Day: November 18, 2022

The Myanmar junta is preparing to launch airstrikes against the Chin National Front in the country’s western Chin state, a spokesperson for the ethnic armed organization told Radio Free Asia, citing leaked internal military documents.

According to the documents, which the Chin National Front, or CNF, acquired earlier this month, the airstrike is intended to target the organization’s headquarters on Mt. Victoria, in Thantlang township.

“We cannot reveal where we got this intelligence information, but we are preparing the best we can for the defense against this airstrike,” CNF spokesperson Salai Htet Ni told RFA’s Burmese Service. 

He said the documents revealed that churches, hospitals, clinics and schools are also on the list of possible targets.

News of the plans frightened people living in the area, a civilian living near Mt. Victoria told RFA.

“We are the only village near that mountain,” he said. “If they also target the village, we could be hit hard.”

Thant Zin, the junta’s spokesperson for Chin state, has not responded to the CNF’s claims that the military is preparing to launch airstrikes in region.

The military only launches airstrikes when absolutely necessary, said Thein Tun Oo, executive director of Thaenaga Institute for Strategic Studies, a pro-military think tank formed with former military officers.

“The position is the same for all armed organizations in the country. If they view something as detrimental for their security, they take military action. This is a very normal path,” he said.

“But I am suspicious that such an important decision to launch an airstrike has been leaked to the outside. It is hard to say whether their information is right or wrong.” 

Junta forces last month killed 63 people in Kachin state, many of them members of the Kachin Independence Organization, when they bombed a concert in what is believed to be the bloodiest single airstrike in Myanmar since last year’s military coup.

Translated by Ye K.M. Maung. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

North Korean factories are producing winter uniforms, underwear and footwear for Russian soldiers in Ukraine using Russian raw materials to earn hard currency for Pyongyang – in violation of U.N. sanctions aimed at choking off revenues for Kim Jong Un’s illicit arms programs. Kim’s grandfather was the Soviet Union’s hand-picked founder of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea nearly 75 years ago, and global isolation in modern times has brought the regimes of Kim and Valdimir Putin closer together.

People in China frequently challenge those in power, despite a nationwide ‘stability maintenance’ program aimed at nipping popular protest in the bid, according to the U.S.-based think tank Freedom House.

Despite pervasive surveillance, a “grid” system of law enforcement at the neighborhood level and targeted “stability maintenance” system aimed at controlling critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, the group has identified hundreds of incidents of public protest between June and September alone.

Ever-widening controls on freedom of speech, including recent moves to censor comments on online news stories, coupled with a slew of security laws continue to make public dissent risky or just technically very difficult.

Yet the group’s China Dissent Monitor documented 668 incidents of protest and other dissent in mainland China in just four months to the end of September 2022, it said in a recent report.

More than three quarters of these protests consisted of “demonstrations, marches, and obstructing roads,” the report found.

“We documented many other modes of dissent as well, including occupations, strikes, protest banners and graffiti, and notable online dissent such as large-scale hashtag campaigns and viral posts,” it said.

It cited demonstrations by hundreds of parents in the northern city of Xi’an after their children suffered food poisoning linked to a tutoring company, Kid Castle, as well as protests against a real estate developer in the eastern city of Hangzhou by owners of half-completed apartments.

In the northern province of Hebei, residents blocked a road with bicycles and motorbikes in protests over plans to build a new road bypassing their village, while construction workers in the northeastern city of Shenyang hung banners from a residential building to demand unpaid wages from a property developer, it said, adding that many of the protests were “violently” suppressed by police.

“Such protests are a daily occurrence in China,” the report said. “Not only is dissent in China frequent, it’s also widespread.”

‘Decentralized movements’

It said the monitor has tracked protests in nearly every province and metropolitan area since June, often formed by “decentralized movements” facilitated by social media.

However, many protests were on specific issues, and didn’t seek to challenge Communist Party rule or Xi Jinping’s leadership, the report found.

“The issues that most often galvanized people included stalled housing, fraud, labor rights violations, COVID-19 policies, corruption, and land rights,” it said, adding that the protests had led to some kind of positive action by the authorities in at least 37 cases.

However, any form of protest is still regarded as a threat, the report said.

“The Chinese Communist Party treats the act of collectively, publicly challenging any authority as a potential threat … particularly when the protesters can win concessions,” it said. 

“This is why ‘social stability’ is ingrained in all levels of governance and … why Xi has put so much emphasis on choking civic space and securitizing society: the aim is to reduce the ability of citizens to mobilize,” it said.

China’s internet regulator recently announced rule changes requiring service providers to screen any public comments on news stories with effect from Dec. 15.

Kevin Slaten, who heads the China Dissent Monitor, said the majority of protests — 214 out of the 668 counted between June and September — were by people who had paid in advance for apartments in buildings that were then left unfinished by developers.

He said it was hard to tell whether protests are on the rise, however, as the group lacks enough data from last year.

Popular anger simmers

Former 1989 student protest leader Zhou Fengsuo, who founded the U.S.-based rights group Humanitarian China, said there is plenty of popular anger against the government simmering beneath the surface.

“The anger of the people can no longer be restrained, and it feels like being on the edge of a volcano,” Zhou told RFA. “Particularly this year; nobody has been able to escape the impact of the zero-COVID policy.”

He said the recent lone protest from a Beijing traffic bridge calling for elections and for Xi Jinping to step down was symptomatic of that anger.

“People used to just seek a quiet life, accepting humiliation and being silenced as the price for that,” he said. 

“But now, a lot of people who used to pretend they could just live quietly can’t pretend that any more.”

Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

Meng Sophay, an 11th grader at Hun Sen Chamkar Dong High School in Cambodia’s coastal province of Kep, doesn’t think much of a plan announced last week to require students like him to learn Chinese.

“To me, it is not very satisfying because we already have our Khmer language and other languages,” Meng Sophay told Radio Free Asia. “I think it’s a lot.” 

Earlier this month, Chinese and Cambodian officials signed an agreement to include Chinese instruction in grades 7 to 12, a reflection of the close economic and geopolitical ties that have developed between the two countries. 

Sok Ey San, a spokesman for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, noted in an interview with an influx of Chinese nationals working in Cambodia. Chinese-language instruction will help Cambodian students compete for jobs after they leave school. He dismissed any criticism of the plan as coming from CPP opponents. 

“It is very necessary that we strive to strengthen and expand trade between Cambodia and China, which is a huge market,” he said.

But Ol Sophin is another student who isn’t quite sure. The 10th grader at Sre Po High School in the central Cambodian province of Stung Treng province said that the inclusion of Chinese characters in public schools could make it easier for poor children who could not afford to study Chinese in private schools. 

She is concerned, however, that the additional requirement could mean young students have less time to learn the Khmer language.

“I’m worried that when foreign languages are introduced, such as Vietnamese and Chinese, it can overwhelm the next generation of young Cambodians, it makes them forget their own language, and some of them will speak foreign languages,” Ol Sophin said. 

“When it comes time to speak a foreign language, you will forget your own language, [you] do not speak your own language,” she said. 

Ros Sovacha, spokesman for the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports spokesman, told local reporters that the inclusion of high school Chinese language education programs will be rolled out in stages. 

To start, the Chinese language curriculum will be limited to 20 high schools in two or three provinces. RFA could not reach Ros Sovacha for further comment.

French and English are already part of Cambodia’s general education curriculum.

The disappearance of critically endangered freshwater Irrawaddy dolphins along a stretch of the Mekong River in southern Laos has dealt a blow to the local tourism industry, putting hotels, restaurants and tour guides out of business, said villagers living near the border with Cambodia.

The population of the dolphins, which have a high rounded forehead and no beak, living in the area had dwindled to just four in 2020, the regional conservation agency said, and two died last year. The last one died in February after it was caught in a gill net and swept away to Cambodian territory.

“Taking Lao and foreign tourists to see the dolphins used to be a big business,” said a villager who owned and operated a hotel and a restaurant in the district, and who like others interviewed requested anonymity for safety reasons. 

“Now, there are no more dolphins, no more business,” he said. “My family and my employees suffer from the lack of income. My hotel was [their] only source of income.” 

The Irrawaddy dolphin is considered a sacred animal by both Laotians and Cambodians and had been an important source of income and jobs for communities involved in dolphin-watching ecotourism.

Irrawaddy dolphins are still found in other areas of Southeast Asia, although they are considered to be endangered species.

Populations of the aquatic mammal, also known as the Mekong River dolphin, survive downriver in Cambodia, in the Irrawaddy River in Myanmar, and in the Mahakam River in Indonesian Borneo, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Less than 100 are believed to exist.

Thousands of tourists from Asia and Europe came to the area to see the dolphins, said an official from the provincial Information, Culture and Tourism Department.

“Now, some of them come here just to see the waterfall,” he told RFA.

“The impact of the [disappearance] is enormous,” a tour guide, who used to take visitors to watch the Irrawaddy dolphins swim in the Mekong. “There are no more tourists coming to see the dolphins.”

One villager told RFA in April that the construction of the massive Don Sahong Dam was to blame. 

Before the dam was built, dolphins would swim in waters in both Laos and Cambodia. But following construction, the structure created strong water currents in Laos, forcing the dolphins to migrate to calmer, circulating Cambodian waters, he said.

An official from the provincial Agriculture and Forestry Department told RFA that his department would request a new pair of Irrawaddy dolphins from Cambodia for a breeding program in the protected pool in Laos. 

But the plan has not yet been carried out due to a meeting postponement. 

Translated by Max Avary for RFA Lao. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping agreed during their first-ever meeting that South China Sea disputes should not narrowly define the bilateral relationship, officials said Friday.

The presidents met Thursday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, meetings in Bangkok, where they discussed the need to finish negotiations on a Code of Conduct for the disputed waterway.

Marcos and Xi said the COC was necessary “to help manage differences and regional tensions,” the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said in a news release Friday, according to BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated news service.

Maritime disputes between Manila and Beijing “do not define the totality of Philippines-China relations,” the leaders concurred, according to the news release.

“Our foreign policy refuses to fall into the trap of a Cold War mindset. Ours is an independent foreign policy guided by our national interest and commitment to peace,” said Marcos, who was elected president in May. He is the son of the late former Philippine dictator, Ferdinand E. Marcos, a staunch U.S. ally during the Cold War. 

During the ASEAN-China Summit in Phnom Penh last week, Marcos called on fellow Southeast Asian leaders to adopt the code for the South China Sea. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China have been negotiating a code for years but without success.

The COC is expected to help settle overlapping claims in the mineral-rich South China Sea, which China claims almost in its entirety on historical grounds. ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam, as well as Taiwan, have their own claims.

In 2016, an international tribunal invalidated China’s sweeping claims but Beijing ignored the ruling. 

Commenting on the South China Sea after their meeting, Xi said the “two sides must stick to friendly consultation and handle differences and disputes properly,” according to a news release from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“As two developing countries in Asia, China and the Philippines need to keep strategic independence, uphold peace, openness and inclusiveness, and stay the course of regional cooperation,” Xi said. “They should work together to reject unilateralism and acts of bullying, defend fairness and justice, and safeguard peace and stability in the region.”

Tensions have arisen between the two countries with Filipino officials complaining in recent years about aggressive behavior by Chinese Coast Guard ships and fishing boats intruding in waters within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

On other topics, Marcos highlighted the need for enhanced economic and development partnerships. Among the areas discussed were agriculture, infrastructure, energy, people-to-people ties, and pandemic response. 

The Philippine president thanked Xi for China’s donation of COVID-19 vaccines and 20,000 tons of fertilizer.

Discussing infrastructure efforts between the two nations, Xi cited a project to construct a bridge to connect Davao city with Samal island in the southern Philippines. The project is funded through a loan from China, according to a news release from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The proposed location for the bridge is facing opposition from environmentalists who warn that it could harm a large reef in the area.

Rail project derailed

In June, Marcos succeeded President Rodrigo Duterte, who pursued warmer ties between Beijing and Manila during his six-year term. The two nations had touted the $1.5 billion first phase of the Mindanao Railway Project in southern Philippines, but the project got derailed after Manila announced it had canceled a Chinese loan deal because of Beijing’s longtime inaction and high interest rates. 

For his part, Xi told Marcos that China was open to increasing imports of agricultural products, citing the possibility of allowing durian fruit from the Philippines to Chinese markets. 

Their meeting in the Thai capital took place days after Marcos’ office announced that he had accepted Xi’s invitation for a state visit to China in early January.

During a speech to Congress in July, Marcos publicly promised to protect the country’s territory and sovereignty, while also describing China as the Philippines’ “strongest ally.”  

He pledged then to discuss the issue “with a firm voice” even as he acknowledged that Manila was at a disadvantage militarily against Beijing.

Meeting U.S. leaders

As leader of the Philippines, Marcos has already met in person with U.S. President Joe Biden. The U.S. is China’s superpower rival.

Next week, the Philippine leader will be hosting U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.

Harris will travel from Bangkok to Manila on Sunday evening and meet with Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday ahead of a longer meeting with Marcos, according to a senior administration official at the White House. The meeting with Marcos is to focus on strengthening the security alliance and economic relationship.

On Tuesday, Harris is scheduled to visit Palawan, an island on the frontline of the Philippines’ territorial dispute in the South China Sea.

“This visit demonstrates the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to stand with our Philippine ally in upholding the rules-based international maritime order in the South China Sea, supporting maritime livelihoods, and countering illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing,” the official said, according to a transcript released by the White House.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news service.