Day: March 23, 2022

Authorities in China have launched a mass training program for censors to erase non-government religious content from China’s tightly controlled internet.

According to a March 21 directive published by the Zhejiang provincial ethnic and religious affairs commission, online training sessions will begin for would-be “religious content reviewers,” including sessions on religious policy and regulation under the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Protestant pastor Liu Yi, who now lives in California, worked for many years at a church in Zhejiang, and said the new policy is an extension of already-stringent controls on all forms of religious activity in China.

“In the early days of the CCP regime, there were [religious affairs] officials in both Protestant and Catholic churches, monitoring the preaching and Bible study carried out by the pastors [and priests],” Liu told RFA.

“They would report the church to the authorities if they found any so-called anti-socialist content,” he said. “This kind of spying has always existed among religious groups in China [under the CCP].”

An Xuanxuan, an official who answered the phone at the Zhejiang religious affairs commission on Tuesday, said the provincial government is recruiting people to monitor all kinds of religious content, including Christian and Islamic content.

“Any religious information service or religious website has to be licensed and [its staff] trained,” An told RFA.

The online training has been launched to avoid face-to-face contact during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Liu, the authorities are now extending their control over religious content online, as churches and other religious organizations have increasingly moved online during the pandemic.

“Anyone can post to social media, so that’s why the government needs these people, to supervise that,” he said. “They want them to monitor and report back on any religious activities online.”

New set of rules

The move comes after a new set of rules governing online religious content took effect from March 1, 2022.

Under the rules, no individual or organization is allowed to set up religious groups online, or carrying out religious schooling or ceremonies online, nor to recruit new followers.

Foreign organizations and individuals are also banned from publishing religious content on China’s internet.

“This is mainly aimed at the activities of some individuals and of unofficial churches,” Liu said. “It is putting further pressure on the ability of people to preach online.”

He said only Protestant churches that join the CCP’s official Three-Self Patriotic Church body may publish any kind of content online.

The training program in Zhejiang said it is seeking religious studies graduates, clerical personnel, religious studies researchers in institutes and other trainees with similar experience.

While courses have already started, registration will be ongoing, with new students permitted to start at any time.

Liu said the program isn’t confined to Zhejiang, however.

“The training and testing of online religious content reviewers isn’t just happening in Zhejiang; it’s happening nationwide as well,” he said.

So far, similar advertisements have been seen on official websites for authorities in Jilin, Heilongjiang, Guangdong, Guangxi, Shanghai, Yunnan, Shandong, Inner Mongolia, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Guangdong, Anhui and Tianjin.

The announcement in Tianjin dated March 7 says the course in that city will also include modules on the political thought of CCP general secretary Xi Jinping on “socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era,” “socialist core values,” and “important remarks from general secretary Xi Jinping on religion,” as well as the relevant laws and regulations.

Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited Cambodia at the weekend to lobby for regional solutions to the South China Sea disputes, potentially diluting Beijing’s influence in Phnom Penh.

This was his first bilateral foreign trip since taking office in October 2021.

Cambodia is the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) and has close relationship with both Japan and China.

China claims “historical rights” to most of the sea but Chinese claims are rejected by neighboring countries including some ASEAN members. An international tribunal in 2016 also rejected the legal basis of China’s sweeping claims.

“Although Cambodia and Japan are not claimant states in the South China Sea, these two countries pay important roles in mediating the South China Sea disputes,” said Kimkong Heng, visiting senior research fellow at the Cambodia Development Center (CDC).

“This year Cambodia chairs ASEAN so the country is in a good position to be a mediator for regional issues and challenges such as the Myanmar crisis and the South China Sea issues,” Heng said.

Last week, before Kishida arrived in Phnom Penh, two Japanese naval ships spent three days at Cambodia’s southern port city of Sihanoukville and conducted a joint exercise with the Royal Cambodian Navy. The Japanese crew also visited the Ream Naval Base where the U.S. alleges that Cambodia has granted exclusive utilization access to the Chinese military to part of the base. Cambodia has repeatedly denied the allegation.

A spokesperson at the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh told RFA last week that Washington is still concerned about “the intended use of the naval facility.”

“The U.S. Government has long expressed concerns that the Government of Cambodia has not been fully transparent about the intent, nature, and scope of the Ream project or the role the PRC (People’s Republic of China) military is playing in its construction,” said spokesperson Stephanie Arzate.

Influencing China

A joint statement issued after Prime Minister Kishida’s visit said that the leaders of Japan and Cambodia “reaffirmed the importance of sustaining peace, security, safety, freedom of navigation in and overflight above the South China Sea, as well as non-militarization and peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international law, including the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.”

Kishida on Tuesday tweeted that he confirmed with his counterpart “that any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo by force cannot be tolerated in any region of the world.”

“We were also in agreement that precisely because of this situation it is imperative that we further promote efforts to realize a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the prime minister said, referring to the concept initiated by the U.S. and its allies.

Stephen Nagy, senior associate professor at the Department of Politics and International Studies, International Christian University in Tokyo, said that Japan prioritizes maintaining stability and a rules-based approach to governing the South China Sea as its sea lanes are critical arteries for the Japanese economy.

Sovinda Po, a research fellow at the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, said Japan has “a broader strategic interest” in areas surrounding the South China Sea, including the East China Sea, where it has a territorial dispute of its own with China.

“The way in which ASEAN under Cambodia’s chairmanship deals with China on the South China Sea issue will determine the way in which China will respond. There are some concerns that if ASEAN goes soft with China, then China will further expand beyond the South China Sea,” Po added.

But Nagy said that Kishida will be challenged to get Cambodia to support Japan’s position. He said Cambodia’s close partnership with China continues to be strong and Phnom Penh’s relationship with Beijing is “not easily influenced.”

During Cambodia’s last chairmanship of ASEAN in 2012, the 10-member bloc, which makes decisions by consensus, failed to issue a joint statement for the first time in its history, reportedly over Cambodian resistance to language about the South China Sea.

Tricky task

Tokyo nevertheless also has some leverage in dealing with Phnom Penh, being the latter’s long-time ally and donor. The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1953.

During 1991-2017, Japan provided Cambodia with grants totalled 201.5 billion yen (US$1.68 billion), according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry. It also provided technical cooperation funds worth 86.3 billion yen (US$723 million) and a loan of 140.3 billion yen (US$1.17 billion) during the same period.

Most recently, Japan donated 1.3 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine to Cambodia and provided a loan of 45 billion yen (over US$377 million) to help with the Kingdom’s fight against the pandemic.

“Cambodia would always be willing to open up relations with Japan to get developmental aid, infrastructure and connectivity and diversify its relations in the region,” Nagy at ICU said.

Analysts say Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has been ruling Cambodia since 1985, will be trying to maintain a tricky balance between a good relationship with Japan and not offending China.

Heng said that for Japan it’s important to engage with Cambodia “to ensure that Japan’s strategic interests are considered in ASEAN meetings” regarding Southeast Asia and the wider Indo-Pacific.

That’s likely to be viewed with suspicion in Beijing.

Japan is also one of the four members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, alongside the U.S., Indian and Japan. The Quad, as it is better known, is widely seen as countering China’s weight in the region.

Yi Qiwei, a U.S. national born in China, recently joined the International Legion of Defense of Ukraine to fight the Russian invasion, alongside an estimated 20,000 other foreign nationals. Yi, a writer who grew up in a family of Chinese officials and now divides his time between the U.S. and Japan, started out helping refugees fleeing Ukraine, before signing up to fight for Ukraine. He spoke to RFA’s Mandarin Service about his daily life as a soldier, and his reasons for joining the war:

RFA: Mr. Yi, where are you now?

Yi Qiwei: I’m in Ukraine now, and I don’t know how to pronounce the name of this place, Szeginie, I think

RFA: Where is this place roughly? It’s on the western border of Ukraine, isn’t it?

Yi Qiwei: It’s a small village across the border from Medyka port in Poland.

RFA: What is the situation there now?

Yi Qiwei: It was pretty straightforward getting in [from Poland], although the line to get out [of the country] was nearly three miles long.

RFA: You entered Ukraine from Poland, right?

Yi Qiwei: Yes, it is better to enter Ukraine from Poland, because there are not many people.

RFA: There are still large numbers of refugees leaving the country, right?

Yi Qiwei: A lot, a lot.

RFA: Did you see any Chinese among them?

Yi Qiwei: No, I didn’t.

RFA: Why did you go to Ukraine?

Yi Qiwei: I came here to join the army. So, we didn’t go through immigration. We went first to Medyka, Poland, where there was an assembly point, where we reported for duty … then they gave us a pass.

RFA: Can you show us your pass?

Yi Qiwei: It’s in electronic form. I can’t let you see it because of my personal details.

RFA: You said you came from Poland, where did you come from before that?

Yi Qiwei: I originally came [to Europe] to dance [at] the Tomorrowland Winter music festival in France. I wanted to take advantage of the spring break to come out and have a good time. I flew directly from the United States. I had been planning to go to the French Alps from the Netherlands to dance. But then this war happened.

RFA: You decided on the spur of the moment to join the Foreign Legion?

Yi Qiwei: Yes, I made an on-the-spot decision.

RFA: Why did you decide to join the Foreign Legion?

Yi Qiwei: When I went to the central square in the Netherlands, there were a lot of people demonstrating there that day, which was a big shock to me. Why? Because there were so many protests across the whole of Europe, including Poland, London, Amsterdam. All of the major cities. Ukraine started its Foreign Legion program shortly after that, in early March.

I have had a dream of being a soldier since I was a child, so there’s that. Secondly, I wanted to be able to come back alive and show my daughter her handsome father who has been on the battlefield. I really thought like that at first. But when we went out there to distribute supplies and arrange transportation and accommodation for refugees, the effects of war are clearly visible. A lot of the kids are around the same age as my daughter. They’re so young, and they’re sleeping in a train station, sleeping in McDonalds, and in such cold weather. It’s really pitiful.

RFA: You are now in Ukraine. How does this village relate to the battlefield?

Yi Qiwei: Poland and Ukraine have a total of five ports, and this is actually one of the five ports from which refugees can leave.

RFA: When you saw these scenes, you said that you had a dream of becoming a soldier, but this war happened in a complex international situation. How do you view this war?

Yi Qiwei: I think this war is wrong. Everyone will say that war is wrong, or that war is bad, but why is it bad? I’m leaving soon, and I don’t know where they will deploy me, whether it’s to the logistics corps or the front line. I’m very scared.

I think that only when you really experience war, will you understand what it entails. That’s to say, you won’t want to experience it again. Only people who have never been through it go online to clamor about the happiness and interests of the people being sacrificed for the rise of a great power.

RFA: What do you think of the Chinese government’s stance on the war?

Yi Qiwei: Let’s just focus on people. Once we start talking about a stance, then we have to basically say whether Russia is in the right or Ukraine is in the right. But let’s talk about people and about life. That should come before national interests and ideology. If a country has life, it can get stronger, and its economy can develop.

RFA: But you are actually risking your own life when you go to war. How do you square that with yourself?

Yi Qiwei: My role in this war is minimal. I am like a pebble. Even if I die, no one will care. What I want to say to everyone you can only get a better understanding of what’s going on by experiencing it, as opposed to blindly believing in whatever propaganda. If China says Russia is in the right, then the [pro-CCP] Little Pinks aren’t going to echo anything the U.S. says. But what about Ukraine? I have dealt with government departments, and I hail from a family of government officials, so I know that there are a lot of mutual vested interests involved.

RFA: What is people’s attitude to you as a person of Chinese heritage.

Yi Qiwei: They were very moved that I volunteered to join the war at the age of 25, and with a family [back home]. Once, when I’d told them my story, someone from the church next door invited me to pray with them, so I think the power of faith helps people tend towards goodness.

RFA: What will you do tomorrow?

Yi Qiwei: I’m going to take a nap now. I’ve already told the military personnel that I’ll report at about 2:30 p.m.

Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

Chinese government restrictions on use of the Tibetan language have now spread to video services and other online platforms, as Beijing continues to push the assimilation of China’s ethnic minorities into the dominant Han Chinese culture, according to Tibetan sources.

Following recent Chinese government directives, the China-based language learning app Talkmate and video streaming service Bilibili have now removed the Tibetan and Uyghur languages from their sites, sources say.

And under a government order announced on Dec. 20, foreign organizations and individuals beginning March 1 may no longer spread “religious content” online in China or Tibet, with religious groups inside China told they must obtain a special license to do so.

The regulation, “Measures on the Administration of Internet Religious Information Service,” was issued jointly by the State Bureau of Religious Affairs, the State Internet Information Office, the Ministry of Industry and Information, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of State Security and went into effect March 1.

Restrictions are now also in place on a wide range of social media platforms in Tibetan areas, a source inside Tibet told RFA this week.

“Specifically, those platforms where users go live to perform and communicate with their audiences have seen more restrictions put in place,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

“Tibetans are forbidden to speak in Tibetan while communicating, and if any Tibetan artist tries to represent Tibetan culture and tradition on their social media platform, their accounts are disconnected,” the source said.

“And if such performances go live, they are immediately interrupted by the government,” he added.

Authorities in northwest China’s Qinghai province have already banned Tibetan social media groups tied to religion, warning group members they will be investigated and jailed if they continue to use them, sources told RFA in earlier reports.

Requirements for proficiency in Mandarin Chinese in testing and consideration for employment have meanwhile disadvantaged Tibetan students, as China seeks to promote the dominance of Chinese culture and language in Tibetan areas, sources say.

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

Language rights have become a particular focus for Tibetan efforts to assert national identity in recent years, with informally organized language courses in the monasteries and towns deemed “illegal associations” and teachers subject to detention and arrest.

Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.