Day: September 9, 2022

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un has vowed never to surrender the country’s nuclear arsenal despite what he said were efforts by the U.S. to destabilize his government, as parliament passed a law greenlighting an “automatic nuclear strike” in response to the threat of attack, state media reported.

“The aim of the United States is not just to eliminate our nuclear weapons themselves but also ultimately to bring down our [leadership at] anytime by forcing [North Korea] to put down nuclear weapons and give up or weaken the power to exercise self-defense,” the official Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted Kim as saying in an address to the 7th Session of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly on Thursday in the capital Pyongyang.

Kim’s comments came as the country’s rubber-stamp legislature passed a law authorizing an “automatic and immediate” nuclear strike in the face of what the KCNA described as an imminent attack against North Korea’s leadership or “important strategic objects” within its territory.

KCNA published a report explaining the law, which defined five situations under which North Korea would use nuclear weapons, three of which pertain to nuclear or nonnuclear attacks or imminent attacks against the leadership or strategic military targets.

The other two conditions are more vague – in the event that it was “preventing the expansion and protraction of a war,” and in a situation that “causes a catastrophic crisis to the existence of the state.”

South Korea’s Yonhap News reported that the new law allows for an immediate nuclear attack on any provocation that threatens the command and control of Pyongyang’s nuclear forces.

The law essentially gives Kim “monolithic command,” and “all decisive power concerning nuclear weapons,” the report said.

Kim’s remarks and the new law are widely seen as a statement that Pyongyang refuses to negotiate with foreign powers over the denuclearization issue. But South Korea’s government said it would continue its strategy of restraining the nuclear threat and efforts to achieve denuclearization on the Korean peninsula through dialogue with the North.

“North Korea’s continued nuclear weapons development will further strengthen the Seoul-Washington alliance, putting its own security at risk, and further isolating itself from the international community and worsening economic difficulties facing North Korean people,” said an official of the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

South Korea’s ruling People Power Party criticized the new law as “a threat to South Korea and the international community.”

 “The enactment of a nuclear force beyond the will to possess nuclear weapons is different from previous provocations, and it is very regrettable that it is a threat directly related to national security and people’s lives,” Park Jeong-ha, the party’s senior spokesperson said. 

“North Korea is still misjudging the international situation, isolating itself and causing sanctions on itself,” he said, urging North Korea to denuclearize and expressing a firm willingness to respond to armed provocations.

Deep Concern

U.N. Secretary General António Guterres expressed deep concern about the new law through his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric on Friday.

“The Secretary General has spoken often and recently about nuclear weapons. I think increasing the role of and significance of nuclear weapons and security doctrines is contrary to decades of efforts by the international community to reduce and eliminate nuclear risks,” said Dujarric. 

 “The Secretary General reiterates his call to the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) to resume dialogue with key parties concerned with a view to achieve sustainable peace and the complete and verifiable denuclearization of the nuclear Peninsula,” he said, using the official name for North Korea.

South Korea and the United States should not be intimidated by North Korea’s refusal to compromise on denuclearization, Alexander Vershbow, the former NATO deputy secretary general and former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, told RFA.

“Our two countries need to consult on what needs to be done to bolster the Alliance’s deterrence against nuclear coercion and ensure that Pyongyang is in no doubt that it will suffer devastating consequences if it uses its nuclear weapons,” Vershbow said. 

 “It will not be surprising if the DPRK statement fuels the ongoing debate within [South Korea] regarding acquisition of nuclear weapons of its own,” he said, adding that he believes the best strategy would be to focus on strengthening deterrence. “Our countries should continue to support denuclearization as the only basis for enduring peace on the Korean peninsula and normalization of relations with the DPRK.”

 The new law does not change North Korea’s nuclear weapons policy drastically, because Pyongyang already declared itself a nuclear state in 2013 as a means to defend itself, Andrew Yeo, the Korean chair at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, told RFA.

“There are two significant implications about the 2022 doctrine. First, North Korea has institutionalized the idea that it will not give up nuclear weapons, signaling to the international community that denuclearization efforts are futile,” said Yeo.

“Second, North Korea seems to be showing more confidence and maturity in its role as a nuclear state based on the language in the preamble, and how it lays out its logic for the use of nuclear weapons  – to deter war and defend North Korea sovereignty,” he said.

In reaction to North Korea’s message that “shuts the door” to denuclearization efforts, U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Seok-youl will pursue more deterrence, Yeo said.

“For engagement to resume, Seoul and Washington may have to accept North Korea as a nuclear state first and move towards an arms control agreement. However, neither side seems prepared yet to move in that direction,” he said.  

Pyongyang’s message to the world comes as no surprise, former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris, told RFA.

“The notion that North Korea would ever willingly give up its nuclear program is naive,” said Harris.

“Kim Jong Un has confirmed his intent. The U.S. and [South Korea] must continue to ensure the Alliance is prepared for any threat from the North,” he said, adding that Seoul should continue to rely on U.S. deterrence, rather than pursuing its own nuclear weapons program.

North Korea’s new approach to nuclear policy was “a step in the wrong direction,” Robert Gallucci, the former chief U.S. nuclear negotiator with North Korea, told RFA.

“Kim Jong Un’s statement does at least three things. First, it makes the chances of eventual engagement with the DPRK to improve relations and move the North to non-nuclear weapons status even more remote. Second, it clearly has the North embrace ‘first use’ of nuclear weapons, making their deterrent value no longer their ‘sole purpose,’” he said.

“Third, it raises the question of the adequacy of the U.S. extended deterrent to meet the security needs of Tokyo and Seoul, and thus the possibility of nuclear proliferation in Northeast Asia.”

The White House and U.S. Department of State issued statements on Friday denying any hostile U.S. intent toward North Korea. The statements said Washington continues to seek a diplomatic solution to the situation on the Korean peninsula while remaining fully committed to defending South Korea.

 Translated by Leejin J. Chung. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

The relatives of jailed opposition members and protesting casino workers in Cambodia are appealing for help with their cases from Prime Minister Hun Sen’s eldest son – widely seen as next in line to lead the nation – saying they no longer have faith in the current administration.

A group of activists from the banned Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), whose cases rights groups say are politically motivated, sent a letter to Royal Cambodia Army Commander Hun Manet in late August, urging him to ensure their freedom and allow them to participate in a general election slated for 2023.

The wife of jailed CNRP activist Kong Mas, Kol Sat, who along with other relatives has held regular demonstrations calling for the release of their loved ones, told RFA Khmer that she had begun writing directly to Hun Manet to intervene in her husband’s case because she had given up on Hun Sen and hopes that his son will be more reasonable if he becomes prime minister.

“To me when Hun Sen is out, there is only Hun Manet who can help because no one can challenge him. He controls the military and the country,” she said, adding that she believes Hun Manet is influential enough to free her husband and restore democracy to the country.

Kong Mas and the other jailed CNRP activists had been targeted by Hun Sen in the years following the Supreme Court’s dissolution of the party in November 2017. The court also placed a five-year ban precluding 118 CNRP lawmakers from participating in political activities.

Laid off workers from the NagaWorld casino in Phnom Penh who have been striking for the past eight months also recently reached out to Hun Manet for help in getting reinstated to their jobs.

In August, authorities violently clashed with around 100, mostly female, of the workers as they sought to protest in front of their former workplace, injuring several of them. The group’s petitions to the government for assistance have largely gone unanswered.

One of the workers told RFA on condition of anonymity that she sees Hun Manet as a powerful figure within the ruling Cambodian People’s party (CPP) who can help them resolve their labor dispute.

“Hun Manet is a prime minister candidate. I want him to help as a guardian or father,” she said.

“We have already submitted petitions to Prime Minister Hun Sen and the National Assembly but we need additional intervention.”

RFA could not reach Hun Manet for comment and questions sent to him through Facebook messenger went unanswered on Friday.

In July, Cambodia’s National Assembly advanced a proposed change to the country’s constitution eliminating the need for the legislature to approve a prime minister designated by the king. Critics said the change would all but ensure Hun Manet succeeds his father, who has ruled the country since 1985 and is now 69.

Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions, said the casino workers and opposition party activists are desperate for help and shifted their efforts to Hun Manet because they have lost hope in Hun Sen and other government leaders.

He said he also believes that Hun Manet can help resolve the disputes if he intervenes.

“To show the public that the prime ministerial candidate can do the job, [the requests] should be honored,” Rong Chhun said.

However, CPP spokesman Sok Ey San on Friday dismissed calls by activists for Hun Manet’s help, saying he cannot intervene in the disputes because he is not prime minister. He also accused opposition party activists and workers from NagaWorld of breaching the law.

“I welcome their support [of Hun Manet] but if they support him only for illegal benefits, it can’t be done,” he said. “His Excellency can’t resolve illegal requests.”

Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

In 2021, Chinese migrant worker Zhang Qiang signed onto a Belt and Road project in Indonesia, drawn by what he believed would be higher wages than he could make at home.  

Happily married for nine years, with two daughters, Zhang promised his youngest that he would buy her a princess-style bed for her bedroom with the extra money, then left his hometown of Anyang city, in the central province of Henan to take the job.

“At that time, I had just put a downpayment on a home in China, and taken out a mortgage,” Zhang, 32, told RFA. “My youngest told me that, when we were settled in the new place that she wanted a princess bed.”

“I told her yes. I said I would definitely get her one when I have earned this money overseas,” he said.

“[I told her] I was introduced by a friend, and was going to Indonesia to work for six months at 500 yuan (U.S. $72) a day. After working that … I can come back to China.”

Zhang signed up for the job with Rongcheng Environmental Protection, alongside more than 20 other workers recruited at the same time, but the company said the contract-signing would have to wait, citing COVID-19 restrictions in Nanjing at the time, and the lack of access to a printer.

“They found an excuse after I got to Nanjing why we couldn’t sign the contract … then, after a week of quarantine, we flew out to Indonesia,” he said.

The reality was far from what he had been promised.

On arrival in Indonesia, Zhang’s passport was taken from him, and he was pressured to sign a contract for lower wages than advertised, locking him in for a longer time than had been promised.

“As soon as we got off the plane, they arranged for us to take a COVID-19 test, and then they had us throw our passports into a box,” Zhang said.

Zhang’s group was taken to work on the Delong Industrial Park project on Sulawesi, part of a Chinese-invested nickel-mining project under the Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.

“They had told us before we left that we’d be working nine hours a day,” he said. “Once we got there, that became nine-and-a-half hours, as well as overtime in the evenings.”

“They would dock your wages if you refused to do overtime.”

Once inside the migrant workers’ camp, Zhang also found that escape was no easy matter, as the place was patrolled by armed guards.

“You basically couldn’t leave the site, and they had security guards with guns guarding it,” Zhang said. “There were people with guns at the dormitory area too.”

There were other “changes” made to the terms of the contract, too.

“They said it would be for six months, but the boss told us we wouldn’t be going home in six months,” he said. “Before we left, they told us we’d have to leave a month’s wages as a deposit, and that the rest of our wages would be paid monthly, as normal.”

“Once we got there, they didn’t give us any money in the first month, and after that, they just handed out 10,000 yuan (U.S. $1,450) for living expenses,” Zhang said. “The rest of our wages would have to wait until several months after we’d gone home.”

Brutal work conditions

Once work was under way, Zhang and the other workers were denied breaks and forced to work nonstop in high temperatures doing physically grueling labor. Stopping for a rest or a cigarette would also result in docked wages. They started to hear reports of frequent worker suicides at the site.

In desperation, Zhang and some of the relatives of other workers at the site appealed to the Chinese embassy in Jakarta for help. But the call only resulted in a backlash for the workers from their gang boss.

“The lower-ranking boss [Lu Jun] came to us and said … have you been watching too many movies? Trying to complain isn’t going to work here,” Zhang said.

When the contracts finally appeared, they stipulated monthly living expenses of 1,000 yuan (US. $145), with the full wages only paid six months after the workers’ return to China.

“It was one of those overlord contracts, so we didn’t sign it,” Zhang said.

The workers insisted on going back to China, whereupon they were told that they would have to stump up 75,000 yuan (U.S. $10,830) each. After a period of stalemate, even that offer was withdrawn.

When asked to comment by RFA, Lu Jun said the workers were in breach of contract.

“Originally the deal was that they would work for a year, but two months after they got here, they said they wanted to go back to China,” Lu said. “They would have to pay the cost of that themselves.”

“So then five of them ran away before they’d paid what they owed me.”

But the five workers weren’t out of the woods yet. They managed to find another gang boss, Liu Peiming, and paid him 250,000 yuan (U.S. $36,100) after he said he would have them home within a week.

But he secretly arranged to have them sent to Phase II of the Delong project instead.

“We kept telling them that we wanted to go home, but he didn’t care any more, and just said there was no way we were getting home for 50,000 yuan (U.S. $7,220) [apiece], and that he’d need another 20,000 to 30,000 yuan (U.S. $2,890 to $4,330),” Zhang said.

Eventually, Zhang and his colleagues got the story out via the media, and higher-ups and Delong got involved.

“We have said they should first refund the 250,000 yuan to us and give us back our passports, because this is illegal detention,” Zhang said.

Liu eventually did return the money, but Delong still has their passports.

Repeated attempts to contact Liu Peiming’s assistant and Delong for comment had resulted in no reply by the time of writing.

Smuggled to Malaysia

Eventually, the group fell in with the proprietor of the Peony Hotel near Phase II, who promised to smuggle them into Malaysia, for which they had to pay 13,000 yuan (U.S. $1,875) each.

“We had to take an eight- or nine-meter (26- or 29-foot) speedboat used for fishing and make a two-hour crossing at sea, making us jump down when the water was shallow enough to stand in,” Zhang said. “As soon as we reached the Malaysian border, the coastguard caught us.”

The Peony Hotel’s proprietor denied taking money from the group when contacted by RFA.

“I recommended an interpreter who could arrange for people to go that route, and put them in touch so they could sort it out between them,” she said. “I also recommended someone in Jakarta who could change their money.”

“Don’t come asking me about it; I never made money out of it.”

Zhang and his four companions eventually made it home to Henan in February 2022 after being deported by the Malaysian authorities.

They are now heavily in debt, leaving him with no choice but to get straight back to work again.

“I wanted to sue them, but there were various debts hanging over me when I got back, so I went back to work,” he said. “Life is so stressful.”

Zhang now works as a courier, and feels he had a relatively lucky escape.

“These sites are completely closed off … which puts you under a very intense kind of psychological pressure,” Zhang said. “Two people committed suicide during our two months at Phase III, and I read about several more online after I got home, too.”

Since 2010, an estimated 10 million Chinese nationals have taken jobs overseas, with 570,000 believed to still be working overseas as of the end of May 2022, according to the New York-based rights group China Labor Watch.

Many travel or tourism or business visas and work without a contract, however, meaning that the true figure may be far higher. Even where contracts do exist, breaches of their terms are very common, the group said.

Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

Armed ethnic groups have rejected a proposal by Myanmar junta chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing to sign a peace deal in exchange for the right to join the military as part of a border guard force, saying a resolution to Myanmar’s political crisis must come first.

Min Aung Hlaing made the proposal to absorb the ethnic armies into the military at a cabinet meeting in the capital Naypyidaw on Aug. 22, during which he also suggested addressing ethnic and regional rights in parliament and promised to allow them to operate businesses, a spokesmen for the groups told RFA Burmese. 

But the ethnic armies need more than what Min Aung Hlaing is offering if he expects them to sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), Khun Tun Tin, the First Vice Chairman of the Pa-O National Liberation Organization (PNLO), told RFA.

“We will have to go through a lot. According to the NCA, there are many things like DDR (disarmament, demobilization, reintegration) and SSR (security sector reform) and others that we have agreed upon,” said Khun Tun Tin. 

“We still need to implement these … Many of our [ethnic] allies had agreed that the country should have only one single army. But that can happen only after we get the political system that our groups want.”

The PNLO leader said the junta’s proposal can only be considered following the establishment of a democratic federal union system in Myanmar and after the groups achieve the right to self-determination.

“The main thing is we want a democratic federal union system,” he said.

Ten armed ethnic groups have signed the NCA since its introduction in 2015 in an effort to put an end to many years of fighting over minority rights and self-determination.

Despite this, the peace process hit snags in the years that followed, and was all but destroyed by the unpopular junta’s coup in February 2021. 

Previously, all 10 said they would not pursue talks with the military, which they view as having stolen power from the country’s democratically elected government.

A total of 10 ethnic armies – seven signatories of the NCA and three other groups that did not sign it – accepted Min Aung Hlaing’s post-coup invitation to continue peace talks and have visited Naypyidaw twice, but no deal has been reached.

Col. Saw Kyaw Nyunt, spokesman for the Peace Process Steering Team (PPST) that includes the 10 NCA signatories, told RFA he is concerned about the idea of serving alongside the military that his and other ethnic armies have been fighting for years.

“Is this the essence of the NCA? We have to sign the NCA in order to build trust, and then hold on to our arms but triggers are turned off, and then attend political talks to solve political problems. That’s the essence?” he said. 

“There are a few worries and ripples running through our organization or our individual groups about what the [junta leader] expressed at their cabinet meeting,” said Saw Kyaw Nyunt.

He said the PPST will try to implement the principles of the NCA, including the protection of the civilian population, amid the country’s political upheaval following the coup..

Groups that have not signed the NCA need not heed anything proposed by the junta, Lt. Col. Sai Su, spokesman for Shan State Progressive Party, told RFA.

“It’s about the facts in the NCA. We had negotiations in the past that we would return to security integration only after a political settlement is reached, and only after minority rights are guaranteed, through political dialogue and all kinds of frameworks,” Sai Su said.

“We were still negotiating, not finished yet, and they rushed to sign the agreement, and that’s what is happening now. In fact, this does not apply to our group,” he said.

Others who did sign the NCA said discussions about working alongside the junta to guard the border can only take place once the military relinquishes control of the country and a democratically elected government assumes power. Under Myanmar’s Constitution, drafted in 2008 by a previous military-led government, a junta can only extend its tenure twice after a year has passed since a coup, for six months at a time. The regime is now operating under its second half-year extension of emergency rule since the Feb. 1, 2021 coup.

“We aren’t thinking about this issue very seriously now,” Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) spokesman Lt. Col. Om Khe told RFA.

They’d say what they want depending on the current political situation. But we believe that this issue should be talked about and discussed only when a true federal union can be built after finding a political solution.”

Min Aung Hlaing’s proposal is not a new strategy, ethnic affairs observers told RFA. They said the military has been trying since as early as 1988 to disarm the ethnic armies and end fighting by unifying them under the banner of the Myanmar military.

Political observer Than Soe Naing said that although weaker groups had laid down their arms in the past, the stronger ones have consistently refused to do so and serve under the army.

“I don’t think those groups are going to give up their arms even if they can see a policy that they want politically,” he said, adding that the ethnic armies’ resistance to the peace process has become even stronger since the coup last year.

Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

As the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) marks the 46th anniversary of the death of its late leader Mao Zedong, concerns are being raised in some quarters that current leader Xi Jinping is hoping to emulate the “Great Helmsman’s” supreme status in the party hierarchy.

At the CCP’s 20th National Congress on Oct. 16, Xi will be seeking an unprecedented third term in office, after amending the constitution to abolish presidential term limits in 2018.

The move comes amid growing fears of a Mao-style personality cult around Xi, as institutions and political figures compete to show the utmost loyalty to Xi and his personal brand of political ideology.

Cai Xia, a former professor at the CCP’s party school now living in exile, said Xi has angered many in the ranks of the ruling party, who feel he has abandoned the more collective style of leadership established after the death of late supreme leader Deng Xiaoping.

“Xi, a devoted student of Mao and just as eager to leave his mark on history, has worked to establish his absolute power,” Cai wrote in a recent analysis in Foreign Policy magazine. “

And because previous reforms failed to place real checks and balances on the party leader, he has succeeded,” she wrote. “Now, as under Mao, China is a one-man show.”

Cai said she was unable to schedule an interview when contacted by RFA about the article.

Deng Yuwen, a former newspaper editor for a CCP party school publication, said Xi is certainly drawing on Mao’s legacy as he consolidates his personal power.

“He wants to portray himself as another Mao Zedong, and portray himself as a kind of god to replace Mao Zedong among the people, but this is actually impossible,” Deng told RFA.

“This kind of personality cult is an officially sponsored form of worship, so everyone knows they’re just going through the motions,” Deng said.

“Just because someone shouts ‘Long live Xi!’ in public, doesn’t mean they’re going to be shouting that in private,” Deng said. “It’s just pretend.”

Chen Kuide, executive chairman of the Princeton China Society, said Xi’s approach isn’t without risk, however.

“There is a group of people who have gained political and economic benefits since Xi came to power, but there aren’t actually very many of them,” Chen said.

“They also lack the political clout of the other factions.”

“They just have a lot more power in the party and hold their posts because of Xi Jinping,” he said.

Extending power

Xi is widely expected to secure a third five-year leadership term at the 20th party congress in October, cementing his status as China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong.

The CCP will amend its constitution next month during a leadership reshuffle held over five years, according to a report on Friday from state news agency Xinhua.

The Politburo of the CCP’s Central Committee discussed the draft amendment to the party charter, the agency reported, but gave no specific details.

Reuters quoted political analysts as saying that the amendment could shorten the title of Xi’s personal brand of ideology to “Xi Jinping Thought,” which would bring it closer in status to “Mao Zedong Thought” in the popular consciousness, the agency said.

Other possible changes could see the establishment of Xi as the “core” of the party, and his ideas as its guiding principles, or the reinstatement of the post of party chairman, which was abolished in 1982, it said.

The party constitution can only be amended during a CCP National Congress, which take place every five years.

According to Cai, “stealth infighting” in party ranks will likely intensify, with possible arrests and trials of more high-ranking officials as his critics seek to leak more information unfavorable to the Chinese leader.

She said that, if successful, Xi is likely to take a third term as a mandate to carry out further steps on his “national rejuvenation” plan for China.

“Xi will double down on his statist economic policies,” Cai predicted. “To maintain his grip on power, he will continue to preemptively eliminate any potential rivals and tighten social control, making China look increasingly like North Korea.”

“An emboldened Xi may well accelerate his militarization of disputed areas of the South China Sea and try to forcibly take over Taiwan,” she warned. “As he continues China’s quest for dominance, he will further its isolation from the rest of the world.”

She said the most likely downfall for Xi would result from China’s defeat in an invasion of the democratic island of Taiwan.

Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.