Day: June 14, 2023

Police in China are keeping up their harassment of prominent rights lawyers, putting pressure on recently evicted Wang Quanzhang and his family, slapping a travel ban on Li Heping and his family, while denying rights attorney Xie Yang a phone call with his sick father.

A police officer from the Beijing suburb of Changping pushed his way into the Wang family home on Wednesday, refusing to show ID and demanding to read the couple’s lease agreement, according to a video clip posted by Wang’s wife Li Wenzu on Twitter.

“Comrade Policeman, please would you leave – this is our home,” Li tells the officer, who is identified as Wang Kaiguo in her tweet.

“You can’t just go into people’s residences,” Li tells the officer in a heated discussion. “You didn’t produce any identification.”

“I’m wearing a police uniform, so I can come in here,” he says.

Police were claiming to have received a tip-off that the home had been illegally rented, according to the couple.

‘Stability Maintenance’

The renewed harassment is the latest in a slew of “stability maintenance” actions by Beijing police and other Chinese officials, who have targeted the families of prominent rights attorneys and other activists who were previously jailed in a 2015 crackdown on rights lawyers and public interest law firms.

In a video of an earlier conversation on June 12, Wang calls on a police officer via an entryphone to show some evidence backing up the claim that his family is living in the apartment illegally. He later tweeted a photo of the lease agreement with the landlord.

“Police and corporate security personnel in Shunyi tracked us down to our new residence and reported us to the local police station,” Wang said. “They continued to follow us as we were apartment-hunting, and they accused us of ‘trespassing.’”

“It’s not just us — a lot of Christian families across the country have been evicted and persecuted,” he said. “It’s very hard to live a stable life.”

Wang’s family was forced to leave their last apartment in Beijing’s Shunyi district after the authorities cut off their utilities.

“The content of the contract is true, legal, and valid, and should be protected by law,” Wang said via Twitter. “I hereby declare that I will not unilaterally terminate this contract within its validity period.”

“We moved into this rented accommodation legally, yet police said they had been told that we moved in illegally,” Li Wenzu also tweeted on Tuesday.

Can’t leave country

Meanwhile, the family of Li Heping is now banned from leaving China, after their landlord smashed a window at their rented apartment in a bid to get them to leave last month, Radio Free Asia has learned.

Police at Chengdu’s international airport prevented the family from boarding a flight to Thailand last week, as Li and his wife Wang Qiaoling are considered to be “a danger to national security,” Wang Qiaoling said.

“He told us, ‘You aren’t allowed to leave the country … I’m going to read this notice out to you — Li Heping and Wang Qiaoling aren’t allowed to leave the country due to factors endangering national security.’” she said.

And a court in the central city of Changsha recently denied detained rights lawyer Xie Yang a video meeting with his ailing 90-year-old father, who is terminally ill with COVID-19.

“The lawyer asked angrily whether the judges of the Changsha Intermediate People’s Court were raised by their parents,” the China Rights Lawyers Twitter account said of the June 7 hearing.

Xie’s U.S.-based ex-wife Chen Guiqiu told Radio Free Asia in a recent interview that her father-in-law Xie Huicheng had been in hospital with a high fever for days at the time of the request.

“Xie Yang is a very filial son, and the old man really wanted to see him before he dies,” Chen said. “The court just came up with various excuses to refuse.”

Xie is currently being held in the Changsha No. 1 Detention Center, awaiting trial for “incitement to subvert state power,” and recently told his visiting attorney that he has been tortured while in detention.

Chen said the court’s decision not to allow him to video call his dying father could be a form of retaliation, or a way to silence Xie.

U.S.-based rights lawyer Wu Shaoping said that while there was no good legal reason to deny such a request, the ruling Chinese Communist Party is the ultimate arbiter of its citizens’ rights, not the law.

“There was no reason to reject a humanitarian request of this kind,” Wu said. “They use [such requests] as a way of controlling suspects [to elicit a ‘confession’].”

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will not be seeking “deliverables” during a visit to Beijing this weekend, according to a top official, who instead framed the trip as an embryonic effort to reopen communications between the world’s top powers.

Blinken will be hoping to “reduce the risk of miscalculation” and conflict by reengaging with Chinese diplomats on areas of disunity after months of tensions, Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said on Wednesday. 

“This is not a visit in which I would anticipate a long list of deliverables coming out of it,” Kritenbrink said in a call to preview the trip by the top U.S. diplomat, who departs Washington on Friday.

After months of refusals by Chinese officials to speak with their American counterparts, Kritenbrink said Blinken’s primary objectives would instead be to reestablish open lines of communication, to signal U.S. priorities and then “to explore areas of potential cooperation.” 

“This is really a critical series of engagements that we’ll have in Beijing, at a crucial time in the relationship, that we again hope will, at a minimum, reduce the risk of miscalculation so that we do not veer into potential conflict,” he added. “It’s incredibly serious.”

U.S. defense officials say Chinese officials have refused phone calls since Blinken canceled a planned trip to Beijing in February due to the alleged Chinese spy balloon that was found in U.S. airspace.

Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu also declined to meet with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore earlier at the start of the month, with Li instead using the forum to accuse the United States of “double standards.”

The refusal to talk, they say, has confounded efforts to reach a resolution over the “unsafe maneuvers” by Chinese warships and military planes in front of American vessels over the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait, both of which Beijing claims as territory.

‘Show respect’

Kritenbrink and Sarah Beran, senior director for China and Taiwan affairs on the National Security Council, earlier this month met with their own counterparts in Beijing to help pave the way for a meeting between Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang.

But the efforts to resume talks have been complicated by the bad blood in the U.S.-China relationship after the months of tensions. 

Rep. Mike Gallagher, a Republican from Wisconsin who chairs the House Select Committee on China, for instance, called Kritenbrink and Beran’s trip to China an “outrage” after the pair arrived there on June 4, the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

Chinese officials have also indicated they have little interest in humoring any demands made by Blinken while in Beijing.

In a pre-meeting phone call between Blinken and the Chinese foreign minister on Wednesday, Qin stressed Beijing would maintain its “stern position” on its “core interests,” including that the self-governing island of Taiwan will be reunited with the mainland, according to a readout issued by China’s foreign ministry.

Qin said Washington should “show respect, stop interfering in China’s internal affairs and stop undermining China’s sovereignty, security and development interests,” the readout said.

A readout released by the U.S. State Department, by contrast, said that the pair “discussed the importance of maintaining open lines of communication to responsibly manage” the bilateral relationship.

Kritenbrink did not shy away from the differences between the two sides, acknowledging there had been “substantive, productive and candid exchanges” with Chinese officials in the lead-up to the visit.

Both sides nonetheless wanted to ensure “we have communication channels open, and that we do everything possible to reduce the risk of miscalculation. Chinese counterparts have used the words ‘to stop the downward spiral in the relationship,’” he explained.

Meeting for the sake of meeting

During the same call, Kurt Campbell, the White House’s Indo-Pacific coordinator, said the trip would be a positive step in U.S.-China ties, and denied it would be meaningless without any deliverables.

“We’ve heard from unofficial interlocutors just a few months ago that China was giving up on diplomacy with the United States,” Campbell said. “But of course, we’ve seen other signals of late that suggest they recognize that diplomacy with Washington is still important.”

Campbell said he was “not going to speculate” on the reasons Beijing wanted to resume diplomacy after months of rejecting even phone calls, but said that China’s leaders may have been pressed by concerns over the economy amid U.S. tech export controls.

“It could be that they, too, see some of the risks associated with [military] accidents,” he said. “It could also be that they see the effectiveness of our engagement with allies and partners, and don’t want to be further isolated, or there could be concerns around our technology steps. Or it could be a combination of reasons.”

“The simple fact is that we believe that both sides have an interest in maintaining consistent, clear and open lines of communication.”

Kritenbrink reiterated that a resumption of talks was enough.

“I fundamentally disagree with the assessment that somehow we’re meeting for the sake of meeting,” Kritenbrink said. “The issues at stake are simply too significant to take that kind of approach.” 

“But I do think we need to be realistic,” he said. “We’re not going to Beijing with the intent of having some sort of breakthrough or transformation in the way that we deal with one another. 

Edited by Malcolm Foster

Chinese authorities began searching homes in the Tibetan capital Lhasa this month to determine whether Tibetans are accessing foreign radio and TV programs via satellite dishes, city police and two Tibetans with knowledge of the situation said. 

Broadcast offices in the Tibet Autonomous Region, including in Lhasa, along with police investigated every household on June 8-9 for illegal satellite broadcasts, according to an announcement on the website of the Lhasa police. So far, authorities have confiscated about 50 satellite dishes.

In 2009, the Chinese government provided every household in Lhasa with a government-approved satellite dish, which gave residents access to only a limited number of state-controlled programs.

It is illegal for Tibetans who have access to or watch broadcasting other than state-sanctioned programs via satellite. 

“The satellite dishes in these households were installed by the Chinese government, and the satellite has only access to state-controlled programs, which are very limited,” said a Tibetan living in Lhasa who declined to be identified so as to speak freely.

“Tibetans cannot buy other satellite dishes or pay to watch other channels that have access to other news and information,” the source said. “It is deemed illegal.” 

Authorities say they have taken the measure to ensure harmony and stability in Tibet, and that the investigations will continue.  

But Tibetans see the move as another way that the Chinese government is preventing them from accessing outside information and restricting their communication. 

“This operation is part of a government clampdown on satellite equipment used by Tibetans to tune in to foreign news and programs, and the tracking of Tibetans’ cell phones to monitor their communication with the outside world,” said Pema Gyal, a Tibetan researcher at Tibet Watch, a London-based advocacy and monitoring group.

Before checking private households, authorities in Lhasa clamped down on the use of satellite dishes in hotels and guesthouses, said another Tibetan who declined to be identified for the same reason.

Though the satellite dishes installed by the government show only state-run programs, foreign programs can sometimes be picked up, the source said.

“However, it’s up to the person’s maneuvering skills to do that and to not get caught,” the Tibetan added.  

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

Myanmar’s shadow government has established an armed battalion in the country’s largest city of Yangon, intended to strengthen opposition to the junta and strategically formulate the fall of military rule, shadow government officials told Radio Free Asia.

Defense officials from the National Unity Government, or NUG, announced on June 1 that Public Defense Force 5101, or PDF 5101, is operating under its Yangon Region Military Command. 

Yangon and its surrounding areas are the second strongest power base for the military junta behind the capital Naypyidaw, to the north.

In the aftermath of the military coup on Feb.1, 2021, armed citizens opposed to military rule began banding together to form PDFs–guerilla-style militia groups–to fight back against the junta. Many of these affiliated themselves with the NUG after it was formed by remnants of Myanmar’s democratically elected government.    

Claiming a PDF in Yangon is a stepping stone towards a stronger resistance toward the junta, Naing Htoo Aung, secretary of the  NUG’s Ministry of Defense, told RFA’s Burmese Service. He said it aims to combine existing urban guerrilla attack strategies with traditional combat tactics to shorten the response time to junta military threats in Yangon.

“After regiments like this have been established, we will be able to organize stronger, more united and more traditional battles that can formulate more strategic attacks at the military junta,” said Naing Htoo Aung.

Following the NUG’s announcement, junta personnel took to the Yangon streets, saying to residents through loudspeakers that they should not harbor members of PDFs in their homes, not to rent their homes ot PDF members, and to report to authorities any suspicious activity, Yangon residents told RFA.

Wake up call

The establishment of the PDF in Yangon is a wake up call to the junta, Sayar Kyaung, leader of the anti-junta Yangon UG [Urban Guerilla] Association, a coalition of guerilla groups from the city. But the announcement will cause the junta to come after groups like the UG association.

“Since Yangon is under the control of the enemy, they search very thoroughly, inspect and arrest more people in the area, making things harder for us.”

RFA attempted to contact the junta’s spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment, but he did not answer phone calls. 

The NUG’s announcement is likely false according to Thien Tun Oo, the executive director of the Thayninga Institute for Strategic Studies, a group of former military officers said.

“In my opinion, it’s more like a propaganda attempt,” he said. “It cannot be practical for them to do anything in the Yangon region under the current situation.”

More violence expected

Anti-junta forces shot and killed about 600 junta military personnel in and around Yangon during the month of May, including officers ranked as high as majors, the NUG’s Yangon Regional Military Sub-division announced on June 3. 

On June 5, six people were injured in an explosion at the office of the chief of Internal Revenue Department in Yangon, and on On June 6, three bombs exploded near the city’s Insein Prison.

The NUG’s declaration of a newly formed armed battalion will likely cause more violence between the two sides, Sai Kyi Zin Soe, a political analyst, told RFA.

“There can be more deadly incidents leading to escalating anxiety among the people,” he said. “I think that those who are already hiding from the military forces will have narrower freedom to move about and fewer choices of accommodation with more difficult livelihood opportunities.”

According to NUG data, there are more than 300 PDF groups in 250 townships nationwide. 

The junta has therefore attempted to take a page out of the PDF playbook and has organized citizen militias loyal to the junta.

Dialogue will, however, be the only way to avoid more fighting and casualties, Ye Tun, a political analyst, told RFA.

“There have been escalating anxieties, feelings of insecurity and personal vendettas among the people lately. This is a very bad consequence of politics in Myanmar,” he said. “We need to be very careful not to let things like this happen.”

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, 3,659 pro-democracy activists and civilians have been killed since the military coup, and 23,337 people have been arrested as of Wednesday.

A junta statement issued April 9, reported that from the coup through March 16, 2023, a total of 4,645 civilians were killed by PDF forces. 

RFA could not independently verify the data from either organization, but if both statements are accurate, a total of 8,304 people have died on both sides since the coup.

Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.