(Washington, DC — June 1, 2014) Radio Free Asia broadcast the following stories, and more, in May:
RFA Reports on Vietnamese religious leaders highlighting jailed pastor’s mistreatment
May 30 – RFA Vietnamese aired story [text in English/Vietnamese] on Vietnamese religious leaders appealing to the government to end the harassment of a jailed Mennonite pastor and investigate other abuses against “prisoners of conscience.” The religious leaders, representing the Protestant, Catholic, Buddhist, Cao Dai, and Hoa Hao faiths, sent their petition to Vietnam’s president and to the United Nations Human Rights Council.
RFA Reports on Chinese forcing Tibetans’ participation in anti-self-immolation campaign
May 29 – RFA Tibetan aired story [text in English/Tibetan] on Chinese authorities in a protest-hit Tibetan county in Sichuan forcing residents to participate in training designed to counter self-immolations and other protests challenging Beijing’s rule in Tibetan areas. A total of 131 Tibetans have set themselves ablaze to date in self-immolation protests calling for Tibetan freedom, with another six setting fire to themselves in India and Nepal.
RFA Reports on lingering memories of violence ahead of Tiananmen anniversary
May 29 – RFA Mandarin and Cantonese aired story [text in English/Mandarin/Cantonese] on victims of the Chinese military crackdown on unarmed demonstrators on June 4, 1989 saying they have been living with recurring memories of the violence ever since. The number of people killed when PLA tanks and troops entered Beijing remains a mystery.
RFA Reports on China announcing new clampdown on messaging apps
May 28 – RFA Mandarin and Cantonese aired story [text in English/Mandarin/Cantonese] on China launching a month-long crackdown on popular instant messaging apps in a bid to purge them of "illegal and harmful information" and to fend off "hostile forces." Many Chinese netizens rely on the WeChat app, and others like it, as an unofficial news channel for information that would be censored by the complex system of internet blocks, filters, and human censorship known as the Great Firewall.
RFA Reports on China holding Japanese newspaper employee over rights lawyer interview
May 28 – RFA Cantonese and Mandarin aired story [text in English/Cantonese/Mandarin] on Beijing authorities detaining a local journalist for a Japanese financial newspaper on public order charges after she helped cover the detention of a top human rights lawyer. Xin Jian, a news assistant for the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper, was among those detained ahead of the 25th anniversary of the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square.
RFA Reports on Aung San Suu Kyi urging grass-roots campaign for charter reform
May 27 – RFA Myanmar aired story [text in English/Myanmar] on Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi urging supporters to “test” the country’s parliament with calls for constitutional reform. The National League for Democracy (NLD) chairwoman made the remarks while pushing ahead with the campaign, jointly organized by the 88 Generation Students activist group, despite a recent warning from election officials that she was violating her duty as a parliamentarian to uphold the charter.
RFA Reports on Myanmar draft controversial religious conversion law
May 27 – RFA Myanmar aired story [text in English/Myanmar] on Myanmar’s government publishing a draft bill on religious conversion. The pending legislation is open to public comment on rules proposed by nationalist Buddhist monks that would require those who want to change faiths to first obtain permission from local authorities.
RFA Reports on detention of Tibetan singer after performing pro-language song
May 26 – RFA Tibetan aired story [text in English/Tibetan] on the detention of a Tibetan singer who performed a song calling for the protection of the Tibetan language at a recent concert in China's Sichuan province. Local authorities have expressed concerns that community-organized Tibetan language classes may stoke opposition to Chinese rule.
RFA Reports on police defusing four bombs after blast in Chinese Uyghur region
May 26 – RFA Uyghur aired story [text in English/Uyghur] on a bomb exploding in front of a police department and the defusing of four other bombs by authorities in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Police were initially reluctant to confirm the explosion or the discovery of the bombs when contacted by RFA following a tip by a listener.
RFA Reports on escalation of Vietnamese anti-China territorial protests
May 23 – RFA Vietnamese aired story [text in English/Vietnamese] on a Vietnamese woman dying after setting herself on fire in protest against China's actions in a territorial dispute with Vietnam. The burning protest follows a clampdown on demonstrations against China's May 1 deployment of a giant oil rig in waters claimed by Vietnam.
RFA Reports on new Cambodian laws threatening judicial independence
May 23 – RFA Khmer aired story [text in English/Khmer] on Cambodia’s opposition-boycotted parliament unanimously approving a set of judicial laws that rights groups say will give Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government effective control over the judiciary and further undermine the independence of courts.
RFA Reports on detentions of 100 after police fire on Uyghur headscarf protestors
May 23 – RFA Uyghur aired story [text in English/Uyghur] on authorities in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region detaining more than 100 ethnic minority Uyghurs who took part in mass protests. The demonstrations were held in protest of the detention of women and middle school girls for wearing headscarves.
RFA Reports on EU raising press freedom, NGO concerns with Laos
May 22 – RFA Lao aired story [text in English/Lao] on the European Union raising concerns with Laos about media controls, registration of NGOs, and other human rights issues during a bilateral dialogue in Belgium. EU officials also highlighted the case of disappeared Lao civil society leader Sombath Somphone, who some human rights groups suspect may have been abducted by government-linked groups when he went missing in December 2012.
RFA Reports on detention and surveillance of Tiananmen victims’ families
May 20 – RFA Cantonese and Mandarin aired story [text in English/Cantonese/Mandarin] on Chinese authorities detaining or placing under close surveillance the relatives of those who died or were maimed in the military crackdown on student-led protests in Tiananmen Square ahead of the 25th anniversary.
RFA Reports on Myanmar mine activists kidnapping Chinese workers
May 19 – RFA Myanmar aired story [text in English/Myanmar] on local activists opposed to a controversial copper mine project in northern Myanmar kidnapping two Chinese workers. Activists abducted the two contractors working at the Chinese-backed Letpadaung copper mine, demanding compensation for villagers’ farmland acquired for the project and immunity from prosecution in exchange for the duo’s freedom.
RFA Reports on Cambodian opposition making gains in local elections
May 19 – RFA Khmer aired story [text in English/Khmer] on the Cambodia National Rescue Party gaining ground against Prime Minister Hun Sen’s party in local elections in a boost the opposition party’s leader Sam Rainsy said would help strengthen democracy at the grassroots level.
RFA Reports on air crash killing senior Lao officials
May 18 – RFA Lao aired story [text in English/Lao] on the deaths of Lao Deputy Prime Minister Douangchay Phichit, Minister of Public Security Thongbanh Sengaphone, and two other high-ranking officials who were among 17 people killed in a military plane crash. The incident has left a power vacuum in the authoritarian one-party administration.
RFA Reports on China detaining two rights attorneys in crackdown
May 16 – RFA Cantonese and Mandarin aired story [text in English/Cantonese/Mandarin] on authorities in the Chinese capital detaining the lawyer and relative of jailed human rights attorney Pu Zhiqiang, as well as a prominent rights lawyer based in the southern city of Guangzhou. The detentions are the latest in a string of similar charges against activists, lawyers, and journalists widely regarded as moderately critical of the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
RFA Reports on university stopping jailed Uyghur scholar’s salary
May 16 – RFA Uyghur aired story [text in English/Uyghur] on Ilham Tohti’s university halting his salary four months after his detention on separatism charges, leaving his wife and young sons little to survive on as they struggle to cope with his disappearance. The Central University for Nationalities economics professor’s wife and their two sons have been living under heavy surveillance at their apartment in Beijing since his January detention with no word from him or on when he will be allowed to return home.
RFA Reports on detentions of Chinese activists ahead of Tiananmen anniversary
May 15 – RFA Cantonese and Mandarin aired story [text in English/Cantonese/Mandarin] on authorities in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong detaining five prominent rights activists on public order charges. The detentions came as China continued its crackdown on dissent ahead of the sensitive 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
RFA Reports on murder of three Chinese officials before Xi’s visit to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
May 14 – RFA Uyghur aired story [text in English/Uyghur] on the murder of three senior Han Chinese officials just before President Xi Jinping’s visit to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in April. Police and local officials kept the crime under wraps.
RFA Reports on conference urging Beijing to lift religious restrictions, rules
May 14 – RFA Mandarin aired story [text in English/Mandarin] on religious scholars, lawyers, and activists at a U.S. conference urging that the Chinese Communist Party relinquish controls on religion and religious practices in China. More than 50 human rights lawyers, unofficial Protestant house church leaders, and scholars issued a statement after an academic conference calling on all Chinese citizens to fight for religious freedom in the face of a widening crackdown on religious belief.
RFA Reports on anti-Chinese mobs attacking factories in Ho Chi Minh City
May 14 – RFA Vietnamese aired story [text in English/Vietnamese] on anti-Chinese mobs torching and ransacking foreign-owned factories in Vietnam to express anger over the deployment of a Chinese oil rig in disputed waters in the South China Sea. Police said they had detained 700 people since anti-China protests began as more than 20,000 people attacked Chinese and other foreign factories in industrial parks in the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s commercial capital.
RFA Reports on man’s death in Yunnan land grab dispute
May 14 – RFA Cantonese and Mandarin aired story [text in English/Cantonese/Mandarin] on the death of a man following clashes between police and local residents protesting a forced land grab by authorities in the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan. Relatives of the deceased paraded his body through the streets in protest, bringing traffic to a halt.
RFA Reports on Myanmar government, Kachin rebels forming ‘peace commission’
May 13 – RFA Myanmar aired story [text in English/Myanmar] on Myanmar’s government and ethnic Kachin rebels agreeing to form a peace monitoring commission. The move, leaders of both sides say, expresses the hope to curb ongoing clashes that have threatened to upset progress on a nationwide cease-fire agreement.
RFA Reports on Chinese crackdown on Tibetan mining protests
May 13 – RFA Tibetan aired story [text in English/Tibetan] on Chinese authorities cracking down on villagers opposed to mining projects in Tibet’s Chamdo county. They deployed hundreds of armed police and detained those who had petitioned higher levels of authority for a halt to the extraction activity.
RFA Reports on North Korean workers ditching factories for markets
May 13 – RFA Korean aired story [text in English/Korean] on poorly paid workers in neglected state-run, non-military factories in rural North Korea bribing managers in order to take leave of their official work units in pursuit of jobs in local marketplaces to feed their families. The workers are unable to make ends meet on their meager monthly salaries, a government official from South Pyongan province told RFA’s Korean Service.
RFA Reports on violent protests over Chinese waste project
May 12 – RFA Mandarin and Cantonese aired story [text in English/Mandarin/Cantonese] on the arrests of 60 people following violent protests against a planned waste incineration plant near the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou. Protests continued despite government assurance that it would not move forward with the waste incinerator project in the suburbs of Hangzhou without the support of the local population.
RFA Reports on Chinese police clashing with bereaved parents at Sichuan quake memorial
May 12 – RFA Mandarin and Cantonese aired story [text in English/Mandarin/Cantonese] on clashes between police and hundreds of parents of children who died in collapsed school buildings in the massive 2008 Sichuan earthquake. The incidents came after the bereaved parents attempted to hold a public memorial.
RFA Reports on Cambodian court denying bail to jailed labor protesters
May 9 – RFA Khmer aired story [text in English/Khmer] on Cambodia’s Supreme Court upholding a decision to refuse bail to 21 people arrested during a deadly worker strike crackdown. The 23 have been waiting to defend themselves in court since their arrest following a January crackdown on an opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party-backed strike by workers demanding higher wages, which left five people dead and nearly 40 wounded.
RFA Reports on drinking water scares highlighting China’s river pollution
May 9 – RFA Mandarin and Cantonese aired story [text in English/Mandarin/Cantonese] on authorities in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu shutting off the drinking water supply to 680,000 people after finding "abnormalities" in water quality from China's largest river. The incident is the latest in a string of water pollution scares across China.
RFA Reports on rising prosecutions in Cambodian land disputes
May 8 – RFA Khmer aired story [text in English/Khmer] on Cambodian authorities charging half as many villagers in land dispute cases in the first three months of this year as they did in all of 2013. A study by a rights group finds that 48 people were charged for their alleged roles in land disputes in the first quarter of 2014 alone, with 12 among them detained.
RFA Reports on Chinese closing Tibetan private school
May 8 – RFA Tibetan aired story [text in English/Tibetan] on Chinese authorities closing an 11-year-old Tibetan private school for poor Tibetan students in China’s Qinghai province. The action comes after the jailing of a teacher for alleged involvement in political activities.
RFA Reports on China detaining veteran journalist for ‘leaking state secrets’
May 8 – RFA Cantonese and Mandarin aired story [text in English/Cantonese/Mandarin] on Chinese authorities placing outspoken journalist Gao Yu under criminal detention on charges of “leaking state secrets.” Gao was shown on the ruling Chinese Communist Party's state television channel, her face blurred on the screen, apparently confessing to having obtained a highly confidential document and sending it to an overseas website.
RFA Reports on Lao villagers complaining about pesticides poisoning water
May 7 – RFA Lao aired story [text in English/Lao] on villagers in northern Laos getting sick from drinking water they believe was contaminated by pesticides and weed-killer residue. The ethnic minority villagers in mountainous Oudomxay province’s Beng district have sought the urgent intervention of local authorities after a confrontation with farmers.
RFA Reports on Hong Kong publisher getting 10-year jail sentence
May 7 – RFA Cantonese and Mandarin aired story [text in English/Cantonese/Mandarin] on a court in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen handing a 10-year jail term to a Hong Kong publisher who edited a book highly critical of President Xi Jinping. Yiu Mantin, 79, was handed the sentence by the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court, which found him guilty of "smuggling ordinary goods," his former lawyer Ding Xikui told RFA.
RFA Reports on arrest of two Vietnamese bloggers
May 6 – RFA Vietnamese aired story [text in English/Vietnamese] on authorities in Vietnam arresting two bloggers on charges of publishing anti-state information. The arrests signal a renewed crackdown on online dissent despite the early release in April of three political dissidents from prison.
RFA Reports on North Korean fatalities in hydropower project
May 5 – RFA Korean aired story [text in English/Korean] on the deaths of more than 20 North Korean workers since the end of March while carrying out construction on an accident-ridden hydropower project. They were killed in two accidents at the Baekdusan Songun Youth Power Station in Yanggang province, where workers face hazardous conditions and are kept under strict watch to prevent escape.
RFA Reports on China targeting Uyghurs in nationwide terrorism crackdown
May 2 – RFA Uyghur aired story [text in English/Uyghur] on major cities across China stepping up anti-terrorism measures following a suicide bombing at a railway station in the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The Urumqi attack came amid a string of violent incidents linked to tensions in the region, where rights groups and exiles point to heavy-handed rule by authorities, including curbs on Islamic practices and the culture and language of the Uyghur people.
RFA Reports on crackdown on pro-opposition protesters in Phnom Penh
May 2 – RFA Khmer aired story [text in English/Khmer] on security guards armed with batons and cattle prods leaving dozens of protesters injured after violently dispersing opposition supporters outside Freedom Park. The Cambodia National Rescue Party had organized the gathering to mark the start of the May 2-16 campaign period for municipal, provincial, city and district council elections and to protest a January ban on public gatherings.
