(Washington, DC — July 1, 2012) Radio Free Asia broadcast the following stories, and more, in June:
RFA Reports on warning for Aung San Suu Kyi over country’s name
June 29 – RFA Burmese aired story [text in English/Burmese] on Burma authorities warning Aung San Suu Kyi not to use the name “Burma” to refer to the country. The country’s Union Election Commission published an article in state newspapers ordering her National League for Democracy (NLD) party to call the country “Myanmar,” the name introduced during the regime of the former military junta.
RFA Reports on detention of Lao soldier in land dispute
June 29 – RFA Lao aired story [text in English/Lao] on authorities in southern Laos’s Sekong province detaining a man they believe encouraged fellow villagers to stand up for their land rights. Thateng district authorities took the man, a soldier from Ban Yup village, into custody just after releasing a group of his fellow villagers the same day.
RFA Reports on Cambodian protest against Lao dam
June 29 – RFA Khmer and Lao aired story [text in English/Khmer/Lao] on more than 500 villagers holding a march in eastern Cambodia to protest a controversial dam project on the Mekong River in Laos. Protesters say the project is undergoing construction despite a pledge to halt progress while officials conduct a potential impact study.
RFA Reports on husband’s lawsuit over forced abortion in China
June 29 – RFA Cantonese aired story [text in English/Cantonese] on a pending lawsuit by the husband of a woman forced to abort her seven-month fetus in early June. The husband plans to sue local officials for damages, his lawyer told RFA.
RFA Reports on ongoing probe into Bo Xilai corruption case
June 28 – RFA Mandarin aired story [text in English/Mandarin] on the ongoing probe into the international financial affairs of former Chongqing Communist Party chief Bo Xilai. The investigation is faced with a complicated legal process involving the judicial systems of several different countries, as investigators try to track down his assets in Cambodia.
RFA Reports on migrant worker riots in Guangdong
June 27 – RFA Cantonese and Mandarin aired story [text in English/Cantonese/Mandarin] on residents of Shaxi township in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong waking to find that rioting by migrant workers left many businesses smashed or shuttered, cars overturned, and the streets lined with police and soldiers.
RFA Reports on NGOs calling for torture ban in Cambodia
June 26 – RFA Khmer aired story [text in English/Khmer] on a group of nongovernmental organizations calling on Cambodia’s government to take concrete steps toward ending the practice of forced confessions. Seven NGOs, including prominent domestic rights groups Adhoc, Licadho, and the Cambodian Defenders Project, held a ceremony in the capital Phnom Penh highlighting the stories of several Cambodians in attendance who said they had endured torture at the hands of the authorities.
RFA Reports on declining press freedom in Hong Kong
June 25 – RFA Mandarin and Cantonese aired story [text in English/Mandarin/Cantonese] on Hong Kong seeing its tradition of press freedom eroded during the tenure of outgoing chief executive Donald Tsang. More than 92 percent of journalists polled by the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) said they believe that press freedom is being actively hindered by government officials.
RFA Reports on jailing over mosque clash in China
June 25 – RFA Cantonese aired story [text in English/Cantonese] on authorities in the northwestern Chinese region of Ningxia handing jail terms of up to six years to 14 ethnic minority Hui Muslims for “inciting violence” and “obstructing public duty.” Police near Ningxia's Wuzhong city detained around 40 Hui people following riots last New Year's Eve sparked by the forced demolition of a local mosque.
RFA Reports on arrests in Vietnamese land eviction protest
June 20 – RFA Vietnamese aired story [text in English/Vietnamese] on Vietnamese authorities arresting 30 farmers as they held a third day of protests in front of a municipal building in the capital, demanding the government return land they say they were forcibly evicted from three years ago.
RFA Reports on sectarian violence in Burma
June 20 – RFA Burmese aired story [text in English/Burmese] on the deaths of as many as a dozen people amid fresh violence in western Burma’s Rakhine state. The death toll from clashes between Buddhists and Muslims has risen to about 60 with tens of thousands displaced.
RFA Reports on Cambodian leader flouting land grant ban
June 20 – RFA Khmer aired story [text in English/Khmer] on criticism of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen over his giving approval to grant state-owned land to three private companies despite issuing a temporary ban on land concessions. Copies of three subdecrees obtained by RFA show that Hun Sen approved a total of over 21,000 hectares (80 square miles) of land to be handed over to three companies to invest in rubber plantations.
RFA Reports on mysterious death of Xinjiang police chief
June 20 – RFA Uyghur aired story [text in English/Uyghur] on the sudden death of the former chief of a police station in the capital of China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region who was a witness to some of the worst ethnic violence in the country. Tursun Bexti, who had dealt with sensitive cases involving Uyghurs missing in the aftermath of 2009 clashes in the Xinjiang capital Urumqi, was found dead in the yard outside his home in mid-May, sources told RFA.
RFA Reports on self-immolations of two Tibetans
June 20 – RFA Tibetan aired story [text in English/Tibetan] on two young Tibetans self-immolating in China's Qinghai province in protest against Beijing's rule in Tibetan-populated areas. Carrying Tibetan flags and shouting pro-independence slogans, former monk Tenzin Khedup, 24, and Ngawang Norphel, 22, set themselves on fire in the Yulshul Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.
RFA Reports on Shenzhen electronics factory protest
June 19 – RFA Mandarin and Cantonese aired story [text in English/Mandarin/Cantonese] on workers at a Taiwan-invested electronics factory in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen entering the third day of a strike over a plant relocation. A plant employee said the protest was similar to those in 2010 at Foxconn, a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer that assembles Apple's iPhone, which drew worldwide scrutiny after its workers in Shenzhen committed suicide.
RFA Reports on Aung San Suu Kyi accepting Nobel Prize in person
June 16 – RFA Burmese aired story [text in English/Burmese] on Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi finally accepting in person her Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded 21 years ago. In her remarks delivered in Oslo, the democracy icon said while under house arrest the award "opened up a door in my heart" and fueled her campaign for democracy and human rights in Burma.
RFA Reports on beating of Chinese activist’s wife at trial
June 13 – RFA Mandarin and Cantonese aired story [text in English/Mandarin/Cantonese] on authorities in the central Chinese province of Henan blocking witnesses from appearing in the trial of veteran rights activist and would-be independent parliamentary election candidate Zhou Decai on “public order offenses.” His wife told RFA she was beaten up after arriving at the Gushi County People's Court with a witness for her husband's defense.
RFA Reports on Kim’s surprise visits in North Korea
June 11 – RFA Korean aired story [text in English/Korean] on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un making surprise visits to military barracks and a family home in a bid to learn firsthand about citizens’ welfare. Some North Koreans are hoping that Kim’s diversion from tightly scripted inspection tours are a sign the young “Supreme Leader” will pay more attention to the people’s needs than his predecessor did, sources told RFA.
RFA Reports on China tightening online controls
June 11 – RFA Cantonese and Mandarin aired story [text in English/Cantonese/Mandarin] on China preparing to roll out tighter Internet controls, extending a real-name registration system in place since March that has been confined to Beijing-based bloggers. In an amendment to existing Internet services management regulations, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will make real-name registration a legal requirement for participation in forums, blogs, microblogs, and any other interactive online services.
RFA Reports on hunt for Tibetan singer
June 11 – RFA Tibetan aired story [text in English/Tibetan] on authorities in China’s southwestern Sichuan province ordering the detention of a handicapped Tibetan singer accused of recording songs praising exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and highlighting the hardships of life under Beijing’s rule.
RFA Reports on concerns over Chinese activist’s health
June 11 – RFA Mandarin aired story [text in English/Mandarin] on Chinese authorities blocking visits by friends and fellow activists to rights activist Feng Zhenghu, who has been held under house arrest at his home in Shanghai for the last four months. Meanwhile, concerns have been growing over Feng’s health.
RFA Reports on emergency order in Burmese state
June 10 – RFA Burmese aired story [text in English/Burmese] on a declaration of a state of emergency in Burma’s western Rakhine state amid the worst fighting in years between Buddhists and minority Muslims. President Thein Sein appeared on national television to appeal for calm and signed an emergency order, effectively allowing the military to take over administrative functions for the coastal state that borders Bangladesh.
RFA Reports on guards disappearing from Chen Guangcheng’s home
June 8 – RFA Cantonese and Mandarin aired story [text in English/Cantonese/Mandarin] on Chinese authorities withdrawing hundreds of security personnel from round-the-clock guard duty in the home village of escaped activist Chen Guangcheng. Chen’s relatives accuse officials of destroying evidence of abuse ahead of an official investigation.
RFA Reports on move to end child labor in Burma
June 7 – RFA Burmese aired story [text in English/Burmese] on Burma expediting a program to wipe out forced labor before a 2015 deadline. This announcement came as a global watchdog group reviews the country’s compliance with international standards against the notorious practice.
RFA Reports on possible merger for Cambodian opposition parties
June 7 – RFA Khmer aired story [text in English/Khmer] on leaders from the two main opposition parties in Cambodia meeting in the Philippines to discuss a merger ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections. The two parties have tried unsuccessfully to unite over the last two years.
RFA Reports on authorities barring Tibetan pilgrims’ return
June 7 – RFA Tibetan aired story [text in English/Tibetan] on Chinese border police forcibly sending back a group of Tibetan pilgrims seeking to re-enter Tibet from Nepal after confiscating their residency permits and detaining them for a week. One analyst called the move “puzzling” and “a new development” in China’s handling of Tibetans wanting to return from Nepal to their homes.
RFA Reports on Cambodian poll irregularities
June 6 – RFA Khmer aired story [text in English/Khmer] on Cambodia’s weekend commune vote being marred by campaign irregularities despite a general improvement in election conditions from past years. The Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia said in a new report that three political parties’ activists were killed during campaigns in the run-up to the vote, the country’s third-ever commune-level elections.
RFA Reports on death of detained Tiananmen activist
June 6 – RFA Mandarin aired story [text in English/Mandarin] on a veteran 1989 pro-democracy activist from the central Chinese province of Hunan dying while being held in police custody. Li Wangyang, 62, died at a hospital in Shaoyang city in the custody of the local police detention center, Li's brother-in-law Zhao Baozhu told RFA's Mandarin service.
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RFA Reports on injury of a dozen Uyghur children in raid
June 6 – RFA Uyghur and Mandarin aired story [text in English/Uyghur/Mandarin] on 12 children suffering burns when police stormed an "illegal" Islamic school in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. RFA contacted the emergency room of the Hotan district people's hospital at which some of the children were admitted but its staff refused to provide key details.
RFA Reports on detention of Uyghur over tweets
June 5 – RFA Uyghur aired story [text in English/Uyghur] on Chinese authorities detaining a Uyghur man for tweeting “false information” about a boy who family sources say died in police custody under suspicious circumstances in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
RFA Reports on Tiananmen vigil in Hong Kong
June 4 – RFA Mandarin aired story [text in English/Mandarin] on tens of thousands of people converging on Hong Kong's Victoria Park to mark the 23rd anniversary of the 1989 military crackdown on student-led protests in Tiananmen Square. The gathering occurred as Beijing muzzled online talk on commemorating the event and tightened security in Beijing.
RFA Reports on massive security buildup in Tibetan capital
June 1 – RFA Tibetan aired story [text in English/Tibetan] on more than 3,000 security personnel deployed to bolster security in Lhasa following the first Tibetan self-immolation protest in the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region. One protester who survived the burning has been identified as a former monk, but details on his condition were not made available after he was bundled into a security vehicle and taken away from the protest site in front of the famous Jokhang Temple in central Lhasa, sources told RFA.
