Day: November 2, 2021

North Korea and China resumed cross-border rail freight shipments on Monday, promising much needed relief to desperate North Koreans suffering from food shortages and economic upheaval under a trade ban that had been put in place in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Trains are once again moving from Dandong, China, across the Yalu River border to Sinuiju, North Korea, and business is booming, sources in North Korea and China told RFA.

“Since the end of October, trading companies have been busy transporting various materials to the Sinuiju and Uiju areas to prepare them for export to China,” an official working at a trade agency in Sinuiju’s surrounding North Pyongan province told RFA’s Korean Service Oct. 31.

“They are also drawing up contracts with their Chinese counterparts for materials to be imported from China,” said the source, who requested anonymity for security reasons.

Prior to the closure of the Sino-Korean border in January 2020, China had accounted for more than 90 percent of North Korea’s annual international trade. The sudden stoppage in trade wrecked the North Korean economy. Entire towns saw their commercial activity dry up as freight ships rusted in their harbors from disuse. People who had made a living through the purchase and sale of goods from China were left with no way to support themselves.

The trade ban’s cascading effect ultimately led to food shortages, as a lack of farming equipment, fertilizers and pesticides led to lower-than-expected crop yields. Flooding in the Korean peninsula over two consecutive summers compounded the problem, pushing farm outputs even lower. And with the border closed, food imports from China were not available to help match demand with supply, raising fears of mass starvation.

The U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization estimated in a recent report that North Korea would be short about 860,000 tons of food this year, or about two months of normal demand.

Starvation deaths have been reported, and residents were told to prepare for a food crisis similar to the 1994-1998 famine that killed as much as 10 percent of the population, according to some estimates.

Authorities had been reluctant to reopen the border despite the deteriorating economic situation out of fear that a resumption of trade could spread the coronavirus and endanger public health in the capital Pyongyang. Prior to the pandemic, rail freight from China was processed at Pyongyang’s Seopo Station before heading to its destination.

But a new quarantine and cargo processing facility in Uiju, about 14 miles east of Sinuiju, will ensure that freight from China is safe before it is distributed within North Korea, an official from another North Pyongan trade agency told RFA.

RFA reported in March that the new line was built from Sinuiju, across the river from Dandong, to Uiju, and its new processing facility.

All international freight from China will come from Dandong and proceed to Uiju for processing, said the second source, who requested anonymity to speak freely.

“Imports from China must stop at Uiju station for customs and disinfection, then move to the quarantine facility for a one-week period before they can be distributed to other areas in North Korea,” said the second source.

Though cross-border rail freight has resumed, transporting freight on trucks is still restricted, a North Korean trade worker in Dandong told RFA.

“Train freight has little human contact, so the freight quarantine will prevent any problems with the coronavirus. On the other hand, if truck traffic resumes through the Dandong-Sinuiju customs office, hundreds of truck drivers will have to come and go every day,” said the trade worker.

“That would be a huge risk and could cause problems if they were to spread the coronavirus.”

Shipments of medical supplies from China to North Korea by the World Health Organization resumed in late September.

North Korea also covertly accepted food aid by train from China in April, when a freight  train loaded with Chinese corn left Dandong for Sinuiju under cover of night.

Sources in Dandong told RFA that the corn had been declared as animal feed.

Reported by Hyemin Sohn for RFA’s Korean Service. Translated by Claire Lee. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

A gold mine run by a Chinese company in southern Laos is releasing waste into a river in Sekong province, killing fish and fouling water used by villagers for drinking and bathing, Lao sources say.

The Lao Kaleum Gold Mining Project began operations last year and has polluted local water sources ever since it was launched, a resident of Ateng village, one of the affected areas, told RFA’s Lao Service on Tuesday.

“The gold mining takes place on higher ground, and the waste flows down to a reservoir,” the villager said, asking for anonymity to speak freely.

“But the reservoir is not up to standard. It leaks and overflows, and then the waste flows down to the river where we drink and bathe.”

“The pollution has already killed a lot of fish,” he added.

“We have been demanding that the project developer and the authorities restore the river to its normal condition,” he said.

Also speaking to RFA, a second Ateng villager said that he and other villagers are not opposed to government development plans. “We just need to have clean water,” he said.

“The pollution has been affecting us since last year. We’re hoping that the company is now trying to improve the waste system,” he said, adding, “A lot of fish have been killed, and we now have too little water.”

“We residents of Ateng and Ka-Ouang villages have been living in very difficult conditions,” he said.

The company managing the mine has now built a running-water system using pipes to carry water down from the mountains to affected villages.

But the amount of water delivered is insufficient, a resident of Ka-Ouang said.

“The system is broken, and has been damaged by heavy rains and storms,” he said.

To improve the flow of running water, the mining company and local authorities should monitor the waste reservoir and dump site, reduce the waste of chemical release, and restore the river to its normal condition, the villager said.

 15-year concession

The Lao Kaleum Gold Mining Project operates as a 15-year concession approved by the central government of Laos and supervised by local authorities, and is now digging a tunnel at the site to explore for gold, an official of Sekong’s Energy and Mines Department said.

The mining company has now almost completed work on a new wastewater treatment system, including a new reservoir and dumpsite, said a provincial official responsible for coordinating the province’s dealings with the company.

“The company will tell us when it’s finished, and then we’ll inspect it. And if we see anything wrong, the company will fix it,” the official said, also speaking on condition of anonymity.  “Everything must be up to our technical standard.”

“The company says that it’s aware of the villagers’ complaints and has been trying to solve these problems. And as for the running water, the company has plans to fix this in the near future,” he said.

Foreign-invested farming, mining, and development projects in Laos have sparked friction over cases of environmental pollution and land often taken without proper compensation, leaving villagers fearing retaliation if they speak out.

China is Laos’ largest foreign investor and aid provider, and its second-largest trade partner after Thailand.

Reported by RFA’s Lao Service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Richard Finney.

Washington will enhance its strategic partnership with Jakarta, President Joe Biden said Monday as he met for the first time in person with his Indonesian counterpart, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, amid heightened tensions with China and other challenges in the Indo-Pacific. 

The American and Indonesian presidents also talked about freedom of navigation, economic cooperation, the political crisis in Myanmar, and the coronavirus pandemic during their meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Scotland, according to statements and transcripts. 

Indonesia is a “vital strategic partner” to the U.S., and as a strong proponent of the international rules-based order, “your leadership in the Indo-Pacific is essential,” Biden told Jokowi.

“I’m looking forward to building more on our bilateral relationship because we have so much that we can work together on and so much in common,” Biden said, according to a statement from the White House.

“From addressing the climate crisis to ending the COVID-19 pandemic to upholding freedom of the seas, there’s no global challenge today that doesn’t benefit from Indonesia and the United States working together.”

For his part, Jokowi said Indonesia would become a reliable partner to Washington, as he invited the U.S. to invest in environmentally sustainable sectors in his country.

“I’m looking forward to U.S. support by investing in our energy transition, especially in low-carbon technology,” Jokowi said, according to a statement from his office.

Biden met with Jokowi in Glasgow after the U.S. president interacted with him and other leaders of member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in late October, and after senior American officials had visited the region.  

Since coming to power in January, the Biden administration has made a concerted effort to engage more and more with Southeast Asian nations, as Beijing competes with Washington for economic influence in the region.

Indonesia has become China’s largest trading partner. Chinese investments in the archipelago nation have grown consistently, doubling to almost $4.8 billion in 2020 from $2.4 billion in 2017.

American engagement with Southeast Asia’s largest and most populous country should come as no surprise, said Dinna Prapto Raharja, an international relations analyst at Synergy Policies, a think-tank.

“The U.S. is never going anywhere,” she told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service, when asked if the meeting signaled an American comeback to Southeast Asia after a perceived lack of interest in the region under the Trump administration.

“The U.S. has always been involved in the Indo-Pacific because it has an interest in countering China, to appear tough on China.”

Indonesia has always had an independent and active foreign policy – which means that Jakarta does not side with any other powers but participates in the settlement of international issues.

Lately, though, some analysts have questioned Jakarta’s silence on repeated Chinese incursions into Indonesian waters in the South China Sea.

Washington, meanwhile, has been stepping up its freedom of navigation operations in the Indo-Pacific and looking at more intense engagement in the region, according to Ahmad Rizky M. Umar, a political scientist expert and doctoral candidate at the University of Queensland in Australia.

“[Vice President] Kamala Harris and [Minister of Defense] Lloyd Austin have already toured Southeast Asia,” Rizky told BenarNews.

“From what I gather, Biden is directing diplomatic and defense resources to the Indo-Pacific region, which of course also includes Southeast Asia,” he said.

‘True strategic partnership’

The U.S. is not the only foreign power courting Indonesia – France is, too, especially after Paris lost a major contract to sell submarines to Australia, following the announcement of the AUKUS pact. Under AUKUS, the United States and the United Kingdom will share technology for Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines.

France appears to now be turning to other Indo-Pacific powers – including Indonesia – for “true” relationships.

On Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron met with Jokowi on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rome.

Jokowi welcomed “progress” in defense cooperation between the two countries and expressed hope for stronger strategic ties and investment in the sector.

Macron called Indonesia “more than just a partner” in a social media post in French.

“Together with our partners, we will continue to work so that the Indo-Pacific remains a region of peace and cooperation. In this regard, Indonesia is the main actor, more than just a partner, but a friend,” Macron wrote on Twitter.

The two leaders “decided to work on a true strategic partnership in the Indo-Pacific,” the Agence France-Presse news agency reported, citing the French presidential palace.

On AUKUS, Indonesia has expressed concern the trilateral deal would spur an arms race in Southeast Asia.

According to an Indonesian defense ministry official, talks between Jokowi and Macron touched on defense technology transfers and joint production of armaments.

“France is committed to technology transfer and production being carried out in Indonesia,” Dahnil Ahzar Simanjuntak, a spokesman for Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto told BenarNews, without revealing details.

In June in Paris, Prabowo signed a defense cooperation agreement with his French counterpart, Florence Parly.

The deal covers military education and training, science and technology, peacekeeping cooperation, the fight against terrorism, and joint production of armaments.

In July, Prabowo said his ministry hoped to acquire advanced fighter-jets including U.S.-made F-15s, Rafales from France, and Sukhoi Su-35s and Su-57s from Russia.

AUKUS may influence Indonesia’s defense procurement in favor of France, according to a recent article published by the Lowy Institute, an Australian think-tank.

“Indonesia will likely settle on those fighter jets least likely to incense either China or the US, giving France’s Rafale bid an advantage over the others, unless a new contender appears on the horizon,” said the article by Johannes Nugroho, an Indonesian political analyst.

For France, its interest in the Indo-Pacific is about securing its maritime position in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, where it possesses territories, including Mayotte, La Réunion, New Caledonia, and French Polynesia, according to Rizky, the analyst at the University of Queensland.

“France has its own Indo-Pacific outlook, which in many ways is also concerned with China, especially in the South China Sea,” Rizky said.

US-Indonesia concern on Myanmar

During their meeting on Monday, Jokowi and Biden also discussed the post-coup crisis in Myanmar. They called on the junta to immediately release political prisoners who have been jailed since the military ousted the civilian government on Feb 1.

“They expressed concern about the coup in Burma and agreed the Burmese military must cease violence, release all political prisoners, and provide for a swift return to democracy,” the White House said in a statement.

At least 1,229 people have been killed in a military crackdown on anti-coup protesters, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.

North Korean farmers poisoned by a Chinese-made pesticide are resorting to folk remedies to treat life-threatening liver diseases, as the government refuses to take responsibility for forcing them to spray crops without protective equipment, sources in the country told RFA.

The cash-strapped North Korean government routinely uses its citizens as free labor for farm work, and laborers must often toil for long hours due to shortages in farming equipment and vehicles, especially at planting and harvesting time.

But when the crops are still growing, many are mobilized for bug-killing detail, spraying acre after acre of crops with pesticide for many days on end. Without proper safety gear, the sprayer can be poisoned due to prolonged, repeated exposure.

Pesticides from China have not been used since 2019, after Pyongyang and Beijing closed down their border and suspended all trade in Jan. 2020 due to coronavirus concerns. The collective farms are refusing to pay for the treatment for the sick farm workers, saying that the cause of their liver disease cannot be the Chinese pesticide because two years have passed since they last sprayed.

“Recently, at a few collective farms here in Ongjin county, the number of farm workers complaining about liver diseases is increasing. The farmers claim that pesticides were absorbed into their bodies as they sprayed it onto crops,” a resident of the county in the country’s southwest told RFA’s Korean Service on Oct. 27.

“The collective farms were supplied with ‘Delta’ brand insecticide from China until the end of 2019, at the start of the coronavirus outbreak, and the farmers were spraying it by themselves,” said the source, who requested anonymity to speak freely.

“There was a warning on the container that it should be handled as carefully as possible to prevent it from being absorbed into the human body, but the farmers… sprayed it without protective equipment.”

Most North Korean farms do not even have basic items like work gloves, the source said, adding that while Delta and other Chinese pesticides have not been imported since before the pandemic, the farmers’ liver function had already begun deteriorating by that point.

“The poisoned farmers are visiting hospitals because they show symptoms of jaundice, which causes the whites of the eyes and facial skin to turn yellow, and severe swelling in the legs,” the source said.

“All the patients were diagnosed with cirrhosis by their doctors, and they were told that it was caused by spraying pesticides with their bare hands without any protective equipment.”

“The farmers then went to the farm management committee and strongly appealed that they should take responsibility for their treatment… However, the farm is ignoring their plea, saying that it is unacceptable that the pesticide sprayed several years ago is the cause of an abnormality or disease in the body right now,” the source said.

The decision of the committee has caused anger and resentment among the farmers, the source said.

“They are saying that their only reward for all their hard labor is an illness that breaks their bodies.”

Farms in South Pyongan province, north of the capital Pyongang, also disagreed with their workers that pesticides could have caused their illnesses, a resident from the province’s Kangso county told RFA.

“Recently a farm worker visited the hospital because her menstrual cycle was irregular and her face was abnormally yellow. She was diagnosed with cirrhosis,” said the second source.

“She had the doctor re-examine her, saying that she doesn’t even drink a sip of alcohol, so there’s nothing that could affect her liver, but she was confirmed to have cirrhosis,” the second source said.

The woman was hospitalized, and her family visited several times and underwent tests and interviews in hopes of finding the cause of her cirrhosis.

“In the end, the doctor’s opinion was that her many years of mobilization for pesticide spraying duty was likely the cause of the disease, so the family appealed to the farm to come up with a treatment plan,” the second source said.

“As this became known, other farm workers who were also mobilized to spray pesticide went in to get their liver checked and many came away with a cirrhosis diagnosis,” the second source said.

“Though they each complained of different symptoms and levels, they had one thing in common. They were all made to spray pesticides in multiple years.”

Most residents believe that there is a clear link between pesticide duty and liver disease, but the farms are silent. And as many of the workers cannot afford the cirrhosis treatment, they must now rely on alternative medicine, the second source said.

“The ones with severe symptoms are struggling to detoxify their liver with folk remedies, such as eating a lot of buckwheat and mung beans. They strongly resent the farm and the authorities for their indifference.”

North Korea is in the midst of a severe food crisis due to the border closure, natural disasters, and a lack of productive capacity. The shortages, and the inability of imports to cover the deficit between domestic food production and demand, have caused food prices to skyrocket.

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization projected in a recent report that the country of 25 million people would be short around 860,000 tons of food, or two months’ consumption, this year. The UN World Food Program estimates that about 40 percent of North Korea’s population is undernourished.

Starvation deaths have been reported, and the government has told the people to prepare for a situation worse than the 1994-1998 North Korean famine that killed millions, or as much as 10 percent of the population by some estimates.

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

An accident in the South China Sea involving a nuclear-powered American submarine was caused by an uncharted, natural underwater feature, the U.S. Navy has concluded after a month-long investigation.

In a statement issued late Monday, the U.S. 7^th Fleet said its investigation into the Oct. 2 collision determined that the USS Connecticut “grounded on an uncharted seamount while operating in international waters in the Indo-Pacific region.” A seamount is a mountain under the sea.

The investigation has been submitted to the commander of the U.S. 7th Fleet, Vice Adm. Karl Thomas, for review and endorsement, as well as to decide whether further accountability actions are needed, the three-sentence statement said.

The U.S. military initially reported, five days after the collision, that the submarine struck an unknown object while operating in the South China Sea. Eleven sailors were reportedly hurt, but none with life-threatening injuries. The sub is undergoing repairs at the Guam Naval Base.

China, which accused the U.S. Navy of covering up the incident, on Tuesday called for the U.S. to explain in detail what happened.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the U.S. side had not clarified the “intended navigation” of the sub, whether the incident happened in the waters of another country or whether it caused nuclear leakage or damage to the marine environment.

“This fully exposes the opacity and irresponsibility of the U.S. side,” Wang was quoted as saying by state-run Xinhua news agency.

The U.S. has denied any cover-up.

Alexander Neill, a defense and security consultant based in Singapore, told RFA that in his opinion the explanation seemed genuine.

“I don’t think the U.S. Navy would attempt to cover up or distort the truth about the nature of the accident. They know that eventually it would leak over time,” Neill said.

Experts say a large area of the disputed Spratly islands in the South China Sea are listed on nautical charts as so-called “dangerous ground” – a poorly surveyed and extremely challenging area to navigate. The deep waters are studded with seamounts.

“The USS Connecticut is one of the fastest subs in the fleet. It has the most sophisticated sonar and tracking technologies to scan what is all around the sub, but sea conditions under the surface are a bit like flying at altitude – undersea weather if you like – with turbulence, currents, changes in salinity and temperature,” the Singapore-based analyst explained.

“This might mean the sub travelling at speed might suddenly descend while the seabed is not fixed and the topography can change,” he added.

Accountability action

In 2005, another submarine – the USS San Francisco – struck a seamount near Guam at full speed, killing one sailor and injuring 24 others.

Andrew Korybko, a Moscow-based American political analyst who has been critical of the U.S. foreign policy in Asia, said: “Questions naturally arise about the U.S. Navy’s professionalism and whether they should continue operating nuclear-powered submarines in foreign waters lest they risk another collision that might lead to an ecological catastrophe in the worst-case scenario.”

“This is very embarrassing because it was avoidable, ” Korybko added.

In its initial statement on Oct. 7, five days after the collision, the U.S. Pacific Fleet reported that the submarine was in “a safe and stable condition” and its “nuclear propulsion plant and spaces were not affected” and remained fully operational.

According to Neill, the incident has been under investigation to establish whether it was a true accident or avoidable.

“In most cases of avoidable incidents the commander of the vessel is relieved of duty and mostly this is the end of their naval career,” he said.

“The best narrative for China is to accuse the U.S. of irresponsible and unprofessional behavior, also throw in the nuclear threat – which is also their narrative on AUKUS,” Neill added, referring to an Australia-U.K.-U.S. security pact announced in September.

China has been strongly critical of AUKUS which would help Australia develop nuclear submarines and is seen as a pushback against China’s growing military presence in the Indo-Pacific.

The South China Sea has become a flashpoint of tensions between the U.S. and China and a potential conflict zone between the two powers. Observers say Beijing has been expanding its underwater warfare capabilities including a submarine fleet that is currently inferior to the U.S. but developing rapidly.

The U.S. Defense Department’s latest report on Chinese military power, published in September 2020, said that China puts high priority on submarine development.

The report said the Chinese Navy “will likely maintain between 65 and 70 submarines through the 2020s, replacing older units with more capable units on a near one-to-one basis.”

Currently China operates four nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, six nuclear-powered attack submarines, and 50 diesel-powered attack submarines, according to the report.

The U.S. Navy reportedly has around 70 submarines, all nuclear-powered.

Authorities in Hong Kong look set to expand compulsory use of a COVID-19 tracking app, as police vowed on Tuesday to track down the developers of a fake version of the app.

Police are investigating the origins of the fake app after the government made its LeaveHomeSafe app compulsory for anyone entering government-run buildings, including courts, swimming pools, badminton courts and public markets from Nov. 1.

Police on Monday arrested three government employees and two contractors for using the fake app to gain access to Immigration Tower.

The LeaveHomeSafe app has sparked concerns that it will be used to control people’s movements for political purposes.

Media backed by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) called on Monday for the app to be made mandatory in all public indoor spaces.

On Tuesday, Michael Tien, who represents Hong Kong at the National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing, said the government is planning to make it compulsory for people to use the app when going to any kind of restaurant, as part of a bid to persuade Beijing to scrap quarantine for Hong Kong visitors.

“The Chinese government wants to see LeaveHomeSafe as the key apparatus to trace people from Hong Kong, who eventually test positive [for Covid-19], where they have been in the last 14 days,” Tien said in a comments reported by government broadcaster RTHK.

The news came a day after five more people pleaded guilty to charges of “taking part in an illegal assembly” after they attended a banned gathering commemorating the victims of the June 4, 1989 massacre than ended weeks of student-led protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

Lee Cheuk-yan, Richard Tsoi, Leung Yiu-chung, Leung Kam-wai and Wu Chi-wai, the last of 16 activists to be tried and jailed for taking part in the candlelight vigil, entered the plea on Monday, while co-defendants Jimmy Lai, Gwyneth Ho and former vigil organizer Chow Hang-tung pleaded not guilty.

“We should commemorate June 4, 1989,” Lee, who once headed the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China which ran the vigils for three decades, told the court. “It’s our duty, and I have no regrets.”

“I understand every word of the charge, but I can’t see where the crime is in mourning the loss of innocent lives,” Chow told the court, prompting applause from the public gallery.

Ho said she was pleading not guilty. “Even if commemorating [the Tiananmen dead] is a crime, the truth can’t stay silent,” she said.

Judge Amanda Woodcock adjourned proceedings for the five pleading guilty until Nov. 12, for mitigation pleas and sentencing.

Previous defendants who attended the vigil of some 20,000 people have been jailed for up to 10 months, or handed suspended sentences.

The high-profile cases came amid an ongoing crackdown on public dissent and peaceful protest under the national security law, which bans any criticism of the Hong Kong authorities or the CCP regime, as well as speech and actions deemed seditious, subversive, secessionist, or supportive of terrorism.

Hong Kong police arrested four people aged 61-85 in Mong Kok at the weekend for “sedition” after they held up a yellow umbrella symbolizing the 2014 pro-democracy movement, along with a pop-up display calling for fully democratic elections on the street.

One may plead guilty

Meanwhile, a former student activist charged with “secession” under Hong Kong’s draconian national security law will likely plead guilty, prosecutors told the District Court on Tuesday.

Tony Chung, who is about to stand trial for “secession” and “money-laundering” in connection with his activities in the now-disbanded group Studentlocalism, but is now likely to strike a plea bargain, the prosecution told the court on Tuesday, RTHK reported.

Chung was arrested on Oct. 27 for allegedly violating Article 21 of the national security law, which forbids anyone from giving any kind of assistance to someone violating the law, and which carries a maximum jail term of 10 years.

He stands accused of “actively organizing, planning, implementing or participating in acts aimed at splitting the country and undermining national unity in Hong Kong from July 1 to Oct. 27 this year, along with others,” according to the charges against him.

The money-laundering charges relate to a crowdfunding campaign by Studentlocalism, which called for donations only from those who supported independence for Hong Kong, and to payments totaling nearly H.K.$700,000 made to Chung’s personal bank account between January 2018 and July 2020.

Chung is also accused of conspiring to publish seditious publications in Hong Kong between Nov. 30, 2018 and June 9 of this year, before the national security law took effect.

Chung was among four young people arrested by Hong Kong police on July 26 on suspicion of “secession” under the national security law, which took effect on July 1.

The arrestees aged from 16 to 21 were taken into custody in raids in the New Territories districts of Yuen Long, Shatin, and Tuen Mun on suspicion of “organizing and inciting secessionist activities.”

Police said they were suspected of posting announcements online calling on people to fight to establish a “Hong Kong nation,” of declaring that they would use all necessary means to achieve this end, and of calling for pro-independence groups to unite.

Studentlocalism disbanded ahead of the law’s implementation, but as the posts were made after the new law took effect, they fell under articles in the law banning “incitement” to secessionist activities, police said.

Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.