Month: March 2023

China has increased video surveillance and inspections of street vendors in and around the Tibetan capital of Lhasa in an effort to clean up the city, though sources inside the autonomous region say the measures are meant to get Tibetans hawkers off the streets.

Local authorities began implementing the “Clean Up Lhasa” campaign on March 20 in the city of about 560,000 people in which they are inspecting all street vendors in and around the Jokhang Temple [or] Tsuglagkhang,” said the sources who declined to be identified for safety reasons.

Tibetans consider the four-story Buddhist temple in Lhasa’s Barkhor Square as the most sacred and important temple in the Tibet Autonomous Region.

Chinese authorities are also prohibiting Tibetan vendors who sell tsampa, a Tibetan staple food made of barley, sha-kampo, or dried yak and sheep meat, and other edibles, alleging that they do not have proper food badges on them, said a Tibetan inside the region.

“Though the Chinese government has implied that the campaign is aimed at keeping the city of Lhasa clean, one can see that only Tibetan vendors are targeted under this campaign,” he told Radio Free Asia. 

Authorities also are telling Tibetan street vendors to stop selling CDs of Tibetan songs and are interrogating them for no reason, the source added. 

“This has caused so much trouble for Tibetans who make their living as street vendors,” he said. 

Increased scrutiny

China maintains a tight grip on Tibet, restricting Tibetans’ political activities and peaceful expression of cultural and religious identity as Buddhists. Tibetans frequently complain of discrimination and human rights abuses by Chinese authorities and policies they say are aimed at wiping out their national and cultural identity.

The latest move follows increased security measures in Lhasa and other major towns ahead of recent politically sensitive anniversaries during which police randomly checked individuals and their cell phones for contact with people outside the region.

“Eventually under all these campaigns, the Chinese government wants to eradicate or eliminate any place or business that caters to bring the Tibetan brotherhood together,” said Gyal Lo, a Tibetan academic and author of the 2021 book Social Structuration in Tibetan Society: Education, Society, and Spirituality.

So far, authorities have interrogated nearly 30 street vendors under the “Clean Up Lhasa” campaign and will continue to inspect hawkers, according to information on the Lhasa Police’s website.

“Some of the street vendors continue to sell their stuff because this is their livelihood,” another Tibetan source said.

Others who tried to confront Chinese authorities have been detained, though there was no information about those arrested or where they are being held, he said.

“The Chinese government is trying to take away the only source of income for many of these Tibetan vendors under the guise of such campaigns,” he said. 

A possible motive for the campaign is that the Chinese government wants to maintain its claim that it has improved Tibet’s economic development, given that Lhasa is a tourism hub, said Xiang Xiaoji, a Chinese attorney based in New York.

“They don’t want the tourists to see Tibetans on the street as vendors,” he told RFA. “They want to portray that Tibetans are living good and financially content lives.” 

Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA Tibetan. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

The United States, European Union, France and Japan say they have no plans to send electoral observers or to provide assistance to Cambodia’s election committee for July‘s general election.

The parliamentary election has been marred by threats and recent arrests of activists as the ruling Cambodian People’s Party and Prime Minister Hun Sen work to silence and intimidate opposition figures. 

“France does not intend to send national observers to monitor the July elections,” the French Embassy in Cambodia said on Twitter on Wednesday. “We keep encouraging the establishment of a climate allowing the opposition, the media & civil society to function without hindrance, which is essential for fair & free elections.”

The United States isn’t providing assistance to the National Election Committee, but encourages a process “that is inclusive of all political stakeholders and in which all Cambodians can freely enjoy their political rights,” Embassy spokeswoman Stephanie Arzate said in response to a Radio Free Asia inquiry.

“We urge authorities to strengthen multiparty democracy in Cambodia by allowing opposing political views, fostering competition through inclusive free and fair elections, and promoting the free and open exchange of ideas,” she said.

Conditions in Cambodia for “holding inclusive, transparent and credible elections” are not in place, Barbara Plinkert, the EU’s Head of Division for Southeast Asia, told an EU subcommittee on March 21. That’s why the EU will not be sending observers, she said.

“We would need to send one already; we’d start preparation already six months before an election,” she told the EU Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights. “This has not happened and … the conditions need to be right in order to be able to meaningfully send an election observation mission.”

Looking back at 2018

Japan was the largest funder of Cambodia’s last general election, despite the fact that the country’s main opposition party – the Cambodia National Rescue Party – had been banned by the Supreme Court on unsubstantiated claims of election fraud in the 2017 commune elections.

Both the United States and EU withdrew donor support for the 2018 general elections, citing government actions seen as limiting democracy. 

Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan told the Phnom Penh Post in 2018 that the lack of EU or U.S. observers was unimportant, noting that in the 2013 general elections “they caused a lot of trouble.” 

But Cambodia did welcome election observers from Myanmar, Singapore and China in 2018. National Election Committee spokesman Hang Puthea said at the time that it wasn’t going to “differentiate between democratic or non-democratic countries” in considering international observers.

RFA couldn’t reach Hang Puthea for comment on Thursday. The committee is responsible for supervising elections in an impartial manner, but activists have claimed it often works on behalf of the CPP’s interests.

The NEC released a statement on Monday after a meeting between Japanese Ambassador Ueno Atsushi and NEC President Prach Chan that said the ambassador “was considering help” by sending observers to the election in July. 

But a spokesperson for Japan’s Embassy in Phnom Penh told news website Cambodianess that it has no plans to send official observers, although no final decision has been made and Japan may informally send people to several polling stations in July as ‘special guests.’”

Thach Setha’s bail request denied

Interior Minister Sar Kheng recently called publicly for a smooth and peaceful election. But activists from the Candlelight Party – now the main challenger to the ruling CPP – said in mid-March that police have been monitoring their meetings and local authorities have been defacing and stealing party signs and billboards. 

Candlelight Party activists in almost all provinces have reported cases of intimidation and harassment, and some people are now afraid to participate in non-ruling party activities, party spokesman Kim Sour Phirith said. 

On Thursday, an appeals court denied the bail request of Candlelight Party Vice President Thach Setha, who was arrested in January on charges of writing false checks – charges that opposition activists say are politically motivated.

The denial of the bail request is yet another indicator that Cambodia will not hold a legitimate election this year, said Am Sam Ath of the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights, or Licadho.

Not having any international election observers in July would be “sad,” said the executive director of Cambodia’s top election watchdog, the Neutral and Impartial Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia.

“It’s up to each country’s evaluation,” Sam Kuntheamy told RFA on Thursday. “But they might not have confidence that the election will be free and fair.”

Hun Sen’s power grip

Meanwhile, Hun Sen vowed publicly to rule the country until his death. 

“Some people said Hun Sen is gripping power. I am accepting that,” he said at a graduation ceremony in Phnom Penh on Thursday. 

“What about you? You said you want to compete for power – what does that mean?” Hun Sen said, apparently referring to opposition party leaders. “I am only defending the power that I am having – there is nothing wrong with that. Why do you want to be the prime minister? You want to fight for prime minister and I am defending it.” 

Hun Sen has said he will run for re-election this year and will hand power to his son, Hun Manet, after the 2028 election, at which point he will have served as prime minister for 43 years. 

He has also said that he would continue in his role as CPP president after 2028, and would return to the prime minister post if his son doesn’t perform well. 

Political analyst Kim Sok said Hun Sen is only able to stay in power because of his use of force, intimidation and other non-electoral means. 

“If there is a free and fair election, he can’t cling to his power,” he said. “People won’t vote for him.” 

Translated by Samean Yun. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

North Korean authorities are searching homes and arresting people who are secretly making moonshine, accusing them of misusing corn while the country continues to struggle with food shortages, sources told Radio Free Asia.

A resident of Anju city in South Pyongan province said that of the 25 households in their neighborhood-watch unit, five were caught by security agents and had their homemade alcohol confiscated. 

“Residents who were quickly able to hide the alcohol before the unexpected house searches were able to avoid getting caught,” the resident said.

Many families in the neighborhood make a living making moonshine, which can be started easily with just 10 kilograms (22 lbs.) of corn, he said. 

One household was caught using 30 kilograms (66 lbs.) of corn as ingredients for moonshine, and family members had to write a letter of self-criticism.

But four households that bought more than 100 kilograms (220 lbs.) of corn were accused of being “anti-socialists” who helped fuel the country’s food crisis, and were sentenced last week to more than a year in a correctional labor camp.

Anju is known as one of the largest cities in North Korea for producing bootleg alcohol. The area is a producer of bituminous coal, which is used as fuel in the bootlegging process. 

Bootlegging rose following 1990s famine

In North Korea, bootleg alcohol is mainly made by distillation rather than fermentation. The 40% alcohol produced in the first part of the distillation process is the most expensive and is usually transported to Pyongyang, where it is refined and sold as premium alcohol.

The second part of the distillation process produces 20-30% alcohol known as soju – the most bootlegged form of alcohol that North Koreans usually drink. It is mainly sold in private restaurants, marketplaces, street vendors and private homes in the provinces. 

Bootlegging became a more common way to earn a living when North Korea’s food ration system collapsed in the 1990s and a subsequent famine resulted in the death of millions. 

People bought food with the money earned and also used the leftover mash from the moonshine process to feed livestock. Raising pigs became another side job.

In the 2000s, private marketplaces were made legal, and the scope of what could be sold by merchants was expanded in the 2010s. Various types of businesses were allowed by North Korean authorities with the payment of market usage fees to the state. The number of people making moonshine – which was still illegal – decreased. 

Food shortages

But in 2020, when the border was closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, car parts and food imports were blocked and some merchants turned to bootlegging to make up the shortfall in business, a resident of Chunggang county in the northern province of Chagang told RFA on Wednesday. 

The area has also seen recent raids and arrests – the crackdown seems to be a reaction by authorities to food shortages, the resident said.

“The authorities punished the residents by giving them more than a year of correctional labor camp punishment as an example,” the resident said. “However, residents complained, saying, ‘Isn’t it right to solve the problem of food shortages first and then start cracking down on bootlegging?’” 

Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.