Day: May 11, 2023

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio introduced a bill Thursday that seeks to strengthen American air bases in the Indo-Pacific region to better respond to mainland Chinese aggression against Taiwan.

The Deterring Chinese Preemptive Strikes Act “direct[s] the U.S. Department of Defense to harden U.S. facilities in the Indo-Pacific to help further deter a preemptive strike against U.S. forces and assets in the region by China ahead of an invasion of Taiwan.”

War games conducted by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies showed that Beijing’s strategy if it were to mount such an invasion would be to attack U.S. bases in the region with missiles, a statement by Rubio’s office said. 

The bill calls for a survey of aviation assets in the region to determine if any that would be needed to respond to an invasion of Taiwan lack improvements that would “mitigate damage to aircraft in the event of a missile, aerial drone, or other form of attack by the People’s Republic of China.”

When the survey is complete, the secretary of defense would then deliver the results of the survey to the appropriate congressional committees, which would then enact plans to make the improvements.

“Senator Rubio has been clear on the importance of defending Taiwan,” a representative from Rubio’s office told RFA’s Mandarin Service, citing the Taiwan Protection and National Resilience Act, a bill that Rubio and colleagues introduced in March that seeks to create a plan for dealing with a potential invasion. 

When asked if U.S. lawmakers were working with President Biden to prevent threats to U.S. airspace, Rubio’s office was critical of the administration, saying it “appears to be more concerned about not antagonizing China instead of taking the steps needed to protect American servicemembers from future attacks.”

Mainland communist China considers democratic Taiwan to be a rogue province. Beijing insists that its diplomatic partners accept its claim on the island of Taiwan, which it calls the “one China” policy, effectively forcing them to cut ties with the democratic island. 

Beijing last month conducted military exercises in waters around the island of Taiwan, prompting Taipei’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu to say, “They seem to be trying to get ready to launch a war against Taiwan.”

In February, CIA Director William Burns said that Chinese President Xi Jinping wants to be able to invade Taiwan within the next four years.

Additional reporting by Xiao Bing for RFA Mandarin. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

The suppression of Hong Kong’s promised freedoms under Chinese rule should serve as a warning to the international community that Beijing will continue to export its authoritarian rule far beyond its borders, says the son of jailed Hong Kong media magnate Jimmy Lai.

“Hong Kong is a litmus test for how China views the world,” Sebastien Lai told journalists during a visit to Washington. “If they aren’t willing to respect those freedoms in Hong Kong, then the long arm of China is basically everywhere.”

“If they’re not willing to do that in Hong Kong, with all the economic benefits that come with, they’re not willing to do that in the U.S., in the U.K., in Ireland,” he said.

“You see that with the secret police stations,” Lai said. “It really shows how they view cooperation with another state; it doesn’t seem like they want friendly cooperation with democratic countries.”

Jimmy Lai’s Next Digital media empire and its flagship Apple Daily newspaper were forced to close amid a national security investigation, and he is still awaiting trial on charges of “collusion with a foreign power” and others linked to “seditious publications,” as the authorities move to disqualify his British barrister.

International press freedom groups say the ruling Communist Party under supreme leader Xi Jinping has “gutted” press freedom in the formerly freewheeling city amid an ongoing crackdown on dissent in the wake of the 2019 protest movement.

Hong Kong journalists who fled the city after Beijing imposed a national security law from July 1, 2020, continue to campaign for press freedom for the city from overseas, but say they are constantly targeted for transnational repression by agents and supporters of the Chinese state, including secret Chinese police stations in a number of countries.

‘Shine a light’

Lai told RFA Cantonese that he intends to keep speaking out to “shine a light” on the unfolding crackdown on freedom of speech that saw the jailing of his father and the closure of his flagship Apple Daily newspaper following raids by the national security police.

“What I want to achieve is for the world to see that both my father and all these other political prisoners are standing trial right now,” he said.

“The Hong Kong government keeps claiming that there is still freedom of the press and rule of law with all of its “Hello Hong Kong” propaganda, which is pretty despicable, because that’s pretty clearly not the case,” Lai said. “They’re saying one thing, while doing another, so the world needs to know this.”

He also warned any investors or companies looking to invest or expand operations in Hong Kong to look at the national security investigation of the Apple Daily as a cautionary tale.

“The Apple Daily headquarters was over five floors. At its peak, we had a newsroom of over 900 people,” Lai said, adding: “They raided it twice. The first time, they sent 200 people there.”

“Basically, 200 police rushed in, grabbed laptops, and made sure that nobody could work, nobody could touch any devices. The second time [they sent] 500 people,” he said. 

“So, if you want to know what could happen to any business in Hong Kong … that is a very good picture to look at before you make any decisions in terms of investments.”

He said the risk of charges under a national security law imposed on the city by Beijing in the wake of the 2019 mass protests against diminishing freedoms means that the cost of doing business in the city has now risen sharply.

“The ability, like in Western countries, to speak out on anything you want has been massively limited,” Lai said. “It’s all well and great if you’re going there for a holiday or whatnot, but in terms of a financial center … you at least need the rule of law and some semblance of free speech, and that’s not the case there.”

Trying to lure talent

Lai’s comments came as the Hong Kong authorities try to boost investor interest in Hong Kong, seeking to attract fresh talent and visitors with new visa schemes and free plane tickets in a bid to counteract a mass exodus of middle-class and wealthy people in the wake of the national security law crackdown.

“It’s just a very dark time for a financial center,” Lai said. “How long can you keep being a financial center if people aren’t allowed to speak up … or if people are jailed for liking social media posts, and unfair sentences are handed out left and right?”

“My father got five years, nine months … on a commercial charge … the first time anybody has gone to jail for a lease violation,” he said. “The fact that they used this to attack my father shows how much Hong Kong has gone down as a place to do business, as a place to live, as a place to work.”

Lai, who is a British national like his father, said the United States had been much tougher on China than Britain.

“The U.K. government has been incredibly weak,” he said in comments reported by Reuters as Britain’s Minister for Investment Dominic Johnson said he held a series of meetings with government officials and executives in Hong Kong this week. 

“It’s very sad to see a democratic government being afraid – or asking permission even – to speak on behalf of one of its citizens that is in prison for freedom of speech.”

U.S. Congressman Mike Gallagher, chair of the House of Representatives select committee on China’s Communist Party, meanwhile hit out at the Vatican for not standing up for Jimmy Lai, who, like him, is a Catholic.

“The silence from the Vatican on China’s human rights abuses and Jimmy’s case, in particular, is deafening,” Reuters quoted him as saying, adding that the Vatican’s Washington embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

Young activists in central Myanmar burned a Chinese flag on Thursday amid growing anger at Beijing’s unwavering support for the military junta.

“We want the world to know that the Chinese government is working together with the fascist military junta in Myanmar that abuses and kills our people,” Swan Htet Bo, chairman of the Monywa Youth Association, told RFA Burmese.

The protest at a traffic junction in Sagaing region’s Monywa city was the latest outburst of disgust with China, which invested money in factories and mines across the country.

In the months after the February 2021 coup, 32 Chinese garment factories were set on fire, according to Myanmar’s Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, and while attacks by anti-junta forces on Chinese projects have damaged the water supply pipeline to the Letpadaung copper mine in Sagaing’s Salingyi township.

A Chinese-linked gas pipeline and a nickel plant in the Mandalay region have also been attacked.

There has been an uptick in anti-China sentiment in the regions of Yangon, Sagaing, and Mandalay following a meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and junta chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyidaw on May 2. 

Activists say the junta diverts income from China-backed projects and other foreign investment to buy weapons and equipment it uses to suppress those who oppose its rule.

Attack on Chinese pipeline

Thursday’s protest came just four days after a paramilitary group known as the Natogyi Guerrilla Force attacked junta troops guarding an office used to operate a Chinese oil and gas pipeline, located about three miles east of Mandalay region’s Natogyi township.

A member of the NGF told RFA that the May 7 evening attack was planned in response to visits by Chinese officials to Naypyidaw in recent weeks.

“Their actions anger the people of Myanmar because they are supporting the fascist military,” the NGF member said, speaking on condition of anonymity, citing security concerns. “That’s why we attacked the office by firing three 60mm rockets. There was an exchange of fire, too.”

The attack killed two junta soldiers and injured another, he said, adding that the military brought the wounded to Myoma hospital in Natogyi for treatment.

RFA was unable to independently verify the number of junta casualties claimed by the NGF.

The group said that since the attack, the junta has assigned more than 80 security personnel to guard the office, which had previously been assigned 20.

When contacted about the attack by RFA, Thein Htay, the junta’s economic minister and spokesman for Mandalay region, said he was “unaware of the incident” and could not comment.

In addition to Qin Gang’s visit, Peng Xiubin of China’s International Liaison Department met with former junta leader Than Shwe and Thein Sein, the former president of Myanmar’s quasi-civilian government from 2011-2016, on a four-day visit to the capital in late April, during which he pledged economic assistance from Beijing.

Qin’s predecessor, Wang Yi, visited Myanmar in July last year, although he failed to meet with Min Aung Hlaing, while China’s special envoy for Asian affairs Deng Xijun has met the junta chief at least twice since December.

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

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has expressed concern over the collection of DNA from Tibetans and Uyghurs by Chinese authorities, sparking a vehement reply from Beijing.

Speaking at a Freedom House awards event in Washington on Tuesday, Blinken said access to human genomic data opens up more human rights concerns because advances in biotechnology have enabled genomic surveillance based on DNA, potentially facilitating rights abuses. He is the senior-most U.S. official to raise the issue.

“We’ve seen some of those, for example, committed by the People’s Republic of China against Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang,” he said. “We’re also concerned by reports of the spread of mass DNA collection to Tibet as an additional form of control and surveillance over the Tibetan population.”

In recent years, the Chinese government has stepped up its repressive rule in Tibet. This includes the forced collection of biometric data and DNA in the form of involuntary blood samples taken from school children at boarding schools without parental permission.

When asked by a reporter from Chinese media about Blinken’s comments, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on Wednesday said the “claims do not hold water and mean nothing except manufacturing sensational news items.” 

As a country governed by law, China provides legal protection of the privacy of all its citizens, regardless of ethnic background, Wen said.

Wen pointed out that the United States widely collects and uses genomic information, citing a Wall Street Journal report on plans by the U.S. Defense Department to develop genetically engineered weapons and the military’s collection of the genomic data. 

He also cited a report by Russian news service RT that the U.S. Air Education and Training Command once issued a tender seeking to acquire samples of ribonucleic acid and synovial fluid from Russians. 

“It’s pretty clear who exactly is using genomic information for secret purposes,” Wen said. 

Setting rules

During his speech, Blinken also mentioned U.S. President Joe Biden’s executive order on biotechnology and biomanufacturing innovation, issued last September, which seeks to ensure that the U.S. and its partners set norms and rules on advanced biotechnology that reflects their values.

The guidelines are “a way to start to create guardrails and to shape the space, particularly as countries on the cutting edge of tech-enabled repression seek to export their models and technologies, with all the biases and risks that they contain, and to do so at scale,” he said. 

Emile Dirks, a post-doctoral fellow at The Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto, said Wen’s comments were the first time that an official from China’s Foreign Ministry discussed mass DNA collection in Tibet.

“For me the important development is that now China may be compelled to acknowledge the existence of this program or at least forced to publicly engage in a discussion with people who are pointing out the existence of this DNA collection,” he said. 

The Citizen Lab focuses on research and development and strategic policy at the intersection of information and communication technologies, human rights and global security.

Last September, Dirks produced a report on the mass DNA collection in Tibet between 2016 and 2022, finding that police may have collected genomic data from 25% to 33% of the region’s population of 3.7 million.

Based on publicly available sources, the report found that police targeted Tibetan men, women and children—and in some cases Buddhist monks—for DNA collection outside of any ongoing criminal investigation in a campaign similar to mass data collection from Uyghurs living in Xinjiang.

Form of social control

Though authorities justified the DNA collection as a way to fight crime, find missing people and ensure social stability, the report noted that without checks on police powers, authorities could amass DNA collections for any purpose. 

The program amounted to a form of social control of Tibetans long subjected to state surveillance and repression, it said.

Maya Wang, associate director in the Asia division at Human Rights Watch, said the U.S. government should devote more resources to go after companies in China involved in the DNA collection efforts and seek to put an end to it. 

“China has used Tibet as a laboratory for relentless methods of social control,” including the mass DNA collection campaign, said International Campaign for Tibet, an advocacy group, in a statement issued Wednesday. 

“The best way to protect Tibetans from China’s authoritarian rule is to push for a peaceful resolution to China’s illegal occupation of Tibet,” the statement said, and suggested that the U.S. can do this by passing the bipartisan Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Conflict Act currently in both houses of Congress.

The act’s purpose is to empower the U.S. government to achieve its long-standing goal of getting Tibetans and Chinese government authorities to resolve their differences peacefully through dialogue.

Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

A Hong Kong newspaper has axed a regular cartoon strip by political satirist Zunzi following an onslaught of public criticism from government officials. 

In an announcement in a column on its A14 page of Thursday’s newspaper, the Chinese-language Ming Pao said Zunzi’s cartoon strip would be terminated, with just two more editions left to run.

“We would like to thank Zunzi for witnessing the changes of the past 40 years alongside us,” it said, adding that the decision had been reached through an “agreement” with the cartoonist.

The newspaper union, the Ming Pao Staff Association, issued a statement on Thursday expressing “regret and a sense of helplessness” over the axing of Zunzi, as well as thanking him for his hard work over the years, including “upholding social justice and kindness.”

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, declined to comment on the reason for the move when contacted by Radio Free Asia on Thursday, saying he needed to focus on his last two comic strips.

Asked why his cartoon had been shut down, he said only: “The comic ceased publication as the result of an agreement with Ming Pao, and it’s inappropriate for me to speak on behalf of the Ming Pao.”

Humor as a tool

The Ming Pao‘s announcement came a day after the government took aim at a recent Zunzi comic strip satirizing recent changes to electoral rules for the city’s District Council, which mean the government will directly appoint members of district anti-crime and fire protection committees, who are currently directly elected by local people.

“The Ming Pao today (May 9) published a cartoon strip by Zunzi that distorts and discredits the principle of appointment of members of the District Fight Crime Committee and District Fire Protection Committee by the Government,” the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau said in a statement on its Facebook page.

“Recently, the Ming Pao has made some misleading remarks about the government’s proposed plans for improving district governance … a political act that tramples on ethics,” it said.

Hong Kong security czar Chris Tang hit out at Zunzi last month for making fun of a police request for better surveillance equipment.

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.

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.

Mak declined to comment on the axing of Zunzi when asked about it by journalists on Thursday.

“The government will humbly listen to different opinions, but we must clarify false statements or things that are inconsistent with the facts, so the public can know the truth,” she said.

Crackdown on dissent

The move highlights the dwindling number of independent media organizations in Hong Kong under an ongoing crackdown on dissent.

“There are fewer and fewer free newspapers in Hong Kong, but it’s not necessarily total silence,” he said. “The times are changing, and the platforms that speak out are also changing.”

Huang, who has previously said he plans to remain in Hong Kong, told RFA Cantonese he could “take a trip” out of town. 

Ronson Chan, former chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, which has also been denounced by pro-China newspapers, said the government’s level of tolerance “appears to have changed.”

“In the past you could say whatever you liked, and draw whatever you liked,” he said. “There was once a variety of different voices in Hong Kong.”

“Now, you can cross [invisible] red lines for no reason, and the risks [of operating here] are off the scale.”

He said ongoing government censorship has led to a climate of fear.

“If people see that others are less willing to speak out, they will be less willing, and it will be a vicious circle,” Chan said.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

The president of 2023 ASEAN chair Indonesia warned the Burmese military on Thursday that human rights violations “cannot be tolerated,” even as he acknowledged the bloc has made no progress in implementing its Myanmar peace plan.

Still, as they wrapped up their two-day summit in Indonesia, leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations expressed their “deep concern” about the escalation of violence in member-state Myanmar, but insisted on sticking to a peace plan that critics have panned as ineffective. 

“Violations of humanitarian values cannot be tolerated,” President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said at a press conference following the end of the summit in Labuan Bajo, a seaside town on Flores island.

He stressed the need to engage all parties in Myanmar, saying “ASEAN’s credibility is at stake.”

Myanmar, which was not represented at the summit after the junta was barred from sending political representatives, has been in turmoil since the military overthrew an elected government in February 2021.

The Burmese military has ignored a five-point consensus it agreed to with ASEAN in April 2021, one of whose main points was an end to violence. Its forces have also killed more than 3,400 people since the generals seized power.

“I must speak candidly. On the implementation of the 5PC [Five-Point Consensus], there has not been significant progress. Therefore, ASEAN unity is required to decide on the next steps,” Jokowi told his Southeast Asian counterparts on Thursday, according to a copy of his speech.

Nevertheless, ASEAN leaders reaffirmed their support for the five-point plan, a statement by the ASEAN chair said at the end of the summit.

“We discussed the development in Myanmar and reiterated our unified position that the Five-Point Consensus remains our main reference,” the statement said. 

“We supported the chair’s continued engagement with all stakeholders in Myanmar to find a peaceful and durable solution that is Myanmar-owned and Myanmar-led, to create a conducive environment for facilitating an inclusive national dialogue.”

Jokowi calls for ASEAN unity

Meanwhile, Indonesia as ASEAN chair was ready to hold talks with all parties in Myanmar “for humanitarian reasons,” Jokowi said at the press conference.

“Engagement does not mean recognition,” he said. 

He also warned against any external interference in ASEAN.

“Without unity, it will be easy for others to break ASEAN. There should be no party inside or outside ASEAN that benefits from the conflict in Myanmar,” Jokowi said.

“Violence must be stopped and people must be protected.”

The Myanmar junta has cracked down on mass protests, killed more than 3,000 people and arrested thousands more, according to human rights groups. The United Nations said more than 1.8 million people had been forced to flee their homes in Myanmar because of violence since the coup.

The crisis has strained ASEAN’s unity and credibility. The regional bloc has struggled to find a common stance and exert influence over the junta.

Many regional observers and analysts, as well as the previous foreign minister of Malaysia, had said it was time to junk the consensus and devise a new plan on a deadline that included enforcement mechanisms.

Some experts say that ASEAN’s approach to Myanmar reflects its limitations as a consensus-based organization that prioritizes stability and non-interference in its members’ domestic affairs. 

Others argue it still has a role to play but needs to be more assertive and creative in dealing with the junta.

“It remains relevant to unite ASEAN and prevent ASEAN countries from moving on their own, and taking actions that undermine collective efforts,” said Muhammad Waffaa Kharisma, a researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta.

“But it is true that it needs to be evaluated for its effectiveness. It gives too much decision-making power to the military junta,” he told BenarNews. “If the military junta does not change its behavior, there is no mechanism to change that.”

Contested waterway

During the summit, the leaders also discussed some issues at the heart of territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

The chair’s statement said some ASEAN members had raised concerns about land reclamations, and damage to marine environment caused by certain activities in the sea, although no countries were named.

The South China Sea is one of the world’s busiest waterways and has an abundance of natural resources. It is home to several flashpoints involving maritime disputes over oil and gas exploration projects and fishing rights.

China claims nearly the entire sea, including waters within the exclusive economic zones of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan. While Indonesia does not regard itself as a party to the South China Sea dispute, Beijing claims historic rights to parts of the waterway overlapping Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone as well.

The ASEAN leaders reaffirmed “the need to enhance mutual trust and confidence, exercise self-restraint in conducting activities that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability, and avoid actions that may further complicate the situation,” the statement said.

The statement welcomed the progress in negotiations for a code of conduct, which aims to prevent conflicts and maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea.

China and ASEAN signed a nonbinding declaration on the conduct of parties in the South China Sea in 2002, but negotiations on the code of conduct have been slow and contentious. 

The two sides agreed on a single draft text in 2018, with the latest round of negotiations taking place in March in Jakarta.

On the sidelines of the summit, Jokowi invited the other leaders to sail together on a traditional wooden boat called “phinisi.”

“ASEAN is one family,” he said.

“The ties are very strong and the unity is very important to sail towards the same goal.”

Tria Dianti in Jakarta contributed to this report. BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news service.