A group of 14 young Laotians who are being held at a Chinese-run casino in Myanmar said they are frightened by the recent fighting in nearby Myawaddy and are calling for new efforts to free them.
The young Laotians were trafficked to work as scammers at a place called “Casino Kosai” in an isolated development near Myawaddy.
Karen Nation Union, or KNU, and allied anti-junta guerrilla armies took control of the important trade town earlier this month during intense fighting with Myanmar’s military.
Some of the young Laotians recently overheard junta soldiers saying the casino could be a target for bombing later this week, four of the young Laotians told Radio Free Asia on Tuesday.
“I would like to call on the soldiers of KNU to rescue us from this place as soon as possible because the fighting is moving closer and closer to us,” one of the young Laotians, who like other sources in this report requested anonymity for safety reasons, told RFA.
“Right now, we’re hearing a lot of loud shots toward us,” he said. “We’re afraid that we’ll get shot by stray bullets.”
Earlier this month, two teenage girls were allowed to leave the casino after a 40,000 yuan (US$5,500) fee was paid to gain their freedom. They arrived home in Luang Namtha province in northern Laos on April 8.
The Chinese-owned ‘Casino Kosai’ in Myawaddy, Myanmar, near the Thai border. (Citizen journalist)
The remaining 14 youths and their parents are hoping that officials at the Lao Embassy in Yangon can negotiate their release.
“The only hope I have right now is that the higher-up authorities of all sides are stepping up their efforts because we the parents have been trying and failing to rescue our children for more than two years now,” a mother of one of the Laotians told RFA.
‘Emotionally affected by it’
Many of the young Laotians originally sought jobs in one of the casinos in the Golden Triangle, the border region Laos shares with Thailand and Myanmar.
But instead they ended up trafficked and held captive at the casino, which is about 320 kilometers (200 miles) south of the Golden Triangle and 640 kms (400 miles) from their homes in northern Laos.
For more than a year, their parents have sent pleading messages to government officials in Laos and Myanmar. With the recent fighting nearby, they have become even more concerned, several parents told RFA.
“I can’t eat and I can’t sleep right now because I worry about the safety of my daughter,” another mother said. “I heard about the situation over there getting worse, and I’m emotionally affected by it. I’m always thinking about my daughter.”
A Lao embassy official told RFA on Tuesday that they are still gathering information on the 14 Laotians and will send a request to junta authorities soon.
“We’re trying our best to rescue these Laotians,” he told RFA on Tuesday.
Translated by Max Avary. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.
The European Parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a new law that prevents the import and distribution of goods made with forced labor, a move that Uyghur advocates said would help clamp down on China’s use of forced labor in far western Xinjiang.
The Forced Labour Regulation, which places the burden of proof on the EU rather than on companies, was approved in a 555-6 vote, with 45 abstentions.
The law will allow authorities in EU member states and the European Commission to investigate suspicious goods, supply chains and manufacturers. Products they determine to be made with forced labor cannot be sold in the EU, including online, and will be confiscated at the border.
Manufacturers of banned goods must withdraw their products from the EU single market and donate, recycle or destroy them. Companies that fail to comply can be fined.
Uyghur activists welcomed the measure, although it does not specifically ban products made by Uyghur forced labor, and some pointed out shortcomings.
“The passage of this legislation also sends a powerful message to the Chinese companies doing business in Europe that have continuously benefited from the Uyghur forced labor despite repeated warnings,” said Dolkun Isa, president of the World Uyghur Congress, or WUC.
The EU’s 27 countries must now approve the regulation for it to enter into force, a measure that is largely a formality. After ratification, they will have three years to implement the law.
Missed opportunity
Zumretay Arkin, WUC’s director of global advocacy, called the parliament’s vote positive, but said the EU “missed a crucial opportunity to agree on an instrument that could meaningfully address forced labor when the government is the perpetrator, like in the Uyghur region in China.”
“We welcome this milestone but stress that all related guidance, guidelines and considerations of when to investigate cases be created in a way that ensures the regulation can effectively ban products made with state-imposed forced labor,” she said in a statement from the London-based Anti-Slavery International.
Absent from the law are key provisions that would have heightened its effectiveness, including a method of redress for forced labor victims, said the rights group which works to end modern slavery.
A similar law took effect in the United States in 2021 banning the import of goods made using forced labor in Xinjiang, where the U.S. government has said China is committing genocide against the 11 million mostly Muslim Uyghurs.
Beijing has denied accusations of human rights violations in Xinjiang, despite substantial evidence that it has detained an estimated 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples in “re-education” camps, where they received training in various skills and were forced to work in factories making everything from chemicals and clothing to car parts.
The European Parliament passed a resolution in June 2022 saying China’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim groups in Xinjiang amounted to crimes against humanity and held a “serious risk of genocide.”
‘Less teeth’
The EU law has “significantly less teeth” than the U.S. Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, but the crux will be the way it’s implemented by investigating authorities, said Adrian Zenz, senior fellow and director in China studies at the Washington-based Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.
The EU regulation contains a provision that the EU must align itself according to the forced labor definitions and standards of the International Labour Organization, or ILO, which has published updated guidelines containing provisions capable of targeting Uyghur forced labor in Xinjiang, Zenz said.
One of the new provisions is that state-imposed forced labor is best assessed as a risk rather than a specific instance. This points to the fact that state-imposed forced labor creates a pervasive risk in an entire targeted region that is difficult, if not impossible, to assess in particular situations such as in places where there is no freedom to speak out, he said.
“There’s the possibility that the [European] Commission in its investigation … could make a finding of forced labor without having to prove every connection to every supply chain, by determining that this region is not cooperating, is not providing accurate information, and in line with what the ILO guidelines say about state-imposed forced labor, that it’s best assessed as a systemic risk,” he said.
“That increases the scope of being more effective in its implementation.”
The approval of the Forced Labour Regulation comes ahead of a European Parliament vote expected this week on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, which creates a legal liability for companies relating to environmental and human rights violations within their supply chains.
“Together, these laws will send a strong message to workers around the world that the EU will not stand for forced labor,” said Anti-Slavery International.
A protester who loudly disrupted a speech at Harvard by Chinese Ambassador Xie Feng on the eve of a visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to China said she did it to discourage world-class universities from “kowtowing to China” despite committing human rights abuses.
Harvard junior Cosette Wu, who grew up in Hawaii with Taiwanese parents, stood up with a banner that read “China Lies” during Xie’s speech to the Kennedy School of Government on Sunday, shouting loudly about the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s political crackdown in Hong Kong and its threat to invade democratic Taiwan.
As Xie was speaking, Wu stood up suddenly and yelled: “Xie Feng, you paint an image of a prosperous China, but your hands are painted with blood!”
“You’ve robbed Hong Kongers of their most fundamental freedoms and devastated their democracy. Now in my country Taiwan, you sought to do the same!” she shouted.
She was then dragged to one side by an unidentified man in a blue shirt, who twisted her arm and handed her over to a uniformed security guard in the corridor outside, according to video footage of the incident.
Xie’s speech was delayed by around 45 minutes by the incident, which included several other shouted protests in support of Tibetans and Uyghurs, as well as a gathering of more than 30 people with banners outside the venue.
Wu told RFA Mandarin that she wanted to take issue with the Chinese Communist Party’s “unbridled abuse of human rights” and warn world-class universities like Harvard not to be taken in by its propaganda.
“Beijing has managed to win over the leadership of world-class universities with funding,” Wu said. “It’s shocking how many professors kowtow to the Chinese Communist Party and sing its praises.”
“Xie Feng served as the Chinese Communist Party’s special commissioner in Hong Kong during the promulgation of the National Security Law,” Wu said. “This person was responsible for supervising Hong Kong.”
“He has [also] made unabashed and blatant threats to invade Taiwan,” she said, adding that Xie “is in direct contradiction to the values of Harvard.”
Youth activists gather outside where while inside other activists disrupt the address of Xie Feng, China’s ambassador to the United States, by repeatedly speaking out about China’s human rights abuses and aggressions in Tibet, Hong Kong, East Turkestan, and Taiwan April 19, 2024, in Cambridge, MA, at Harvard University. (Courtesy of Students for a Free Tibet)
After Wu was dragged out of the room, a second protester stood up, holding up the “Snow Lion” flag of the Free Tibet movement.
“Free Tibet!” the man shouted. “How can you be here when the Chinese government is in direct contravention of every human rights law in the world?”
“You are a representative of a government that advocates for genocide,” the man shouted. “The genocide of the Tibetan people, of the Uyghur people, the occupation of Hong Kong.”
“You are a travesty,” he shouted, leaving the room and continuing to shout from the corridor. “You do not deserve to be here. This is a free country. Shame on you, Xie Feng!”
Subject to disciplinary action
During the diatribe, Xie paused, apparently wondering when someone would deal with the man.
Then an organizer warned participants that the event was being held to encourage “fruitful discussion,” adding that anyone who disrupted the event again would be subject to “disciplinary action.”
Youth activists gather outside where while inside other activists disrupt the address of Xie Feng, China’s ambassador to the United States, by repeatedly speaking out about China’s human rights abuses and aggressions in Tibet, Hong Kong, East Turkestan, and Taiwan April 19, 2024 at Harvard University. (Courtesy of Students for a Free Tibet)
Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, condemned the protest in a statement to The Harvard Crimson newspaper.
“Facts cannot be distorted. The farce put up by anti-China forces to discredit China and undermine China-U.S. relations is doomed to failure,” Liu told the paper.
A spokesperson for protest organizers Students for a Free Tibet, told RFA Tibetan that they wanted to interrupt Xie in spreading Chinese propaganda.
“China’s political propaganda strategy is to repeat lies about Tibet, Taiwan, Hong Kong and East Turkestan,” the spokesperson said, using the name many use to denote the Uyghur homeland in what is currently the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China.
Youth activists stand outside where inside activists disrupted the address of Xie Feng, China’s ambassador to the United States, by repeatedly speaking out about China’s human rights abuses and aggressions in Tibet, Hong Kong, East Turkestan, and Taiwan April 19, 2024 in Cambridge, MA at Harvard University. (Courtesy of Students for a Free Tibet)
“They tell these lies loudly and frequently at the United Nations and even on the Harvard campus,” they said. “So our goal was to make sure the Chinese Communist Party didn’t have another opportunity to repeat those lies enough times until [people thought they were] facts.”
Earlier this month, University of Seville journalism professor Mar Llera was part of a two-person protest against the opening of one of China’s Confucius Institutes at the school, saying the language and cultural institutions pose a threat to freedom of speech and academic activity on campus.
A 2019 U.S. Senate subcommittee report found that the institutes could constitute a threat to university life and freedom of speech in the United States., as their funding comes “with strings attached,” while politicians in the U.K. have called for a review of the institutes’ presence on British university campuses.
Security, not human rights
The protests targeting Xie came on the eve of Blinken’s China trip, although analysts didn’t foresee it would prompt greater discussion of China’s rights record during the visit.
“I doubt Blinken will raise the Harvard incident in his meetings,” Michael Cunningham, Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center, told RFA Mandarin. “But the issues the protesters raised, such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang, will probably be on his agenda.”
He said human rights weren’t the main focus of Blinken’s trip.
“His main focus will be issues related to security, such as China’s support for Russia and tensions in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait, as well as US-China tensions over issues like technology and trade,” he said in a written comment to RFA Mandarin.
A group of six Harvard students and youth activists disrupted the address of Xie Feng, China’s ambassador to the United States, by repeatedly speaking out about China’s human rights abuses and aggressions in Tibet, Hong Kong, East Turkestan, and Taiwan April 19, 2024 at Harvard University. (Courtesy of Students for a Free Tibet)
Lily McElwee, deputy director and fellow in the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, agreed.
“Human rights concerns are for the most part, always raised in official visits and dialogues by American officials to China and with Chinese counterparts,” she said. “But I also should note that there will be a lot of other topics on the table for Blinken to raise when he goes to China.”
“Taiwan is one, technology is a big one, [also] South China Sea issues.”
The escalating violence in Myanmar has led to refugees fleeing across the border into Thailand, prompting authorities to monitor the situation and prepare for a potential influx of displaced individuals.
The Tak Provincial Public Health Office reported that 735 refugees who fled the conflict in Myanmar were in Tak, including 255 children. Of those, 114 people had received treatment in local hospitals as of Monday.
The Thai-Myanmar Border Command Center in Tak reported that fighting had occurred inside Myanmar about 1.5 to 12 km (1 to 7.5 miles) from the Thai border this week involving aerial bombings. It reported no impacts on the Thai side.
A soldier from the Karen National Liberation Army rebel group carries an RPG launcher at a Myanmar military base in Thingyan Nyi Naung village, on the outskirts of Myawaddy, the Thailand-Myanmar border town under the control of a coalition of rebel forces led by the Karen National Union, in Myanmar, April 15, 2024. [Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters]
As the conflict in Myanmar shows no signs of abating, analysts and activists have called on the Thai government to develop a long-term strategy to address the crisis.
Chalida Tajaroensuk, director of the People’s Empowerment Foundation, said Thailand needed to look beyond immediate issues and engage with a broader range of stakeholders.
“The Myanmar military is faltering significantly and it’s almost certain that there will be a transition to a federal system. The Thai government is lacking a long-term plan, mostly addressing immediate issues,” Chalida told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated news service.
“Thailand should elevate its stance, such as hosting a special ASEAN meeting to gather opinions from various countries, involving other sectors including civil society, the media, and even organizations from Myanmar.”
She urged the Thai government to expand its humanitarian assistance, stating, “Thailand should do more than just one humanitarian corridor because the impact on the Myanmar people is much greater. Multiple aid locations should be established across the country.
“We should look beyond Myawaddy and even engage in talks with the National Unity Government, as it’s clear that the military government cannot sustain itself any longer.”
Ruj Chuenban in Bangkok contributed to this report.
Junta attacks since the weekend in central Myanmar’s Bago region have killed at least eight people and displaced around 6,000 people, a rebel official and residents said Tuesday.
The attacks in Yedashe township, located about 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Myanmar’s largest city Yangon, followed intense fighting between junta troops and rebel forces that saw nearly 400 civilians killed by military airstrikes and heavy artillery around the country in the first three months of the year, according to data compiled by RFA Burmese.
The fighting in the Bago region comes as rebel groups across the country have gained more ground and pushed junta forces back toward the capital of Naypyidaw and Yangon.
Junta forces attacked villages surrounding Swar town in eastern Bago’s Yedashe township on April 19 and have since killed eight civilians, including a child and a Buddhist monk, a spokesperson for the anti-junta Yedashe People’s Defense Force, or YPDF, told RFA.
“Four people from Ywa Thit village [including a child] were the first to be killed [that day],” said the spokesperson who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns. “A day later, a monk was shot dead in Padauk Kon village and three men were also killed in the same village the day after that. The junta troops fired at whoever they saw during the offensive.”
The spokesperson said junta troops remained in the village area on Tuesday and that the identities of the victims remained unclear.
RFA was unable to contact residents of the villages for more information, as telecommunications in the area have been impacted by the fighting.
A building damaged by an airstrike of military council in a village of Yedashe township, Bago region, on February 21, 2024. (Daung Minn Thar-Yedashe-PDF via Facebook)
Clashes between the military and rebel forces in Yedashe, a town situated on the east bank of the Sittaung River, first broke out on April 17. Ensuing attacks by the military have forced around 6,000 people to flee 23 villages, including Gway Pyauk Kone, Swar Ywar Ma, Khin Tan, Koe Tan, Ywar Thit, Taung Gyi and Padauk Kone, a resident of the township told RFA.
“Nearly everyone in this area has fled,” said the resident, who also declined to be named. “Many people were also arrested,” including some as they tried to escape the raids, he said.
The exact number of people who have fled the township was not immediately clear.
Attack helicopters deployed
When contacted by RFA, Tin Oo, the junta’s economic minister and spokesperson for Bago region dismissed the reports as fake.
“This is the spread of fake news to threaten the people,” he said. “The real information is that the villagers are living peacefully in their homes. It’s only the PDFs who are fleeing.”
Tin Oo added that there was “no fighting” in the area, and said junta security forces are working to “promote peace and security” there.
The YPDF spokesperson, meanwhile, told RFA that fighting “is still happening” and the military is deploying attack helicopters to carry out airstrikes.
“Aerial attacks take place almost every day, and people are facing a lot of difficulties,” he said. “Some people were injured and have no access to medical treatment. They’re too afraid to seek care outside of the area.”
Local agriculture has also been impacted by the fighting ahead of the summer paddy harvest, he added.
Hundreds killed
The civilian deaths in Yedashe came as an investigation by RFA found that at least 397 civilians were killed and 889 injured by military airstrikes and heavy artillery around the country from January to March this year.
The majority of the victims were from Rakhine, Shan and Kachin states, and Sagaing and Bago regions – comprising 52% of the total casualties caused by aerial attacks and artillery, data compiled by RFA shows.
A house that was hit by a shell fired by the military council in Laiza was seen on March 7, 2024. (Citizen Journalist)
In one of the larger casualty events, eight civilians were killed and 15 wounded when the military carried out an airstrike on a monastery in Kayin state’s Hpapun township on March 31, days after the ethnic Karen National Liberation Army had seized control of the area.
The victims were among hundreds of civilians who had sought shelter at the monastery amid the fighting, according to David Eubank, the founder of the Free Burma Rangers, which conducted rescue operations at the site.
“More than three hundred bombs were indiscriminately dropped from a Y-12 transport plane, accompanied by nine separate attacks from jet fighters,” he said in a message posted to the group’s Facebook page following the attack. “Among the refugees seeking sanctuary here, the majority were Buddhists from Hpapun. They thought it would be safe to hide in this monastery.”
Targeting civilians
Col. Naw Bu, information officer for the ethnic Kachin Independence Army, told RFA that the military is “deliberately targeting civilians.”
“Revolutionary groups are formed by the public, so the military has decided to attack the public and these incidents are inevitable,” he said.
Attempts by RFA to contact junta spokesperson Major General Zaw Min Tun for a response to Naw Bu’s comments went unanswered Tuesday.
But previously, junta officials have acknowledged that civilian casualties do occur during conflict and told RFA it is “unjust” to solely blame the military for such incidents.
Nang, an official with the ethnic Pa-O Youth Organization, which monitors civilian casualties resulting from the conflict in Shan state, told RFA that “every armed organization bears the responsibility of safeguarding civilian life and security.”
“It is imperative to refrain from targeting people who are not engaged in the conflict,” he said. “In addition, in areas where military objectives are present, minimizing harm to civilian populations is paramount.”
According to data independently compiled by RFA, junta airstrikes and artillery fire have killed at least 1,677 civilians and injured 3,263 others between the military’s Feb. 1, 2021, coup d’etat and the end of March 2024.
Translated by Aung Naing and Kalyar Lwin. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.
Hong Kong schools have been banning books, warning teachers not to express “political” views, training students how to raise the Chinese flag correctly and screening patriotic films, according to online documents that reveal what the city’s “national security education” program looks like on the ground.
The ruling Chinese Communist Party is moving to step up its “patriotic education” program in schools, universities and religious institutions across the country, including in Hong Kong, where the program is generally termed “national security education.”
Since the start of the current academic year, teachers in more than 1,000 Hong Kong schools have been required to report “potential violations” of the city’s security laws to the authorities.
They are also expected to submit reports detailing their efforts to impose “national security education” on staff and students.
Many are posting their reports online, revealing ongoing inspections, surveillance and a growing emphasis on patriotic activities and celebrations of traditional Chinese culture, lauded by President Xi Jinping as part of national pride and rejuvenation.
Authorities at the New Territories Heung Yee Kuk Yuen Long District Secondary School are reminding teachers “not to promote their personal politics, preach distorted values or make remarks that incite [others] in teaching materials,” according to the school’s annual report to the Education Bureau on its National Security Education program.
Students read from newly-issued textbooks at a primary school August 28, 2023 in Zhangye city, in Gansu province. (AFP)
Teachers at the school have been warned “not to directly or indirectly encourage or acquiesce in students’ participation in any off-campus political activities,” according to the report, a copy of which is available on the school’s website.
The school has also started inspecting books held in its library and has axed its subscription to Hyread, an online platform offering reading material in Chinese and English to prevent “violations of national security laws,” according to its report.
Banned books
The Kowloon Technical College has also been checking its library, and has banned seven books, according to its report for last academic year.
“On March 15-16, 2023, the vice principal, director of reading promotion and the library director inspected the library collection and found a total of seven books containing political propaganda,” the report said.
The Christian Alliance Cheng Wing Gee College requires its teachers to upload any teaching materials to the school’s intranet for approval before using them in class, while teachers are focusing on “boosting national and ethnic pride” as a natural part of the day-to-day curriculum, according to its report.
Meanwhile, students at the Tai Po Baptist Public School have been attending Chinese national flag-raising ceremonies on designated days to establish “correct values and patriotic feelings.”
Several schools said their students trained for and took part in patriotic “flag-raising competitions,” as well as a patriotic essay-writing competition with the theme “I Love My Motherland,” according to their “National Security Education” reports for the academic year 2022-2023 posted on their own websites.
The reports also reveal a fast-emerging system of sanctions and punishments for speech crimes in Hong Kong’s schools.
Students who are deemed to have violated national security laws, which include clauses forbidding public criticism of the Hong Kong and Chinese governments, or any non-critical mention of the pro-democracy movement, will be counseled, punished or have their parents called in, depending on the seriousness of the alleged offense, the reports said.
‘My Country, My People’
Around 40% of publicly funded schools in the city, which on March 23 passed a second national security law, broadening an ongoing crackdown on dissent, have made similar reports public on their websites to date, the Ming Pao newspaper reported.
According to the Hennessy Road Government Primary School’s National Security Education report for 2022-2023, the school picked “student ambassadors” to shoot videos to promote China’s National Day on Oct. 1, and held a screening of the Chinese patriotic film, “My Country, My People.”
English-language schools are no exception, with the government’s Chiu Lut Sau Memorial Secondary School in Yuen Long reporting that it will “review the content of the student association’s politics platform and the Christmas singing competition repertoire” to filter out content that could run afoul of security laws.
High school students read through exam papers, ahead of the National College Entrance Examination, or NCEE, May 17, 2023 in Handan, in China’s northern Hebei province. (AFP)
Artist Wu Chun Him, who taught drama in Hong Kong’s primary schools for many years, said that means in practice that no negative content about the Chinese government can be allowed in the city’s schools, citing the “harm done by the Cultural Revolution” in Mao’s China as something that will no longer be spoken about.
“Now they have the invisible hand of criminal liability in the background, no teacher is going to want to teach that stuff and wait to see if they get in trouble,” Wu told RFA Cantonese.
“Ultimately, all they can do is learn to sing from the same hymn sheet,” he said.
Protecting themselves
Former Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority official Yeung Wing Yu, who now runs the @edulancet Instagram account where he blogs about the city’s education system, once attended Hennessy Road primary school, and said he was “shocked” to read its national security education report.
“What was shocking to me was that they’re not just putting up display boards at student association activities to inform people about safeguarding national security … they’re also doing it at activities organized by alumni and alumni associations,” Yeung said.
He described the Kowloon Technical School report as the most radical. He said the schools are likely publishing these reports to protect themselves.
“The safest thing is to tell everybody how well you are doing something, and make it public,” Yeung said. “It’s the best form of protection.”
“It sends the message that this school is politically safe, so that the government doesn’t mess with it if something happens,” he said.
He said the recent expansion of Hong Kong’s Diploma of Secondary Education to mainland Chinese schools will likely have the effect of repopulating the city with incoming families from elsewhere in China, lured by the promise of an internationally recognized education.
Translated with additional reporting by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
