TIBETAN REVIEW
Jan. 31 “China detains Tibetan youth for Dalai Lama in his mobile phone”
In its continuing crackdown on Tibetan display of affection for the Dalai Lama, China has detained on Jan 14 a young Tibetan man after police found pictures and audio-recordings of religious teachings by the Tibetan spiritual leader in exile. Reporting this, Radio Free Asia (Washington) Jan 29 said that the victim, named as Norgay, was a labourer in Dingri County of Shigatse Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, and that the incident had occurred in Tibet’s capital Lhasa.
QUARTZ
Jan. 30 “China just became the biggest investor in Laos, and Laos’s neighbors are worried”
Land-locked Laos is one of the poorest countries in the world, but it has one thing in abundance: access to the massive Mekong River. The country’s hydropower potential has earned it the nickname “the Battery of Asia” and made it a magnet for investment from its neighbors: Thailand, southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy; Vietnam, a strategic Communist ally since the 1970s; and China, which is writing checks that put the rest to shame. … China’s increasing influence has long been a worry for Vietnam. It “feels threatened” by its increasingly marginalized role in Laos, according to a letter last year from the Vietnamese Communist Party to its Laotian counterpart that was obtained by Radio Free Asia.
PHNOM PENH POST
Jan. 30 “RFA, VOA accused of ‘serving’ opposition”
The government has slammed broadcasters Radio Free Asia and Voice of America as “political instruments serving the interests of the opposition party” and accused them of fabricating news in a speech delivered by Deputy Prime Minister Sok An on Tuesday. … RFA added that the PQRU’s statement was intended to have a chilling effect on the media. “This unfortunate statement from The Cambodian Council of Ministers Press and Quick Reaction Unit is only the latest in a series of actions intended to intimidate free, independent media and journalism in Cambodia,” the broadcaster said.
TIBETAN REVIEW
Jan. 24 “Monastery official in Tibet latest detainee after self-immolation”
Chinese authorities in Pema (Chinese: Banma) County of Golog (Guoluo) Prefecture, Qinghai Province, had detained a monastic official and his younger brother on Jan 18, reported Radio Free Asia (Washington) Jan 22. The report did not cite any reason for their detention but noted that it occurred two months after the self-immolation protest of Tsering Gyal, a 20-year-old monk of the local Akyong Monastery to which the official belonged.
NEW YORK TIMES
Jan. 23 “3 Dead in Clash at Police Station in Western China, Report Says”
Three ethnic Uighurs were shot and killed last week outside a police station in China’s far west Xinjiang region during a fight with security guards who blocked them from entering the building, Radio Free Asia reported Thursday. … In the latest episode, Radio Free Asia, citing local police officials, said the men had sought a meeting with the police chief of the town of Yengieriq but were rebuffed by auxiliary guards at the entrance.
DAILY NK
Jan. 23 “Overseas Traders Tasked with Spying”
North Korean authorities are imposing espionage tasks on traders operating abroad, Radio Free Asia (RFA) has reported. Citing an inside source, the U.S.-funded organization revealed that these additional tasks are placing North Korean traders under considerable strain.
IRRAWADDY
Jan. 23 “Shwe Mann: Article 59 Not Our Only Priority”
Shwe Mann, the Union Parliament speaker and chairman of Burma’s ruling party, says he would support an Aung San Suu Kyi presidency, but that changing the constitutional article currently blocking her from the position is not his only priority for amendments. … “Since they turned 21 years old I have not had the right to decide for them,” she said in an earlier interview with Radio Free Asia’s Burmese service. “It would not be up to the standards of democracy if there was a law to decide for them.”
TIBETAN REVIEW
Jan. 23 “Tibet groups join call for Chinese legal scholar-activist’s release”
As China prepared to try legal scholar and accountable governance activist Mr Xu Zhiyong in Beijing on Jan 22 for allegedly “gathering a crowd to disturb order in a public place,” rights groups have called for his immediate freedom if China was serious about addressing the corruption issue. … With regard to his current trial, Radio Free Asia (Washington) Jan 17 cited Beijing police as saying Xu had hung banners calling for asset disclosure and equal access to education, creating "serious disturbances in public order in public places," and that he interfered with the work of public security officials.
NEW YORK TIMES (Also in WASHINGTON POST, ZDNET, CHINA DIGITAL TIMES)
Jan. 22 “Chinese Web Outage Blamed on Censorship Glitch”
Chinese authorities on Wednesday suggested that a major disruption of the Internet in China this week was the work of hackers. But others blamed the massive outage on a malfunction of the government’s own Great Firewall, the sprawling, hidden infrastructure used to restrict what ordinary Chinese can see online. … DIT is best known for a software tool called Freegate that helps Internet users in China circumvent the government’s pervasive system of online censorship and filters. According to its website, the firm’s clients include Epoch Times, a newspaper affiliated with Falun Gong; United States-funded Voice of America and Radio Free Asia; and the New York-based activist group Human Rights in China.
CHOSUN ILBO
Jan. 20 “Old Guard Regains Control of N.Korean Businesses”
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's uncle Jang Song-taek, who was executed late last year, is being quickly replaced in most of his positions by O Kuk-ryol, the vice chairman of the National Defense Commission. … Radio Free Asia in the U.S. reported that companies managed by O have had exclusive control of LPG import licenses from China and Russia since Jang's execution.
TIBETAN REVIEW
Jan. 18 “500 Tibetans protest over China’s detention of monks”
About 500 Tibetans, including some 60 monks, staged a protest in Nangchen (Chinese: Nangqian) County of Yulshul (Yushu) Prefecture, Qinghai province, on Jan 15, demanding the release of a respected local religious figure and some other monks, reported Radio Free Asia (Washington) Jan 16. It added that the protesters dispersed after some four hours but vowed to come back if the authorities failed to live up to their promise to allow monks to visit some of the detained fellow-monks.
DEUTSCHE PRESSE AGENTUR
Jan. 17 “International outcry follows China's arrest of Uighur scholar”
The United States, the European Union and an international rights group on Friday criticised China‘s arrest of an outspoken scholar from the Uighur ethnic group. … US-based Radio Free Asia said Tohti started uploading documents outlining his views on Xinjiang to the Chinese-based WeChat social media service on Tuesday.
YONHAP
Jan. 17 “U.S. relief agency to give aid worth US$1 mln to N. Korea”
A U.S. private relief agency plans to provide aid worth US$1 million to North Korea this year to help support North Korean children and other vulnerable people, a news report said Thursday.
World Vision Inc. also plans to provide clean water to more than 8,000 North Koreans in provincial areas while providing nutritional assistance to children under the age of six, according to the report by the Washington-based Radio Free Asia.
KOREA TIMES (Also in KOREAM)
Jan. 16 “NK movie to be screened in US”
The first co-production film between North Korea and the United States will be screened during the opening ceremony for the New Jersey Film Festival 2014, which kicks off on Jan. 24, according to the Radio Free Asia (RFA).
TIBETAN REVIEW
Jan. 16 “China detains two Tibetans for environmental activism”
China has detained two Tibetan men belonging to Nangchen (Chinese: Nangqian) County of Yulshul (Yushu) Prefecture, Qinghai Province, in Sep and Dec 2013 for opposing environmentally destructive mining projects. Tseten Dondrub, 35, and Dzumga were held on Sep 18 and on or around Dec 25, respectively, reported Radio Free Asia (Washington) Jan 14.
KOREA TIMES (Also in CHOSUN ILBO, DONG-A)
Jan. 14 “NK's former royal chef: Jang's womanizing got him killed”
North Korea’s former leader’s royal chef argued the real reason behind the execution of Jang Song-thaek was his conspicuous womanizing, sources said, Tuesday. The sources cited Kenji Fujimoto, a Japanese cook who exclusively served the current leader’s father Kim Jong-il, during his interview with U.S.-funded nonprofit news outlet Radio Free Asia (RFA).
DIGITAL JOURNAL
Jan. 14 “Op-Ed: RFI explaining French ways to global audience, even love and sex”
Radio France Internationale understands the need for describing in its broadcasts, and increasingly online, some of the uniqueness of French culture, politics and mores. …While VOA often fails these days, both RFI and DW are generally doing a good job for their countries, as does BBC. RFE/RL and other surrogate media outlet, Radio Free Asia (RFA), are also very good at it, for both the U.S., which provides funding, and for the countries without free media, from which these journalists come.
DAILY NK
Jan. 14 “Bluetooth Banned from NK Mobiles”
North Korean authorities are forcibly removing mobile phones from the people and disabling Bluetooth, Radio Free Asia (RFA) has claimed. Bluetooth allows for data to be exchanged over short distances via connected devices; a function the North Korean authorities fear will facilitate the spread of illegal foreign content.
TIBETAN REVIEW
Jan. 11 “China jails 3 Tibetans over 2 others’ self-immolations”
In its continuing move aimed at pre-empting self-immolations by Tibetans protesting against its rule, China on Jan 2 jailed three Tibetan men in Tsoe (Chinese: Hezuo) city of Kanlho (Gannan) Prefecture, Gansu Province. The three were accuse of being involved in the self-immolation deaths of two Tibetans in the county’s Sankhok Township in October and November 2012, reported Radio Free Asia. (Washington) Jan 9.
IRRAWADDY (Also in ASIAN TRIBUNE)
Jan. 10 “US Ambassador Supports Constitutional Reform, Calls Article 59F ‘Relic of the Past”
As Burma’s ruling party faces growing pressure from the public and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to amend the Constitution ahead of the 2015 elections, the United States Ambassador has expressed support for changing the charter’s controversial Article 59 (f), which he called “a relic from the past.” … Suu Kyi reportedly said this amendment would make little difference and suggested that it is strange that she would have to ask her adult sons to change their nationality. “I know the proposed deletion of this requirement is not to benefit me, but I don’t know who will benefit from this,” she told Radio Free Asia.
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
Jan. 6 “Cambodian police break up garment worker camp”
Cambodian police removed about 1,000 anti-government protesters, including garment workers, from an industrial park in Phnom Penh after deadly clashes with security authorities. … The protesters' mood changed last week after the Labor Advisory Council -- which consists of government, union and factory representatives -- raised pay from $80 to $95 for full-time workers and $90 for temporary workers, Radio Free Asia reported.
GLOBAL VOICES
Jan. 3 “Chinese Netizens (and Political Discourse) Migrate to WeChat”
A few weeks ago, an Internet freedom researcher asked me: What were the most significant developments in the Chinese Internet in 2013? My answer: The rise of WeChat as a social media and communication platform. … Radio Free Asia recently interviewed Wang Zhang, the founder of an online forum on Chinese Discursive Power to comment on the censorship practice of Weibo and WeChat.
ELEVEN MYANMAR
Jan. 3 “NLD and its leader indecisive over Myanmar’s Myitsone Project”
The Upstream Ayeyawady Confluence Basin Hydropower Co Ltd (ACHC), which has a large stake in the project to be implemented by China Power Investment (CPI), has said the halted project will be renegotiated with the new government that takes power following the 2015 general election and will resume at that time. Radio Free Asia aired a special program, “Harsh democracy journey and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi” on Wednesday, in which Suu Kyi addressed the Chinese company’s comments at a press conference about the project held on December 26.
NEW YORK TIMES
Jan. 2 “Myanmar’s Leader Backs Change to Constitution”
Myanmar’s president said Thursday that he backed changing the country’s Constitution to allow “any citizen” to become president, apparently a reference to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Prize-winning democracy advocate whose political ambitions have been thwarted for decades by the military. … In remarks broadcast on Radio Free Asia, she said that the nationality of adult children was not relevant and that the requirement “does not fit with democratic values.” “They are adults,” she said. “Parents don’t have responsibility for them.”
