Day: April 3, 2023

Civilians are being killed at an alarming rate in Myanmar’s civil war, dying in airstrikes, artillery shelling and while being held in detention, data released from an armed ethnic group fighting the junta showed.

In the eastern state of Kayah, which borders northern Thailand, some 447 civilians have been killed since the military took control of the country in a coup two years ago, according to the Progressive Karenni People’s Force.

About two-third of them were killed after being captured by troops, while the rest died while feeling conflict, said an official with the group who spoke to Radio Free Asia on condition of anonymity citing security concerns.

“The reason why civilians were killed is because they were hit by the junta’s … artillery fire,” he said. “Another reason is the military junta’s airstrikes targeting civilians.”

“Some were killed by the military forces after they arrested them, and others died because of insufficient medicine to cure them,” he said.

Across the country, some 3,206 civilians have been killed by the junta during the same period, according to Thailand’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).

Fighting has been fierce in the region since the February 2021 coup. The Burmese army has clashed with the ethnic Karenni Army and the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force as many as 650 times, he said.

War crimes

Junta forces have increasingly ignored the rules of war and committed atrocities that amount to war crimes, said Banyar, director of the Karenni Human Rights Organization.

“We are witnessing the military council openly committing war crimes and crimes against  humanity,” he said. “The civilian death rate has increased because the junta is committing crimes against innocent civilians instead of protecting them.”

Banyar noted that there have been some cases where the anti-junta People’s Defense Force paramilitary group has killed civilians it accused of acting as informers for the military.

The Progressive Karenni People’s Force said it is compiling a list of rights violations committed by the military and will submit it to international rights groups as part of a bid to hold the junta accountable.

In addition to civilian deaths, the group said that at least 252 resistance fighters and 1,883 junta soldiers had been killed during the battles, although RFA could not independently confirm the claim.

Calls by RFA to Aung Win Oo, the junta’s social affairs minister and Kayah state spokesman, went unanswered Monday.

Just last Monday, on Armed Forces Day, junta chief Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing vowed to “crush” ethnic armed groups supporting the People’s Defense Forces and the shadow National Unity Government.

Meanwhile the fighting has driven around 200,000 refugees from their homes in Kayah state since the coup, the Karenni Human Rights Organization said.

The displaced are facing food shortages, and that in some cases, camps don’t have access to clean water, leading to diarrhea and other water-borne viruses, said Phu Maw, a volunteer providing medical assistance to refugees in Kayah state. 

Most of the refugees are suffering from mental health issues, she said.

Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Josh Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

Long tapped as his father’s successor to lead Cambodia, Hun Manet has been put at the top of the list of 12 parliamentary candidates for the Phnom Penh constituency in the July 23 general elections.

Before he runs, Hun Manet, 45, the eldest son of Hun Sen, who has ruled since 1985, is expected to resign from the military – per election rules – where he is deputy commander-in-chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces.

Hun Manet posted a short video clip to his Facebook page on Monday, saying that Cambodia would remain independent and strengthen ties with all countries around the world – not just China.

“Cambodia’s policy today is not being so close to China and not being so close to anyone,” he said. “It stands neutral, but we encourage and are determined to boost up close relationships with all the nations.

“That is our correct policy. We get closer to China, the United States and Japan and we get closer to all other nations,” he said. “That’s what we want.”

Hun Manet has had extensive experience overseas. A graduate of the elite United States Military Academy at West Point, he holds a masters in economics from New York University and another graduate degree from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom.

‘I have to protect my power’

Speaking at the inauguration of a hospital on Monday, Hun Sen used harsh language to respond to recent criticisms of his leadership and his son. 

The prime minister seemed to target a Buddhist monk now living in exile in Massachusetts who recently criticized Hun Manet for not being qualified to lead the country. In comments posted on Facebook on Sunday, the Venerable Buth Buntenh also said that if Hun Manet became prime minister, he would only do his father’s bidding. 

“The black guy, who lives in the U.S. – people would know when I call him the black guy,” Hun Sen said while not using Buth Buntenh’s name. 

“Last night, he said that Hun Sen fears losing power. What you said is right, the contemptible black guy. I have to protect my power because your people always attempt to kill me, why not let me protect it?”

Hun Sen also said he would continue to hunt and eliminate opposition groups – who he accused of committing treason – out of the political arena to protect peace and the constitutional monarchy. 

Warning to foreign embassies

He also cautioned  “Cambodia’s foreign friends” who support opposition party groups and politicians. 

“You have to choose between an individual group that breaks the laws and the government,” he said at the hospital inauguration in Tbong Khmum province. “Please choose one. If you need those who were penalized by law, please do so, and you can then break diplomatic relations from Cambodia.”

The ruling CPP and Hun Sen have been working to silence and intimidate opposition figures ahead of the July general elections through a series of arrests and lawsuits.

In the most high-profile example, opposition party leader Kem Sokha was sentenced to 27 years for treason last month in a court decision that was widely condemned as politically motivated. 

The charges against Kem Sokha related partly to a video recorded in 2013 in which he discusses a strategy to win power with the help of U.S. experts. The United States Embassy has rejected any suggestion that Washington was trying to interfere in Cambodian politics.

Hun Sen also mentioned last week’s visit to Phnom Penh of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

“He declared that the powerful countries should stop interfering into the affairs of other countries,” Hun Sen said. “I fully support him. I’ve got another good counterpart in ASEAN.” 

Political analyst Kim Sok said Hun Sen’s language on Monday was “undiplomatic.” Foreign embassies in Phnom Penh – such as the United States – are working to cooperate with Cambodia based on a 1991 multinational agreement that formally ended decades of war in the country and paved the way for parliamentary democracy, he said.

“They just monitor the situation to see if Cambodia walks in the path of democracy and multi-liberal pluralism, which is enshrined in the Paris Peace Agreements,” he said.   

Translated by Sok Ry Sum. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

Hong Kong security czar Chris Tang has hit out at political cartoonist Zunzi after he published a comic strip taking aim at a police request for better surveillance equipment.

In the latest in a string of official comments targeting the Zunzi comic strip, Tang said the strip had “made misleading accusations and aroused public dissatisfaction with the government,” an accusation that could fall within the purview of a draconian security law banning public criticism of the authorities.

In the cartoon strip published in the Ming Pao newspaper, two government officials discuss the implications of a recent request from the city’s police force for H.K.$5.2 billion to set up a digital media platform to collate video and images gathered by officers on phones and bodycams.

Better surveillance equipment would lead to more arrests and the need to hire more judges and build more prisons, meaning the bill would likely be closer to H.K.$20 billion, the cartoon figures conclude.

Zunzi has also taken aim at the Hong Kong government’s global talent recruitment drive, quipping that “priority will be given to applicants who are accepting of harsh governance, prompting the police force to write an angry letter to the Ming Pao, while a strip depicting political censorship was criticized by cultural officials as “wantonly smearing” the authorities.

Tang said the cartoon strip had made “misleading allegations against the government” more than once during the past six months, leading to criticism from fellow officials, according to a report from government broadcaster RTHK.

Arrests and prosecution under the national security law have followed similar public denunciations by officials or Chinese Communist Party-backed media organizations in a number of past cases, including those of three activists with Student Politicism.

In August 2021, Hong Kong’s largest teaching union announced it would disband after being denounced in Communist Party newspaper the People’s Daily.

Huang Jijun, 68, who has published work relating to the June 4, 1989 bloodshed under the pen-name Zunzi and had cartoons in every edition of the now-shuttered pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper for 26 years, has previously said he plans to remain in Hong Kong despite a citywide crackdown on public dissent under a draconian national security law imposed by the ruling Chinese Communist Party from July 1, 2020.

National security law fallout

Tang’s comments came as a report from the U.S. Congress accused the Hong Kong government of continuing to use “national security” as a pretext to arrest and prosecute anyone from the pro-democracy camp, and to crack down on dissenting opinions.

“The People’s Republic of China continues to erode Hong Kong’s judicial independence and the rule of law,” Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said in a March 31 statement. “[The] authorities have further criminalized dissent, undermining the human rights and fundamental freedoms of people in Hong Kong and dismantling the city’s promised autonomy.”

According to the report, the Hong Kong government has persisted in its enforcement of the national security law, while also making use of a colonial-era sedition law to silence perceived critics.

It said more than 1,200 people have been detained for their political beliefs, according to media reports, many of whom remain in pre-trial detention.

“We urge [the Chinese] authorities to restore Hong Kongers their protected rights and freedoms, release those unjustly detained or imprisoned, and respect the rule of law and human rights in Hong Kong,” Blinken said.

Hong Kong justice secretary Paul Lam said the report was “nonsense.”

“Those who have actually been arrested or convicted were inciting others … to undermine social and national stability,” Lam said. “This isn’t just talk — it’s instigation: encouraging others to agree with your thinking and to change theirs, and to engage in socially destructive action. They’re not just academic discussions.”

“This statement is absolutely full of lies,” Lam said.

Crime of ‘incitement’

U.S.-based Hong Kong Democracy Council executive director Anna Kwok said the group has counted 1,415 political prisoners in Hong Kong since the national security law took effect, citing the ongoing trial of 47 former opposition politicians and democracy activists for “subversion” under the national security law after they took part in a democratic primary in the summer of 2020.

“The Hong Kong government constantly criminalizes speech and over-interprets the past speech of various people,” she said. “They twist people’s words into evidence and use it against them in court.”

Exiled former pro-democracy lawmaker Ted Hui said all of the arrests made under the law, and under the colonial-era sedition law, have been unjust.

“Countless people have had their passports confiscated for no reason after they assist police with their enquiries,” Hui said. “This has had a huge impact on their personal freedom”.

“The crime of incitement is definitely used to target political opinions,” he said. 

The Hong Kong Policy Act report said the authorities continue to arrest and prosecute people for peaceful criticism of the government, “including for posting and forwarding social media posts.” 

“Hong Kong authorities continued to restrict political expression in schools and universities, impose ‘national security education’ in all publicly funded institutions, and penalize teachers and academics who expressed dissenting opinions,” the report said.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie.

A project funded by Chinese investors to build an industrial city near a potash mine has local villagers in Khammouane province concerned about negative impacts to their communities and their forest-based livelihood.

Developer Sino Agri International Potash Co. signed a memorandum of understanding with the Laos government on March 24 to build a “smart-eco industrial city” on 20 square kilometers of land in Nong Bok and Tha Khek districts.

The industrial city will be divided into three zones: An industry zone for production of fertilizer feedstock, a city zone with office buildings and a community zone for living. 

Sino Agri began excavating a potassium mine in 2020 near the site for the industrial city. The company is a subsidiary of Asia Potash, which has direct links to entities directed by China’s governing State Council. 

The council announced last year that it was seeking to expand China’s access to potassium salt resources used to make fertilizer, including potash, a soluble form of potassium.

China is the world’s largest consumer of fertilizer and the State Council is looking to secure reliable supplies of potassium resources. Asia Potash has said it is looking to boost annual potassium production in Laos to 3-5 million metric tons – up from 1 million – in the next few years. 

Influx of workers from China

An official from the Ministry of Planning and Investment, who declined to reveal his name, said the details of the project remain secret. 

“We can’t reveal to the public yet,” the official said to Radio Free Asia on March 28. “The project should begin by now.”

A guesthouse owner in Nong Bok district told RFA’s Lao service that preparation work has been ongoing for a year and a half. 

“Some of the workers have stayed in my guesthouse,” the owner said, noting that all of the workers came from China. “They have rented for a long time already.”

One villager told RFA that construction has begun on forested land that villagers use to search for food and otherwise make a living. 

Another villager said the project hasn’t encroached on villagers’ private land but people are still worried the community will undergo too much change because of so many workers moving to the area.

Translated by Sidney Khotpanya. Edited by Matt Reed.

China recalled millions of copies of the mass circulation People’s Daily because Xi Jinping’s name was omitted from a commentary about the need for national unity, sources told Radio Free Asia.

The page 5 commentary, titled “Unity and struggle are the only way for the Chinese people to forge a historical undertaking,” recounted China’s achievements under Xi. 

But in one sentence, after the word “comrade” – typical in communist countries – it didn’t include Xi’s name, according to photos of the article viewed by RFA.

So the text read: “The central government with comrade at the core assesses the situation.” The online edition reads correctly: “The central government with comrade Xi Jinping at the core assesses the situation.” 

Despite authorities’ stern orders to keep the recall confidential, an internal notice about the editing error was leaked hours after being issued. The notice ordered a halt to further deliveries of the March 30 edition to newspaper stalls and to immediately recall an estimated 3 million copies already sent out. 

The error has caused the entire official propaganda apparatus to be paralyzed with fear about the potential fallout, according to a former night shift editor at an official Chinese press outlet who insisted on not being identified for his own safety.

The article was written by an author using the pseudonym “Ren Ping.” It wasn’t immediately clear who that was.

Whether or not the author involved would be punished depends on the mood of Xi Jinping himself, the editor said.

Political incident

The final draft of any article by Chinese official media is supposed to undergo five to six rounds of editing before being published, but no one seems to have caught the error.

In China, official media reports follow strict rules regarding the names, titles and positions of officials. 

Reporting about state leaders is considered a political task, and any mistake reporting their names or positions is considered a political incident. Under former Chairman Mao Zedong, such errors even led to charges of counter-revolutionary crimes and heavy penalties.

When RFA contacted China’s Propaganda Department, one official said: “Sorry, I really don’t know. I don’t know much about the situation. How about you ask People’s Daily if you want to find out?” 

RFA attempted to contact People’s Daily’s chief editor, review department and two separate informant hotlines by phone. None of these calls were answered.

Many reporters inside China speculate that Tuo Zhen, the current chief editor and president of People’s Daily, may be purged due to the incident. 

Tuo was promoted to deputy head of China’s Propaganda Department following a purge of editorial staff at the liberal newspaper Southern Weekly’s in China’s Guangdong province due to a dispute over his censoring an article released by the paper in 2013.

There have been exceptions. People’s Daily once misspelled former Chinese premier Wen Jiabao’s name, but Wen ordered the editor not to be punished.

Authorities in China have formally arrested a veteran activist who campaigned for the rights of COVID-19 victims after he publicly expressed support for recent protests by older people over cuts to medical insurance payouts.

Zhang Hai was detained by authorities in the southern city of Shenzhen after he reposted video clips of the “silver” protests in Wuhan, along with media reports and comments to his Twitter account. He was one of at least five people detained in the wake of the demonstrations.

Zhang, who lives in Shenzhen, became an outspoken critic of the ruling Chinese Communist Party since the pandemic prompted a city-wide lockdown in Wuhan and killed his father. The authorities placed restrictions on his bank cards and on routine banking transactions in June 2022.

He has now been formally arrested on suspicion of “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble,” a catch-all public order charge applied to rights campaigners and critics of the government, a person familiar with the situation told Radio Free Asia.

Hubei-based dissident Gao Fei said he wasn’t surprised by Zhang’s arrest.

“Zhang Hai has never backed down, and has always insisted on speaking the truth despite threats,” Gao said. “He kept on fighting and appealing over his father’s case, and also mobilized other victims to do the same.”

“It wasn’t just a case of making a few comments – he also took practical action,” he said. “This is anathema to the authorities, who see him as an early adopter” of action for families hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“His case will definitely set a precedent for the way the rest of us are treated if we speak out online,” Gao said.

‘Rumor-mongering’

Zhang’s detention came after thousands of people took to the streets of two Chinese cities – Wuhan and Dalian – on Feb. 15 in a second mass protest over major cuts to their medical benefits.

The protests were a continuation of an earlier rally outside municipal government headquarters in Wuhan on Feb. 8 against the slashing of medical payouts under an insurance scheme offered to retired employees of state-owned enterprises.

The ruling Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda machine says the “silver protests” were the result of “rumor-mongering,” and ordered police and local officials to carry out “ideological work” with people who attended the demonstrations 

Zhang is currently being held in the Wuhan No. 2 Detention Center, and his family have relinquished their right to hire him a defense attorney “after taking various factors into consideration,” the person familiar with his case said.

Since a nationwide crackdown on hundreds of rights attorneys and law firms in 2015, police have begun to put pressure on the families of those detained for political dissent to fire their lawyers and allow the government to appoint a lawyer on their behalf, in the hope of a more lenient sentence.

Netherlands-based dissident Lin Shengliang said Zhang had already hired a lawyer, but could have been forced to let them go after intense pressure from the authorities.

“The main reason for his arrest has to do with his long-term whistle-blowing about the [emergence of the] COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan, his ongoing efforts to trace the origin of the virus, and his pursuit of accountability for the officials involved [in covering up the severity of the initial outbreak],” Lin said.

“An insider revealed to me that Zhang had planned to hire a lawyer … but hasn’t contacted one so far,” he said. “I’m guessing that was suppressed, likely under huge pressure and great duress.”

“They put huge pressure on family members, using threats to coerce and manipulate them into doing exactly what the authorities want,” Lin said.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.