Day: October 28, 2022

Cambodia’s main opposition Candlelight Party on Friday called on authorities to stop trying to force local officials to publicly condemn Hun Sen’s exiled political rival Sam Rainsy.

In a statement, the party urged the Ministry of Interior to advise local authorities to stop “intimidating activities” to ensure that the upcoming 2023 general election can be free and fair.

Sam Rainsy is a co-founder of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, which was the previous main opposition party before the country’s Supreme Court dissolved it in 2017. He has been living in self-exile in France since 2015, when he fled a series of charges his supporters say are politically motivated.

Cambodia has convicted and sentenced Sam Rainsy in absentia several times during his exile, including handing him a life sentence this month on bogus claims that he attempted to cede four Cambodian provinces to a foreign state.

Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia since 1985, threatened last week that he would dissolve any party that associates with Sam Rainsy and accused those who support him of being against Cambodia’s king.

Several Candlelight Party members who were elected to local commune council seats in elections this summer were then told to sign petitions declaring they rebuke Sam Rainsy.

“This is a serious violation against the constitution and universal declaration on civil and political rights and freedom of expression,” the Candlelight Party statement said. The party is gathering evidence and will file an official complaint, vice president Thach Setha said.

RFA was unable to reach Ministry of Interior Spokesman Khieu Sopheak for comment Friday.

One Candlelight Party commune councilor told RFA’s Khmer service that when he refused to sign the statement, he was asked by his colleague from Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP to appear at the commune office to declare his stance in regards to Sam Rainsy.

“I told  [the commune chief] that I am waiting on orders from the party but he said he also received his orders from the top,” said Sorn Meang, who sits on the council of Da commune in the southeastern province of Tbong Khmum. 

“This is a threat against another commune councilor,” he said

Chhoyy Mao, the commune chief told RFA that he did ask Sorn Meang about Sam Rainsy but denied he forced him to sign or say anything.

“Only the CPP councilors placed their thumbprint next to their names, but none from the Candlelight Party did,” he said. “I explained the reason but [Sorn Meang] said he was waiting for orders.”

On Thursday, the Candlelight Party said that political dialogue between Hun Sen and the party has resumed after the party issued a public statement to distance itself from Sam Rainsy by condemning those who insult the king, without naming any specific person.

Hun Sen posted that statement on Facebook with a comment saying he appreciated the party for following his request.

CPP spokesman Sok Ey San denied that the party had instructed party activists to threaten the Candlelight Party. However, he said those who refuse to condemn Sam Rainsy are insulting the king.

“There is no threat,” he said. “People nationwide have condemned [Sam Rainsy] and those who disagree have revealed their stance on the nation, our religion, and our king.”

Local authorities have abused the Candlelight Party’s commune councilor rights, according to Soeung Seng Karuna, spokesperson for the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association.

He said allegations over the king stemmed from political conflict between the CPP and the dissolved opposition party. 

“In a democratic countries they value free thoughts, ideas and political affiliations,” he said. “The authorities are abusing people by preventing them from making free decisions and trying to affect their political will.”

Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

Vietnam’s top leader Nguyen Phu Trong will travel to China on Sunday to visit President Xi Jinping, the first foreign leader to do so since Xi’s re-election to a third five-year term last weekend.

The two countries have had territorial disagreements in the South China Sea but are generally considered allies. The two men are expected to discuss strengthening ties and underscore their will to cooperate on a variety of issues.

The three-day visit will also be Trong’s first trip abroad since he suffered a stroke in 2019. 

Xi’s re-election last Sunday at the Chinese Communist Party’s national congress signals that there will be little change in China’s foreign policy, and it is an opportunity for Vietnam to reaffirm that it has no intention to counter China by allying with a third nation, such as the United States, Vu Xuan Khang, an International Security Ph.D. candidate at Boston College, told RFA’s Vietnamese Service.

“Despite territorial disagreement in the [South China] Sea, the Communist Party of Vietnam attaches significance to its comradeship with the Communist Party of China and hopes that the two sides can maintain their good relationship in the future,” said Khang.

 China, meanwhile, extended the invitation to make sure the Asian neighbors continue their dialogue and avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, Khang said. 

“China doesn’t want to have conflicts with Vietnam as the Taiwan issue is way more important,” he said.

China may use the meeting to draw Vietnam closer and deter Hanoi from getting too close to Washington, Nguyen The Phuong, a marine security expert, told RFA. 

Vietnam needs China more than China needs Vietnam, especially when it comes to economic issues,  said Phoung. But he said Xi chose Trong to be the first leader to visit since the end of the congress as a gesture to show that China does value the relationship. 

“Recently, Vietnam’s relations with western countries, especially with the U.S., have improved rapidly,” he said. “From China’s perspective, letting Vietnam freely get closer to western countries is also a strategic threat.”

Beijing has several tools at its disposal to prevent Hanoi from falling into Washington’s orbit, Phoung said.

“Economically, Vietnam’s import-export activities heavily depend on China, especially in terms of raw material imports and border trade,” he said. “Therefore, by creating economic pressure only, China would already be able to send the message that Vietnam should not go too far.”

Additionally, China would be able to put pressure on Vietnam by increasing military presence in the South China Sea. It can also persuade the Vietnamese Communist Party that a closer relationship can help maintain the party’s power, Phoung said.  

Ironing out disagreements

The two countries have also tangled over the Mekong River, as China has built a series of dams in the Upper Mekong that have adversely affected Vietnam and other downstream countries in Southeast Asia. But the visit will likely seek to avoid any overt conflicts as the two sides try to smooth over relations, a researcher who requested anonymity for safety reasons told RFA

“Vietnam will perhaps not mention the Mekong very much. However, it will try to put forth the Eastern Sea issues to resolve differences through negotiation by the two countries,” he said, using the Vietnamese term for the South China Sea.

Phuong said these issues would be secondary to maintaining their harmonious relationship.

“If mentioned at all, the two sides would still emphasize dialogue and cooperation and not promote an image of insurmountable challenges in Vietnam-China relations,” said Khang. 

Instead, the two sides will likely play up strategies for building the party and fighting corruption. They may have differences in foreign policy, “but the two countries have many things in common when it comes to domestic policy,” he said.

These commonalities include the mechanism of party leadership, state management, a socialism-oriented market economy, and economic development based on export and foreign investment, Khang said.

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

At least three Philippine lawmakers want to designate sea lanes between the country’s islands where foreign ships would be allowed to travel, amid the continued presence of Chinese vessels in Manila’s waters and adjacent territorial sea.

The lawmakers filed bills to establish what are called archipelagic lanes – with corresponding air routes – restricting foreign ships transiting through the Philippines, an archipelago with more than 7,000 islands.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III, one of the lawmakers, said in his bill’s explanatory note that non-designation of archipelagic sea lanes is “detrimental to the Philippines’ interest,” as it has the effect of “waiving the right to designate in favor of other states.”  

“This is to comply with provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which will give us more control over the use of our maritime zones and other waters,” Pimentel told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated news service, in a text message on Friday. 

The bills seek to impose a fine ranging from U.S. $600,000 (34.8 million pesos) to $1.2 million (69.6 million pesos) per violation, with one lawmaker’s bill seeking to impose prison time between six months to two years and two months, or both, depending on the gravity of offense. Foreign ships would be prohibited from conducting any oceanography or hydrographic survey or research activity unless permitted by the Philippine government, under the bills.

Maritime law analyst Jay Batongbacal told BenarNews that the bills aim to “implement Philippine rights and obligations under UNCLOS.”

Batongbacal noted that the bills do not concern the West Philippine Sea, which refers to the contested South China Sea territory claimed by Manila, but cover only “inter-island” waters. 

“It would be especially helpful to clarify the obligations of foreign vessels as they pass through our waters. It is also necessary for us to better manage and address any foreign military vessel traffic,” Batongbacal said in a message to BenarNews on Friday.

Aside from China’s frequent alleged incursions in Manila’s waters in the disputed South China Sea, Beijing has encroached repeatedly in Philippine archipelagic waters, analysts said.

For instance, in 2019, Chinese warships passed through the Sibutu Passage in the southern Philippines without notifying Manila and without turning on their automatic identification system in an effort to avoid radar detection. 

China then claimed its warship’s passage was legal, citing the absence of Philippine archipelagic sea lanes.

Establishing lanes where foreign ships can travel is essential for the country’s security and non-designation “will inevitably compromise the country’s security,” public policy analysts Joycee Teodoro and Florence Gamboa said last year in an analysis on the Philippine Strategic Forum. 

“Non-designation will allow all foreign vessels, including foreign military ships and aircraft, to exercise normal-mode passage in all sea routes routinely used in international navigation – allowing foreign submarines to navigate underwater without showing their flag, and foreign aircraft carriers to sail with air escorts when transiting normal passage routes,” they said in their 2021 analysis.

Under international law, archipelagic waters are on the landward side of the archipelagic baselines.

Repeated Chinese incursions

Representative Rufus Rodriguez from Cagayan de Oro in southern Philippines, who has introduced his own sea lanes bill, urged Congress to approve it.

“No Chinese or any vessel should be allowed in our waters without our approval unless for innocent passage in the designated archipelagic sea lanes,” Rodriguez said in a statement on Wednesday.

Senate defense committee chairman Jinggoy Estrada issued a similar bill.

The lawmakers have cause for concern.

In March, the Philippine government summoned the Chinese ambassador over the People’s Liberation Army – Navy’s (PLAN’s) illegal incursion and lingering presence in the Sulu Sea, part of the archipelagic waters. 

Before that, from Jan. 29 to Feb. 1, a Chinese reconnaissance ship with bow number 792 entered Philippine archipelagic waters without permission, officials said. The Chinese ship reached the waters of Palawan’s Cuyo Islands and Apo Island in Mindoro.

A Philippine Navy vessel challenged the Chinese ship, which claimed it was only exercising innocent passage. 

“[The Chinese ship’s] movements, however did not follow a track that can be considered as continuous and expeditious, lingering in the Sulu Sea for three days,” the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a March 14 statement.

“PLAN 792 also continued its activities in Philippine waters despite being repeatedly directed to leave Philippine waters immediately,” the DFA’s statement said, adding Manila recognized the right of innocent passage in accordance with UNCLOS.

“However, the actions of PLAN 792 did not constitute innocent passage and violated Philippine sovereignty,” the DFA said.

In his first State of the Nation Address since taking office on June 30, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. vowed to protect Philippine territories, although he did not mention Beijing. 

“On the areas of foreign policy, I will not preside over any process that will abandon even one square inch of territory of the Republic of the Philippines to any foreign power,” Marcos said in a July 25 speech before Congress.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news service.

Han Chinese migrant workers are streaming out of Lhasa after demanding permission to return to their homes amid a harsh COVID-19 lockdown in the Tibetan capital, creating snarled traffic jams as far as the eye can see, Radio Free Asia’s Tibetan service has learned.

Protests broke out in Lhasa on Wednesday over COVID-19 restrictions in the city and had spread to at least four different districts by Thursday, prompting scuffles with authorities in some cases. RFA was able to confirm that many of the protesters were ethnic majority Han Chinese migrant workers who likely obtained permission to reside in Lhasa for jobs that pay daily wages, but have been unable to earn a living during three months of lockdown in the city.

Sources told RFA that the protests – believed to be the largest in Lhasa in nearly 15 years – had largely dispersed by the end of the day on Thursday after officials agreed to begin processing requests by migrant workers to leave the region for their homes in eastern China.

On Friday, RFA obtained video showing migrant workers leaving en masse, resulting in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the few routes leading east out of the city. 

In one video, a man can be heard saying that he and others began their drive eastwards at around 10:00 p.m. on Thursday, but hadn’t even made it to the outskirts of Lhasa well into Friday.

Many Chinese migrant workers and other daily wage earners travel to Tibet during the summer months for jobs in construction, shops and restaurants. They regularly leave the region before the cold of winter starts to set in. Sources in Lhasa confirmed that the subjects of the videos obtained by RFA are migrant workers who had been unable to earn an income amid the harsh lockdown in the city.

In addition to Han Chinese migrant workers, Tibetans from outside Lhasa have also reported being refused the right to return to their homes from the city in recent weeks, and it was not immediately clear whether authorities might grant them similar permits.

Calls to authorities in Lhasa seeking comment on the state of the lockdown and whether Tibetan migrants would be allowed to return to their homes went unanswered Friday.

Getting permits

In a related development, authorities in the Tibetan town of Shigatse announced Wednesday that in order to obtain a permit to return to eastern China, applicants must submit requests one week before their intended departure and test negative for COVID-19 at least three times within 72 hours ahead of their trip.

Reports of the protests in Lhasa came days after the government of the Tibet Autonomous Region issued an Oct. 24 statement announcing that a harsh COVID-19 lockdown in Lhasa would be “loosened.”

The lockdown in Lhasa began in early August as COVID-19 numbers there and throughout China continued to climb.

Lhasa residents have said on social media that the lockdown order came without enough time to prepare, leaving some short on food, and making it difficult for those infected with the virus to find adequate treatment.

Formerly an independent nation, Tibet was invaded and incorporated into China by force more than 70 years ago, following which the Dalai Lama and thousands of his followers fled into exile in India and other countries around the world.

Beijing has accused the Dalai Lama of fomenting separatism in Tibet.

Translated by Kalden Lodoe. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Cambodia’s Supreme Court on Friday returned the passport of former Radio Free Asia Khmer news anchor Yeang Sothearin, opening the door to his visiting his father and sister – both of whom are ailing – in Vietnam. 

His passport was seized when he was taken into custody in November 2017, along with Uon Chhin, an RFA photographer and videographer. They were charged with “illegally collecting information for a foreign source” after RFA closed its bureau in the capital of Phnom Penh in September of that year amid a government crackdown on independent media. 

“This is the day I was hoping for for a long time,” Yeang Sothearin said. “I am very happy that I got my passport back. It’s been five years. I haven’t seen my parents and relatives.” 

He said his sister is dying from an illness and that he plans to leave Cambodia to visit her and the rest of his family immediately – on Oct. 29. Yeang Sothearin and his family are part of the ethnic Khmer Krom community in Vietnam living in a region known as Kampuchea Krom.

Earlier in June, a lower court in Cambodia denied Yeang Sothearin’s request to get his passport back, and at the time, he told RFA that he intended to appeal the decision to the country’s highest court. At the time, he was worried the decision would make him unable to visit his family for a long time. 

Since their arrest, the two former RFA journalists have been charged with additional crimes. They face between seven and 15 years if convicted of the first charge. 

Yeang Sothearin and Uon Chhin are out on bail, but they remain in legal limbo after several courts have rejected a series of appeals. The Supreme Court heard Yeang Sothearin’s case on Oct. 26 and was scheduled to issue a verdict on the issue of his passport on Nov. 2 but released the decision Friday instead. 

Presiding Judge Kong Srim issued a verdict citing the case’s long delay since 2017, adding that Yeang Sothearin has cooperated with the court and that his sister’s health is in critical condition. However, the judge warned that if Yeang Sothearin tries to avoid the court in the future, he will be re-arrested.

Speaking to RFA, Yeang Sothearin said that he believed the court’s decision resulted from Prime Minister Hun Sen’s personal intervention. 

Nop Vy, the Executive Director of the nonprofit CamboJa, told RFA that it welcomed the decision and urged the court to consider dropping all cases against journalists.

Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Nawar Nemeh

Authorities in Shanghai on Friday ordered more than a million of its residents into lockdown and mass testing, amid reports that some 200 million people are currently under some form of pandemic-related restrictions affecting their daily lives due to Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s zero-COVID policy.

The announcement for Shanghai’s Yangpu district prompted fears that at least some of the city’s 25 million residents could see a return to the food shortages and barriers to medical care seen during the citywide lockdown earlier this year.

Since the end of the ruling Chinese Communist Party congress at the weekend, zero-COVID restrictions have been “clearly stepped up in a rising number of cities, as containing COVID remains a key performance measure for local officials,” Reuters quoted a research note from Japan’s Nomura Securities as saying.

China on Friday reported 1,337 new COVID-19 cases — most of them asymptomatic. Eleven of those were in Shanghai.

Protests over COVID-19 restrictions in the Tibetan capital Lhasa spread to at least four different areas of the city Thursday, prompting “scuffles” with authorities in some cases, sources told Radio Free Asia, as ethnic Chinese migrant workers demanded permits to return home from the region.

Shanghai disease prevention worker Tao Li said nobody from Xinjiang, Tibet or Inner Mongolia is currently allowed to enter the city.

“Shanghai is concealing high numbers of positive tests in new arrivals, with about 20 cases a day,” Tao said. “If you test positive coming into the city, you have to go to a designated public health hospital at Jinshan, but it’s full now, so a lot of people are sleeping in the corridors and near the toilet entrances.”

“They’re charging 2,000-3,000 yuan (U.S. $275-415) per bed per day,” she said. “If you want a room to yourself you need to go through the back door [have connections].”

Hohot in week 3 of lockdowns

A resident of Hohhot, regional capital of Inner Mongolia, which borders the independent country of Mongolia, said people there are running out of supplies after lockdowns that have been going on for more than 20 days.

“At first I thought it would last a week, then it extended to 10, then 20, then 25 days,” the resident, who gave only the surname Bai, told RFA.

“I’ve no idea when it will be lifted; I’ve asked all around, but they’re not saying. There are new cases every day,” he said.

An employee who answered the phone at the Hohhot municipal government hotline on Thursday declined to comment on the lifting of restrictions.

“There is no notification [on that] at the current time,” the employee said.

Bai said residents are now facing skyrocketing food prices and supplies that are fast running out.

“There are six people in our family,” he said. “Right now we still have some rice, and maybe enough noodles for a couple of days, but there is nothing to go with it; I just made the last dish today.”

“A pound of vegetables usually costs three or four yuan, but that has now doubled or even tripled, and meat is so expensive that I can’t buy it,” Bai said. “Rice is now eight yuan a pound, when it used to be five yuan a while ago.”

He said residents are increasingly fractious, with shouting matches breaking out in the middle of the night and the constant sound of ambulance sirens going back and forth. Only white-clad disease prevention workers in full protective clothing can be seen on the streets.

Police in Hohhot’s Xincheng district said in an Oct. 26 statement that two people had been placed under administrative detention, which can be handed down to perceived “troublemakers” by police for up to 15 days without need for a trial, for violating COVID-19 restrictions.

A resident of the city’s Saihan district who gave only the surname Yang said many residents are now completely dependent on online food deliveries.

“Fortunately, we have some food stocked up in our freezer, meat and eggs, along with rice, flour, grain and oil as well,” Yang said.

Inner Mongolia reported 263 confirmed cases and 1,919 asymptomatic infections on Oct. 26.

Yang believes there were many more cases in his local area than were reported officially, however. “It’s all being covered up,” he said.

Lockdowns in multiple other cities

Meanwhile, a college student living in the central city of Wuhan who gave only the surname Fang said a number of residential compounds in Qiaokou, Jianghan and Hanyang districts are currently under lockdowns affecting around a million people.

“A lot of communities in Hankou have been locked down, including in [my district] Qiaokou, Jianghan and Hanyang,” Fang told RFA. “It’s pretty exaggerated given that there were 24 cases reported.”

“The scenic areas at Donghu and Moshan have also been closed. They’re pretty big with plenty of open space, so there was no risk, but they closed them anyway,” she said.

“Small businesses, supermarkets large and small and stalls are no longer allowed to sell vegetables, particularly in Qiaokou, which is near Tongji Hospital,” Fang said. “I heard a patient there brought the virus back from Xinjiang.”

Authorities in the southern city of Guangzhou reported 73 new cases on Thursday, and imposed restrictions on residential communities in Haizhu, Yuexiu, Tianhe and Liwan districts.

And 36 colleges and universities in the southeastern city of Fuzhou are currently under lockdown, with partial restrictions in place in Lanzhou, Xining, Zhengzhou, Datong and Xi’an.

Taiwan-invested Apple supplier Foxconn said some employees at its Zhengzhou factory had been affected by the outbreak there, but denied online rumors that 20,000 people had tested positive at the plant.

Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.