Day: September 8, 2022

The Chinese social media platform WeChat is warning users outside China that their data will be stored on servers inside the country, RFA has learned.

A number of overseas WeChat users received a notification on Sept. 6, warning that “personal data [including] likes, comments, browsing and search history, content uploads, etc.” will be transmitted to China.

The notification also reminds users that their behavior while using the app is subject to WeChat’s licensing agreement and privacy policy.

A YouTuber living in France who gave only the pseudonym Miss Crook said she was shocked to receive a French translation of the same message.

“I clicked through and … this message popped up, so I automatically clicked cancel,” she said. “It’s becoming clear what the difference is between a democracy and a dictatorship.”

She said the move would likely affect large numbers of Chinese nationals and emigres living overseas.

“Overseas Chinese have become very dependent on WeChat, but is it really that important?” she said. “We can actually stop using it completely, so we shouldn’t let them confuse us. It’s really not that important.”

Faced with mounting international concern over privacy protection, WeChat said in September 2021 that it had “separated” its data storage facilities for domestic and international users, asking overseas users to re-sign the terms and conditions to keep using the app, which many people rely on to send money to people in China, make purchases in Chinese yuan, and stay in touch with friends and family.

Former Sina Weibo censor Liu Lipeng said the move was largely a cosmetic one, however.

“Last year … WeChat re-signed its agreements with all overseas users, but everything on there except for one-to-one chats have to use WeChat protocols,” Liu said. “So the moment you click OK, you are back in [the Chinese version] again.”

“Everything you write is still available [to the Chinese authorities], so it’s basically sleight of hand. Nothing has changed,” he said. “You are a still a WeChat user.”

U.S.-based legal scholar Teng Biao said WeChat’s parent company Tencent is already required under China’s Cybersecurity Law to assist the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with any data it says it needs, as are all of the other internet service providers and social media platforms in China.

“The Chinese government has always used WeChat inside China as a tool to control society and censor speech, which is part and parcel its program of high-tech totalitarian control,” Teng told RFA.

“It has also always used WeChat as a way to export its censorship beyond its borders, to the United States and other countries,” he said.

“Western countries should consider re-evaluating WeChat as a threat to national security, data security, personal privacy and so on,” Teng said. “[They] cannot allow China’s censorship system to extend into the West and all around the world.”

Growing concerns

Concerns have been growing for some time over overseas censorship and surveillance via WeChat, with the U.S. banning any U.S.-based individuals or entities from doing business with Tencent, and rights activists describing it as a “prison” that keeps overseas users within reach of CCP law enforcement operations.

Launched by Tencent in 2011, WeChat now has more than 1.1 billion users, second only to WhatsApp and Facebook, but the company keeps users behind China’s complex system of blocks, filters and human censorship known as the Great Firewall, even when they are physically in another country.

The app is also used by China’s state security police to carry out surveillance and harassment of dissidents and activists in exile who speak out about human rights abuses in the country, or campaign for democratic reform.

And it’s not just Chinese nationals who are being targeted.

In May 2020, researchers at CitizenLab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto warned that anyone using WeChat, even if they have lived their whole lives outside China, is “subject to pervasive content surveillance that was previously thought to be exclusively reserved for China-registered accounts.”

Documents and images transmitted entirely among non-China-registered accounts undergo content surveillance wherein these files are analyzed for content that is politically sensitive in China, the report, titled “We Chat, They Watch,” said.

The report warned of “very serious” security and privacy issues associated with WeChat and other Chinese apps, and called on app stores to highlight risks to users before they download such apps.

And a recent report detailing massive amounts of user data collected by TikTok also sparked privacy concerns around the hugely popular video app, which is owned by Chinese internet company ByteDance.

In a technical analysis of TikTok’s source code, security research firm Internet 2-0 found the app, which is the sixth most-used globally with forecast advertising revenues of U.S. $12 billion in 2022, was “overly intrusive” and data collection was “excessive.”

While TikTok claims user data is stored in the U.S. and Singapore, the report found evidence of “many subdomains in the iOS app scattered around the world,” including Baishan, China.

As of September 2021 TikTok had more than one billion active users globally, 142.2 million of whom are in North America.

The report found that TikTok makes use of a number of permissions considered “dangerous” by industry experts.

Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

Authorities in Tibet have released a man serving a 12-year prison term for “murder” in connection with the death of a fellow Tibetan who self-immolated in protest of Chinese rule, according to sources living in exile from the region with knowledge of the situation.

“Pema Dhondup has been under constant scrutiny since his release from prison on Aug. 31,” the source told RFA Tibetan, speaking on condition of anonymity citing security risks.

Dhondup, of Sangchu (in Chinese, Xiahe) county in Gansu province’s Kanlho (Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, was freed from jail two years before the end of his sentence and received by family members, the source said.

“He was convicted of the murder of Dorje Rinchen who self-immolated to protest the Chinese government and died, although Pema Dhondup only took care of Rinchen’s body after the self-immolation,” he said.

“His release from the prison is confirmed but we don’t know about his health condition. From his looks and appearance, he seems to be fine.”

A second source in exile, who declined to be named, also confirmed Dhondup’s release and monitoring by authorities.

“The Chinese government has been keeping a close eye on Pema since his release,” the source said.

“Relatives who are visiting him are not allowed to take pictures or speak on the phone while they are in his house.”

Dhondup was among seven Tibetans sentenced in 2012 by the Sangchu County People’s Court to prison terms ranging from three to 12 years for their alleged involvement in an Oct. 23 protest that year in which Dorje Rinchen, a local villager, set himself on fire and died.

In addition to Dhondup, Padma Tamdru, Kelsang Gyamuktso, Padma Co, and Lhamo Tamdru were convicted of “intentional homicide” for their roles in blocking police efforts to “rescue” the self-immolator, state media said at the time, and were sentenced to 12, 11, eight, and seven years in jail, respectively.

Two other defendants, Do Gekyap and Yang Monje, were handed four and three-year terms respectively for “causing a chaotic scene” and disrupting local traffic following the burning, the report said.

The source in exile told RFA that the other six Tibetans who were arrested and charged along with Dhondup have all since been released, but “remain under scrutiny and restrictions” by local authorities.

Tibetan regions of China have been rocked in recent years by a wave of self-immolation protests by Tibetans challenging Beijing’s rule and calling for the return from exile of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

Chinese authorities have labeled the self-immolators as terrorists, outcasts, criminals, and mentally ill people, and have accused the Dalai Lama of encouraging the burnings.

Translated by Tenzin Dickyi. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

“Freedom for Vietnam!” shouted noodle peddler and activist Bui Tuan Lam, as police dragged him away for “insulting” the country’s leaders. 

The arresting officers first covered his mouth with their hands in an effort to silence him. Then they pushed him into a car “and gagged him with a dirty towel that I use to wipe up the noodle tables,” said Le Than Lam, Bui Tuan Lam’s wife who described the scene of her husband’s arrest to RFA’s Vietnamese Service on Wednesday at their home and restaurant in Danang, in the country’s central region.

Bui Tuan Lam had achieved some notoriety last year when he appeared in a video that went viral showing him imitating the Turkish chef known as Salt Bae. 

The video was widely seen as a mockery of a senior Vietnamese government official who was caught on film being hand fed one of Salt Bae’s gold-encrusted steaks — by the chef himself — at a cost of 1,450 pounds (U.S. $1,975). Critics wondered how the official could afford the extravagant meal on a monthly salary of $660.

Bui Tuan Lam, who called himself “Onion Leaf Bae” in the video, was charged for violating Article 117 of the country’s Penal Code, which prohibits “creating, storing, and disseminating materials and items against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,” state media reported. 

Prior to his arrest, hundreds of officers surrounded the family home and demanded entry, Le Thanh Lam told RFA. 

“It happened at about 7 p.m. when all of our family members were at home. At first, they pulled at the door trying to gain entry. We said that they had to show us a search warrant,” she said.

“They said they would carry out a search first and provide us with the warrant later, but we refused to let them in. They assaulted Lam’s younger brothers, Minh and Tuan, grabbing their necks, arms and legs, then arrested them both and escorted them to the police station,” she said.

After searching the house, the police confiscated three T-shirts printed with the message, “Human rights should be respected in Vietnam,” said Le Thanh Lam.

The officers also destroyed three security cameras but did not acknowledge doing so in the summary of their search, she said.

During the search, her husband began to peacefully defy the police.

“They did not allow him to talk with others. They took him inside but he shouted loudly ‘Freedom for Vietnam!’ and sang songs” in protest, she said.

After the search they dragged him away as he continued to shout. So they shoved him into the car and gagged him, Le Thanh Lam said.

Bui Tuan Lam’s mockery of a government official should not be considered a crime, Phil Robertson, deputy director for Asia at New York-based Human Rights Watch told RFA.

“Vietnamese authorities regularly define any comment they don’t like as ‘propaganda against the state’, making Vietnam one of the most thin-skinned governments in the region when it comes to public criticism,” Robertson said.

“In this case, they are locking up a street-side noodle seller who had the audacity to ridicule the minister of public security for buying a U.S. $2,000 steak on an overseas trip.”

Mockery is a legitimate form of expression, Robertson said.

“Vietnam should abolish the rights-abusing Article 117 of the Penal Code, and immediately free Bui Tuan Lam and others locked up for simply expressing views the communist party dislikes,” he said.  

Authorities on Thursday used the same article to justify the arrest of music lecturer Dang Dang Phuoc of Dak Lak Province, south of Danang, who discussed Bui Than Lam’s arrest on Facebook.

“Phuoc was arrested at around 6 a.m. while doing morning exercises near his home. The police took him to his home and searched his house,” a close friend of Phuoc, who requested anonymity for safety reasons, told RFA.

 “Ha, Phuoc’s wife, rang me at 6:10 a.m. and told me about the arrest. I came right away. The police searched the house for many hours.” Phuoc’s friend said.

 RFA contacted the Dak Lak Provincial Police to verify Phuoc’s arrest but the police officer who answered refused to provide information over the phone.

 “Since 2019, Dang Dang Phuoc has taken advantage of the Facebook platform to compile and publish many stories and video clips with distorted content against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,” state media quoted Dak Lak police as saying.

 Phuoc, 59, is a music lecturer at Dak Lak Education College who has about 6,000 followers on his Facebook page, where he often discusses social issues.

 His most recent post criticized the Danang police for their actions during Wednesday’s arrest of Bui Tuan Lam.

 Translated by Anna Vu. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

A Uyghur father and son in northwestern China’s Xinjiang province are serving prison sentences for taking part in “illegal” religious education at home, a Uyghur who has knowledge of the situation said.

Memet Musa, a 50-year-old religious cleric from Lenger village, Keriye (in Chinese Yutian) county in Hotan (Hetian) prefecture, and his 20-year-old son, Osman Memet, were sentenced to prison in 2018 because the father taught the Qur’an to his son, said the source from Keriye, who now lives in exile.

Musa was known for his public cautiousness and to not cross the lines drawn by the Chinese authorities when it came to religion, the source said. When Musa was asked by others to teach the Qur’an, he politely declined by saying he was a poor teacher. 

But he taught his son the Qur’an and the basic teachings of Islam to fulfill what he viewed as his role as a father, said the Uyghur in exile, who declined to be named out of fear of reprisal by the Chinese government.

Chinese police in 2017 arrested Memet for reciting suras, or sections, from the Quran at several funerals in the community, the source said.

During his interrogation, Memet told police that when he was a child, he learned to recite the Quran from his father and not from people considered by authorities to be suspect, said the Uyghur in exile. But police still considered the teachings to be a crime, the source said.

Chinese authorities have punished large numbers of Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in Xinjiang during the past five years for taking part in “illegal” family-based religious education from community religious figures, according to leaked Chinese government documents and accounts of former detainees from so-called “re-education” camps.

Authorities also have arrested and jailed other young Uyghurs for receiving religious instruction from their parents or grandparents, according to the documents in the Xinjiang Police Files, first published by the Washington, D.C.-based Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation on May 24. The files contain information about Uyghurs detained in Xinjiang, though Musa and his son are not mentioned in the documents.  

Chinese government officials in Keriye declined to answer RFA’s questions about the imprisonment of Memet Musa and his son. 

But officers at the Lenger village police station confirmed the information provided by the Uyghur source when contacted by RFA.

One officer named Musa as one of the religious figures arrested from the village, adding that he was sentenced along with his son. 

“I heard about his [Musa’s] case when our police station chief talked about it, but I was not directly involved in it,” the officer said.

A second officer said Musa, who has three children, once served as an imam at the village mosque and had been sentenced to 10 years in jail, while his son got six years.

“His crime was illegal preaching,” the policeman said. 

His son’s crime was “studying religious knowledge from his father,” he said.

Both Musa and Memet are serving their prison terms in a prison in Keriye, the policeman said.

The criminalization of family-based religious instruction has occurred across Xinjiang since 2017, said the Uyghur in exile. That year is when Chinese authorities began arbitrarily detaining Uyghurs and other Turkic people in a vast network of hundreds of internment camps under the pretense of providing vocational education to prevent religious extremism and terrorism in the region.

It is believed that authorities have held up to 1.8 million Uyghurs and others accused of harboring “strong religious” and “politically incorrect” views in the camps. There is credible evidence that some detainees have been subjected to forced labor, torture, sexual assault, and forced sterilizations and abortions. Authorities also have made efforts to eradicate the Uyghur language, culture and religion.

Translated By RFA Uyghur. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

UPDATED at 5:47 p.m. on 9-8-2022

During her 70 years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth II presided over the sunset of the British Empire and declining British influence, but she also commanded deep respect.  The record of her meetings with Asian leaders reads like a who’s who of the region’s modern history since World War II. Emperor Hirohito of Japan, Indonesia’s Suharto, King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew and China’s Xi Jinping are just a few of the national leaders she visited in Asia or hosted at Buckingham Palace.

As British monarch, Queen Elizabeth served as head of the Commonwealth of former British colonies. She visited many of those countries multiple times. The Asian members she visited included Bangladesh in 1983; Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, which she first visited in 1972; India and Pakistan, which she first visited in 1961; the Maldives in 1972; and Sri Lanka in 1954, just two years after she ascended the throne on the death of her father, George VI.

She also frequently traveled to far-flung Pacific island nations that are in the Commonwealth, such as Fiji, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Samoa. Additionally, she was hosted in Nepal, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, China, and South Korea.

Her 1986 six-day trip to China was the first-ever by a British monarch to the country, where she visited the Forbidden City in Beijing and the Great Wall, and reaffirmed the British commitment to return Hong Kong to Chinese rule. That commitment was fulfilled in July 1997, an act widely seen as heralding the end of the British Empire. 

Queen Elizabeth’s last visit to Asia was in 2006, where she was hosted by President S.R. Nathan in Singapore as head of the British Commonwealth.  

Her reign straddled the tenure of 15 British prime ministers. The first was Winston Churchill, Britain’s leader during World War II. Her last was Liz Truss, who took office on Tuesday after meeting the queen, just two days before the monarch died.

For the vast majority of Britons, Queen Elizabeth was the only monarch they had known in their lifetime. For citizens around the world, her image is often associated with the rapid decolonization of Britain’s global imperial holdings, but she maintained strong ties with the peoples and leaders of those countries even after their independence.

Elizabeth assumed the throne at age 25. She died on Thursday at the age of 96 at Balmoral Castle, a royal estate in Scotland, surrounded by her children. She will be succeeded by her eldest son, the 73-year-old Charles, Prince of Wales.

Correction: An earlier version of this story referred to Liz Truss as Britain’s head of state. She is the leader of the government.

Rises in the cost of medicines in Myanmar are leaving many without access to treatment, with prices of basic drugs sometimes doubling and clinics often short of supplies, sources in the military-ruled country say.

Even medicines commonly used for treating head colds or flu now cost twice as much as they did before the Feb. 1, 2021 military coup that overthrew civilian rule in Myanmar, sources say.

“Prices are just going up and up,” a resident of the country’s former capital Yangon told RFA. “A packet of the widely used household medicine Mixagrip used to cost around 600 kyat [$0.29] but now sells for around 1,800,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

“For a while, Mixagrip was not even available in the stores, but has started to show up on the shelves again just recently,” he said.

The cost of other medicines has also soared, with Cardivas, a drug used for treating heart conditions, almost doubling from 1,000 kyat ($0.48) to over 1,500 kyat, and Amlong-5, a drug used for treating hypertension, climbing from 3,400 ($1.62) kyat to 6,500 kyat, sources say.

The owner of a drug store in Yangon region’s Mingaladon township said that it is difficult to keep pharmaceuticals in stock because the costs charged by suppliers keep changing every day.

“I don’t order medicines anymore. I’m now just selling the ones I have, especially the drugs people need for emergencies,” he said. “I have to charge customers more than a thousand kyat each for the small packs that we used to sell for around 600.

“It’s not easy to sell to the public. People cannot pay that much,” he added.

RFA contacted Myanmar pharmaceutical companies to ask about the exorbitant prices of household medicines, but staff on duty said they were not allowed to discuss the matter. Officials at the Myanmar Medical Equipment Traders and Entrepreneurs Association also refused to answer questions.

Problems in foreign exchange market 

The owner of a major drugstore in Yangon’s Mingalar Market said that prices of household medicines have doubled due to the chaos in the foreign exchange market caused by dollar restrictions imposed by Myanmar’s Central Bank.

“The prices of commodities always change in accordance with the dollar price,” the store owner said, also asking for anonymity in order to speak freely. “We can still get drugs from our suppliers on a quota basis, like 20 or 30 bottles or packets at a time, and if a certain drug isn’t available, we can substitute it with another.

“The price of the drug in short supply would of course go up a little,” he added.

Drugs showing the greatest cost increase in recent months are antibiotics and drugs used in the long-term treatment of patients with cardiac and kidney problems, diabetes, and high blood pressure.

The prices of these medicines increased by 40% to 50% in August, sources say.

A doctor in Yangon region’s Hlaing Tharyar township told RFA that the number of patients seeking treatment at his private clinic has fallen recently due to the higher costs of medicines.

“Even if we don’t charge our doctors’ fees, drug prices have gone up a lot,” he said. “People are already facing hardships, especially in this township, and the high price of drugs is only making things worse.

“I can say that the number of patients visiting me has fallen a little. I think they only take home remedies nowadays instead of visiting the clinic if they feel a little unwell.”

Junta spokesman Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun denied to reporters in Naypyidaw on July 26 that medicines were in short supply and said that factories were turning out medicines that were high in quality though possibly expensive.

A 2021 survey by the UK-based website Prosperity.com, which tracks the education, health and safety conditions of different countries, ranked Myanmar’s development status at 133 out of 167 countries, with its health care ranking at 106.

Translated by Khin Maung Nyane for RFA Burmese. Written in English by Richard Finney.