Kim Il Sung (seated); his son and successor Kim Jong Il as a child, and his first wife Kim Jong Suk, at the former ammunition factory visited by foreign reporters on a government organized tour in central Pyongyang, North Korea May 5, 2016. Credit: Reuters
These types of changes point to a concerted effort by Kim Jong Un to de-emphasize the importance of his grandfather, according to the second source.
“It would be absolutely impossible to remove the name of the leader’s family from these military academies or to remove their portraits without the permission of the supreme leader,” the second source said.
“Very slowly and skillfully, but clearly, they are erasing the traces of Kim Il Sung. Normally, you would think that the grandson would not want to forget his father or grandfather, and strongly cultivate their legacies. It is really surprising and strange.”
Reported by Chang Gyu Ahn for RFA’s Korean Service. Translated by Claire Lee. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
London-based rights group Amnesty International has announced it will shut down its offices in Hong Kong by the end of the year, amid an ongoing crackdown on dissent under a draconian national security law imposed on the city by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“This decision, made with a heavy heart, has been driven by Hong Kong’s national security law, which has made it effectively impossible for human rights organizations in Hong Kong to work freely and without fear of serious reprisals from the government,” international board chair Anjhula Mya Singh Bais said in a statement on the group’s website.
“Hong Kong has long been an ideal regional base for international civil society organizations, but the recent targeting of local human rights and trade union groups signals an intensification of the authorities’ campaign to rid the city of all dissenting voices,” she said.
“It is increasingly difficult for us to keep operating in such an unstable environment.”
Amnesty International currently has two offices in Hong Kong; a local membership section and a regional headquarters that carries out research and advocacy work for the region.
The regional office will continue its work from a new location, the group statement said.
Secretary general Agnes Callamard said the group — which was outspoken in its criticism of police violence during the 2019 protest movement — has always been active in Hong Kong.
“From successfully pushing for the full abolition of the death penalty in Hong Kong in 1993, to exposing evidence of excessive use of force by police during the 2019 mass protests, Amnesty in Hong Kong has shone a light on human rights violations in the darkest of days,” Callamard said.
She said the group’s educational outreach programs had worked hard to raise awareness of human rights for many years.
“No-one and no power can demolish that legacy,” she said.
The national security law targets alleged acts of “secession,” “subversion of state power,” “terrorist activities,” and “collusion with foreign powers to endanger national security.”
Amnesty International said the vaguely worded law “has been used arbitrarily as a pretext to restrict the human rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, as well as to repress dissent and political opposition.”
It said a government crackdown targeting activists, opposition politicians, and independent media has recently expanded to include civil society organizations, with at least 35 groups disbanding since the law took effect on July 1, 2020.
Shih Yi-hsiang, head of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, said Amnesty’s staff could potentially be targeted under the law for “collusion with foreign powers” or subversion.
“Under the national security law, anything that goes against the will of China [could be targeted],” Shih told RFA. “The Chinese government could think that they are interfering in its internal affairs or subverting [the CCP regime].”
“It’s entirely foreseeing that they could be accused of subversion or collusion with a foreign power.”
He said it was likely that other rights groups could relocate out of Hong Kong, too.
A human rights lawyer based in mainland China who gave only the surname Chen said there is no longer much difference between the rights and freedoms available to residents of mainland China and those in Hong Kong.
“Hong Kong has been assimilated by China, so the people there now have the same ‘freedom’ as Chinese people,” Chen said. “Leaving is a wise choice.”
Joseph Cheng, former politics lecturer at Hong Kong’s City University, said Amnesty International likely believes it won’t be able to operate at all in Hong Kong, under the current crackdown.
“The withdrawal of such organizations shows how human rights and civil society have regressed in Hong Kong,” Cheng told RFA. “Now we won’t have an international organization to … provide various assessments, and to supervise the Hong Kong authorities.”
“It will be harder [for human rights] to be well protected.”
The announcement of Amnesty International’s departure came after police surrounded Hong Kong marathon runners and demanded that they remove clothing or cover up the slogan “Go Hong Kong!” which has become associated with the 2019 protest movement.
Organizers had warned ahead of the 15,000-strong race that political slogans would not be tolerated, and runners were forced to cover up or change clothing bearing the phrase.
Zhou Xiaolong, the owner of a children’s clothing chain store who used to display the “Goddess of Democracy” in the store, said he had been giving out iron-on transfer patches to runners, bearing the banned slogan.
“I don’t see how Go Hong Kong! could have crossed some kind of red line,” Chow told RFA. “I will keep doing my thing, and I think it will actually boost sales.”
“It’s business as usual.”
Standard Chartered Marathon, which organized the race, said it had no wish to see “political elements” in the race.
PROVIDENCE, R.I., Oct. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Virgin Pulse, the leading global provider of tech-enabled solutions designed to help users make the best decisions at every stage of their health and wellbeing journey, today announced two key executive additions to the company’s leadership team. Rik Thorbecke has been appointed Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Amit Jain has been named the company’s first Chief Technology Officer (CTO).
Amit Jain, CTO, Virgin Pulse
Amit Jain joins Virgin Pulse as company’s first global CTO
“I am thrilled to announce the appointments of Rik and Amit to Virgin Pulse’s leadership team,” said Chris Michalak. “Both are joining at a crucial time as we complete our acquisition of Welltok and prepare for our next stage of growth. As accomplished, high-impact leaders in their respective fields, both bring a complementary combination of strategy, finance, and technology leadership to our organization that will help us optimize resources and investments as we continue to evolve Homebase for Health® and expand our global footprint in the health and wellbeing market.”
Rik Thorbecke brings broad and global leadership experience in strategic finance, mergers and acquisitions, business planning, enterprise software, and international business to Virgin Pulse. As CFO, he will oversee finance strategy and operations and accelerate Virgin Pulse’s growth trajectory, leading a team focused on building business partnerships and optimizing business processes and systems. With software experience spanning enterprise information management, API integration, and data-driven decisioning, coupled with a consumer-centered, customer-first orientation, Rik’s leadership will be invaluable as the company expands its Homebase for Health® strategy. Prior to Virgin Pulse, Rik held several executive finance and strategy roles at well-known public and high-growth private companies, including Electronic Arts, Equinix, Levi Strauss, Magnitude Software and most recently as CFO of Jitterbit, a leading API integration and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) provider.
Amit Jain joins Virgin Pulse as the company’s first global CTO. As CTO, he will lead technology strategy, overseeing global R&D, engineering, and technical platform operations as the company advances its Homebase for Health® vision, product innovation and global expansion. Amit brings extensive experience building highly scalable global SaaS platforms and distributed computing architectures, implementing modern technology infrastructures, and applying predictive modeling and artificial intelligence to forecast outcomes. With more than 20 years of enterprise software experience spanning global organizations, Amit has a proven track record of leading cross-functional global engineering teams. Prior to Virgin Pulse, he served as the CTO of RSi (Retail Solutions Inc.), where he led the build and transformation of a cloud-native global SaaS platform. Prior to RSi, Amit led engineering development for large SaaS platforms, risk modeling and cloud network analytics at Infor and RMS.
The appointments of Virgin Pulse’s latest executives comes on the heels of the company’s commercial team expansion, announced last month.
About Virgin Pulse Virgin Pulse is the leading global provider of health and wellbeing solutions designed to drive health outcomes and reduce costs by enabling better decision-making across the full care continuum — from prevention and wellbeing to pre-chronic and chronic disease management to episodic and acute care. Featuring the industry’s only true Homebase for Health®, Virgin Pulse fuses high-tech, high-touch, predictive analytics, AI and data to help clients, members, health consumers and patients navigate their health, wellbeing and benefits – all in one trusted and familiar place. Today, thousands of organizations and more than 14 million users in 190 countries trust Virgin Pulse to change their lives – and businesses – for good. For more tips and insights, connect with us on Twitter or LinkedIn.
