Asean Tribune

North Koreans who have escaped to China need help to avoid being sent back against their will, and pressure on Beijing from South Korea alone is not enough to stop it, a former North Korean diplomat told Radio Free Asia.

“It is important to send a strong message of international unity to prevent the Chinese authorities from forcibly repatriating [them],” said Thae Yong-ho, who is now a member of the South Korean parliament. “It is difficult to stop it with only the demands of the South Korean government.”

The remarks come a week after Beijing secretly repatriated more than 500 North Koreans on Oct. 9, the day after the conclusion of the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.

Thae, who in 2016 defected with his family to the South while serving as Pyongyang’s deputy ambassador to the United Kingdom, is visiting Washington D.C. to inspect the South Korean Embassy in his role as a member of the national assembly representing Seoul’s wealthy Gangnam district. 

He is scheduled to meet with U.S. State Department officials and members of Congress to discuss the forced repatriation issue.  

Thae said that Seoul had been repeatedly trying to raise the issue with Beijing.

“Foreign Minister Park Jin and Unification Minister Kim Young-ho have both publicly requested that China stop repatriating North Koreans, ” said Thae. “Also, during the Hangzhou Asian Games, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo visited China and met with President Xi Jinping, demanding that North Koreans not be repatriated.” 

Even with the public requests and off-the-record pleas, China continues to justify forced repatriation by claiming that North Korean escapees in China are  “illegal displaced persons” rather than refugees.

More than words

The distinction is not simply an issue of semantics. If escapees are not refugees, then China argues it is not bound to protect them under the U.N. Refugee Convention and as illegal immigrants, the principle of non-refoulement does not apply to them.

Beijing maintains that it must repatriate North Koreans who fled the country because it is bound by two agreements it has with Pyongyang, the 1960 PRC-DPRK Escaped Criminals Reciprocal Extradition Treaty and the 1986 Mutual Cooperation Protocol for the Work of Maintaining National Security and Social Order and the Border Areas.

If they are made to return to North Korea, many escapees will face a grim fate, Thae said.

“Some of them will be sent to concentration camps for [at least] several months of detention and forced labor, and if they are found to have tried to escape North Korea and go to South Korea, they may be executed,” Thae said.

Thae recalled his own fears of forced repatriation at the time when he decided to defect.

“At the time, I was also very worried that some unexpected variable might arise in the process of defecting from North Korea,” he said. “People still detained in detention facilities in China are probably very anxious and worried that they will be forcibly repatriated to North Korea.   

During his U.S. trip, Thae has plans to meet with American officials to request that they join their voices in opposition against forced repatriation of North Koreans in China.

“We plan to deliver a letter to President Biden appealing to the U.S. government to speak up [on this issue],” said Thae. “We plan to deliver it to the lawmakers [Monday]. There should be a campaign nationwide and globally calling for an end to forced repatriations.    

Thae attended an event hosted by human rights groups in front of the White House on Monday afternoon to raise awareness about the issue.

New US Envoy

On Friday, Washington swore in Julie Turner as its special envoy for North Korea Human Rights, ending a six-year vacancy for the position. 

She arrived in Seoul on Monday for a three-day visit. After meeting with Foreign Minister Park, the two sides promised to work together to improve North Korean human rights.

Addressing a forum of rights activists and North Korean escapees in South Korea, Turner acknowledged that the United States often brings up the issue of forced repatriations in discussions with Beijing.

“So I again hope that the PRC will not [repatriate North Koreans] and we will continue to remind them of their international obligations, but I can’t say that I believe that they will not,” she said.

Thae said that he was regretful that he and Turner missed each other as his trip to the U.S. coincided with her trip to Korea.

“We plan to meet at an early date and discuss specific ways to help the U.S. speak out more for North Korean human rights issues in the international community and what strategies and strategies can be used to solve the North Korean human rights issue and stop forced repatriation,” he said.

Translated by Eugene Whong. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.  

Cambodian officials on Monday unveiled a US$1.1 billion airport near the famed Angkor temples – built by Chinese state-owned companies as part of the Belt and Road Initiative –even as tourist numbers continue to drop. 

The first commercial flight into the new Siem Reap Angkor International Airport landed from Thailand as Deputy Prime Minister Vongsey Visoth praised China at a ceremony Monday.

This is “an historical achievement which shows the fruitful will in ironclad cooperation between China and Cambodia,” he said.

The airport is designed to be a cargo hub and transportation hub, with direct international flights, and a potential capacity of 7 million passengers a year, the Khmer Times reported.

It’s located 55 km (34 miles) southeast of Siem Reap town and the nearby Angkor temple complex, whereas the previous, much smaller airport was only about 8 km (5 miles) outside Siem Reap’s center. 

Tourism has been a main pillar of the Cambodian economy, but the number of visitors to the 12th century temples has fallen since the COVID-19 pandemic.

There are currently between 1,000 to 1,500 visitors per day, Ministry of Tourism spokesman Top Sopheak told Radio Free Asia. Before the pandemic, there were between 8,000 to 9,000 visitors each day, he said.

The new airport could help revive those numbers, he said.  

“The Ministry of Tourism has not been silent; it has made great efforts,” Top Sopheak said. 

Tourism bookings remain low

But there continues to be evidence of a general decline in the economy in the province’s rural areas and in Siem Reap town, which is home to numerous luxury hotels and smaller guesthouses, all catering to tourists. 

Some supermarkets and hotels have closed down since 2020, putting thousands of people out of work, according to tourism operator Ang Charles. And almost every street in Siem Reap town has “for sale” signs affixed to homes, cars or plots of land, he said.

During the recent Pchum Ben festival, there was a noticeable lack of spending, and bookings for other upcoming holidays are way down, he said. 

“There are not many people on the streets,” he told RFA. 

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Hun Manet flew from Phnom Penh to Beijing on Monday to attend The Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, which will include world leaders and representatives from 90 countries.

The conference will discuss the initiative, which began a decade ago as a way for Beijing to boost trade ties, secure energy supplies and invest in global infrastructure around the world. 

But China has also been accused of “debt diplomacy” – trapping nations with financial liabilities for major infrastructure projects they can ill-afford.

In Siem Reap, the Chinese state-owned Yunnan Investment Group has been given the rights to the new airport for 55 years and is also spending $95 million on a 24 km (15 miles) expressway project that will connect the airport to the rest of the country.

A larger surrounding area has been set aside as a special economic zone, Cambodian officials said.

Other BRI projects in Cambodia include the Lower Sesan 2 Dam in Stung Treng province, the construction of the new Phnom Penh International Airport in Kandal province, the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway and the Moradok Techo Stadium in Phnom Penh.

An official inauguration ceremony for the new Siem Reap airport is planned for next month, with Hun Manet in attendance.

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

Myanmar’s junta is beefing up its proxy forces in Kachin state, pitting ethnic minority fighters against one another to counter staunch resistance in the northern region, according to military experts.

The use of ethnic fighters, in addition to other militias such as the Pyu Saw Htee, is the latest gambit by the junta to solidify power in Myanmar, where the military has become embroiled in a multifront conflict with armed groups following its February 2021 coup d’etat.

Fierce fighting between junta troops and a joint force of the Kachin Independence Army, or KIA, and People’s Defense Force, or PDF, paramilitary groups began moving in July towards the KIA’s headquarters in Lai Zar, a remote town in Kachin state on the border with China.

Since then, the junta has been attacking townships on the ground and from the air near Lai Zar and areas along the Myitkyina-Bhamo road, as part of a bid to gain control of the major Kachin cities of Hpakant, Bhamo and Myitkyina. 

But the KIA and PDF – loosely organized units of civilians across the country who have taken up arms against the junta – have proved worthy adversaries.

Col. Naw Bu, a spokesman for the KIA, recently told RFA Burmese that more than 80 battles were fought the vicinity of Bhamo, Hpakant, Tanai, Shwegu, Momauk, Waingmaw and at the KIA’s Lai Zar headquarters between July 23 and Sept. 11, during which 51 junta soldiers were killed and 106 injured. 

The number of casualties among anti-junta forces was not immediately available and the junta has provided little information on the fighting.

On Monday, Naw Bu said that amid the resistance, the junta has begun enlisting ethnic militias in Kachin and neighboring Shan state to reinforce its Bhamo-based troops in attacking the KIA in Lai Zar.

“These militias are sent to the front line after receiving only brief amounts of military training,” he said. “They would never arm those militias unless they were being used on the front line … So, we ethnic groups have to fight one another and they are happy to let ethnic troops die.”

Naw Bu said that the junta had been sending ethnic militias to fight around Lai Zar since Sept. 17.

Among them are the Lisu militia, led by Shwe Min, and the Warazup militia, led by Min Zay Thant, he said. The two militias clashed with the KIA several times since last year, and the Warazup group claimed that its troops raided and destroyed a post manned by KIA Battalion 14 on Oct. 2.

Reports of the junta’s use of ethnic militias follow a Sept. 10 visit by junta chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing to northern Shan state, during which he met with several militia leaders and urged them to cooperate in military and security initiatives.

Reserve force for ‘dwindling’ military

Warazup leader Min Zay Thant told RFA that his militia, based in Hpakant township, has fought the KIA as a matter of “self-defense” against repeated attacks.

“If they attack us, we will respond as much as we can, in accordance with our plan for security of the area and the safety of our people,” he said. “If they don’t want these problems, the KIA shouldn’t attack us.”

Min Zay Thant said that the militia was “enforcing the security of Warazup village” and “not involved in junta troop offensives.”

Attempts to contact junta Deputy Information Minister Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment on the military’s use of ethnic militias in Kachin state went unanswered Monday.

 

But Thein Tun Oo, executive director of the pro-military Thayninga Institute of Strategic Studies, made up of former generals, told RFA that the military has a long tradition of using militias to counter armed groups in Myanmar.

“Beginning with the communist insurgency that started after our [1948] independence, and later, when armed violence took place across the country, it was the militias that kept the regions stable,” he said. “This is the method that was used in the past, and now it is being used again. It’s nothing special.”

Other observers say the junta’s push to enlist ethnic militias in its fight against the KIA shows that its ground forces are increasingly stretched thin.

“[Militia groups] can be used as a kind of reserve force,” said political commentator Than Soe Naing. “When the military is dwindling, as it is these days, they are mobilized to join in the war.”

Translated by Htin Aung Kyaw. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

One year after Peng Lifa was detained for a lone banner protest that called for Xi Jinping’s resignation on Beijing’s Sitong Bridge, activists in London left a banner on a bridge that read simply: “Where is Bridge Man?” while others gathered outside China’s consulate in Los Angeles with banners echoing his original protest.

A flash-mob protest by the British-based dissident group China Deviants saw a large banner bearing the words “Where is Bridge Man?” and “Where is Peng Zaizhou?” – a reference to Peng’s pen name – hang from the parapet of London Bridge on Saturday.

Meanwhile, protesters at a similar rally outside the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles held up banners and placards that read: “Remove the dictator-thief Xi Jinping,” echoing Peng’s Oct. 13, 2022 protest, and: “We are all Peng Zaizhou.”

“End the Chinese Communist Party,” read another.

A year after his daring show of opposition to the ruling Chinese Communist Party, Peng is still alive, although his whereabouts remain unclear. But his family are under close surveillance, according to Netherlands-based dissident Lin Shengliang, who has remained in contact with people close to Peng.

“All of his relatives, including his brother, are under house arrest and are still being monitored,” Lin said. “The two daughters are picked up and dropped off [at school] by car, and all of their mobile phones have been provided for them [by the government].”

Meanwhile, police are running investigations into anyone who has had dealings with Peng’s company, or that of his father-in-law.

“Everyone involved [with Peng] is implicated,” Lin said. 

‘Traitor-dictator’

Peng, whose pen name references an ancient essay describing the people as the water that holds up the boat of government, and might overturn it if they are unhappy with its rule, hung banners from Sitong Bridge on Oct. 13, just days ahead of the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s national congress, at which Xi secured an unprecedented third term as party leader.

“Remove the traitor-dictator Xi Jinping!” read one banner, video and photos of which were quickly posted to social media, only to be deleted. A post linked from the account called for strikes and class boycotts to remove Xi.

“Food, not COVID tests. Freedom, not lockdowns. Reforms, not the Cultural Revolution. Elections not leaders,” read the second, adding: “Dignity, not lies. Citizens, not slaves.”

The shows of international solidarity came as U.S. congressman Chris Gallagher said he would nominate Peng for the Nobel Peace Prize, crediting him with inspiring the “white paper” protests across China just a few weeks later.

“Peng Lifa’s act of courage led to the largest protests in China since Tiananmen Square – which helped to end the Chinese Communist Party’s draconian COVID lockdowns,” Gallagher said in a statement on Oct. 13.

Zhou Fengsuo, executive director of Human Rights in China, welcomed the nomination.

“This is of course the highest level of support for China’s resistance from the international community, and it recognizes what Peng Lifa represents – the spirit of civil resistance,” Zhou told Radio Free Asia, praising Peng as “the hero of the new era.”

Grabbing sand

Lin agreed, saying Peng’s bridge protest had a “historical significance” because he had influenced people all over the world, as well as triggering a movement against Xi Jinping’s draconian zero-COVID policy.

“What is the Chinese Communist Party afraid of? It worries that countless more like Peng Lifa will keep appearing,” Lin said.

He said he didn’t believe that the Chinese government’s current war on dissent would work, however.

“It’s like trying to grab sand,” he said. “The tighter you grab it, the faster the sand will leak out [through your fingers],” he said. “That sand that leaks out represents public opinion.”

Former Chinese rights lawyer Liang Shaohua has written that Peng’s remarks should be protected under the Chinese constitution, and that his banners didn’t constitute a crime.

Chinese rights lawyer Wu Shaoping agreed.

“I think he was exercising the most basic civil rights – his right to freedom of speech and to personal demonstration,” Wu said. “[His detention] is illegal according to the Chinese Communist Party’s own laws.”

Peng’s protest has also reverberated overseas, with his supporters reporting the harassment of their families back home, amid calls from Chinese students for a probe into his whereabouts.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.