(Washington, DC — June 1, 2012) Radio Free Asia broadcast the following stories, and more, in May:
RFA Reports on Chen Guangcheng speaking on democracy in China
May 31 – RFA Cantonese aired story [text in English/Cantonese] on blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng saying he is "very optimistic" that he will see a democratic China in his lifetime. Using his own case as an example, Chen said China is "moving in the right direction," adding that he plans to go back to China after studying law in the U.S. as long as his "individual rights are protected."
RFA Reports on social media warning for Chinese users
May 31 – RFA Cantonese and Mandarin aired story [text in English/Cantonese/Mandarin] on China's hugely popular Sina Weibo microblogging platform stepping up controls on what its users can post online. The service also has warned that anyone posting too much "inappropriate" content could be banned from the Twitter-like service.
RFA Reports on call in Cambodia for judiciary reform
May 31 – RFA Khmer aired story [text in English/Khmer] on a prominent opposition lawmaker in Cambodia accusing the Cambodian Supreme Court of being a “tool” of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s political party. In a copy of a letter obtained by RFA and addressed to Supreme Court President Dith Monty, Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian Son Chhay requested that the nation’s highest legal institution draft a law to ensure that judicial officials be provided with an environment in which they can “work more effectively.”
RFA Reports on Suu Kyi vowing to protect Burmese migrant workers
May 30 – RFA Burmese aired story [text in English/Burmese] on opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi pledging to better protect the rights of impoverished migrant workers from Burma in a speech to a crowd of thousands of supporters in central Thailand. The Nobel laureate spoke in Maha Chai, home to Thailand’s largest population of Burmese immigrants, who fled their country for opportunities abroad after years of economic misrule under the former military junta.
RFA Reports on Chinese crackdown in Lhasa
May 30 – RFA Tibetan aired story [text in English/Tibetan] on Chinese security forces in Lhasa rounding up hundreds of residents and pilgrims in the wake of a fiery weekend of self-immolation protests in Tibet’s capital. Locals detained have been held in detention centers in and around Lhasa while many of those from outside the Tibet Autonomous Region have been expelled, with one source estimating that about 600 Tibetans had been detained so far.
RFA Reports on Tibetan woman’s self-immolation
May 30 – RFA Tibetan aired story [text in English/Tibetan] on a Tibetan woman setting herself ablaze and dying in China's southwestern Sichuan province as a wave of self-immolations against Beijing's rule intensifies. The self-immolation came three days after two young Tibetan men burned themselves in central Lhasa in the first such case in the heavily-guarded capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region.
RFA Reports on stemming of online information flow in Tibet
May 29 – RFA Tibetan aired story [text in English/Tibetan] on Chinese authorities in the Tibetan Autonomous Region setting up new controls on the flow of information online, as challenges to Beijing’s rule in Tibetan areas begin to spread from western Chinese provinces to Tibet’s regional capital Lhasa.
RFA Reports on China establishing military base in Cambodia
May 29 – RFA Khmer aired story [text in English/Khmer] on China planning to establish a military training facility in Cambodia and provide other defense aid to its Southeast Asian ally in agreements struck during a visit in May by the Chinese defense minister Liang Guanglie to Phnom Penh. Opposition Sam Rainsy Party spokesman Yim Sovann said the agreement will increase China’s economic, political, and military influence in Cambodia.
RFA Reports on Chinese officials calling rights activist a ‘traitor’
May 29 – RFA Cantonese and Mandarin aired story [text in English/Cantonese/Mandarin] on officials in the Shandong hometown of blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng branding the activist a traitor. "They say he is a criminal, against the people, against the Party, against lots of things," Chen’s brother told RFA's Cantonese service.
RFA Reports on Chinese netizens venting outrage over sexual abuse scandal
May 28 – RFA Mandarin aired story [text in English/Mandarin] on authorities in the central Chinese province of Henan holding a former senior ruling Chinese Communist Party official for allegedly raping more than 10 underage girls. Social media has become an outlet for people venting their outrage.
RFA Reports on monitoring of activists ahead of Tiananmen anniversary
May 25 – RFA Mandarin and Cantonese aired story [text in English/Mandarin/Cantonese] on Chinese activists being held under tight surveillance ahead of the 23rd anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square military crackdown.
RFA Reports on first outside trip for Suu Kyi in two decades
May 25 – RFA Burmese aired story [text in English/Burmese] on Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi making her first visit to a foreign country in more than 20 years. Suu Kyi spent the majority of the past two decades under house arrest during the rule of Burma’s former military junta and while free had refused to travel abroad for fear that she would be refused reentry to her homeland.
RFA Reports on sentencing of Vietnamese Catholic activists
May 24 – RFA Vietnamese aired story [text in English/Vietnamese] on a Vietnamese court sentencing four Catholic activists to up to three and a half years in jail for conducting propaganda against the state, after what international rights groups called a sham trial.
RFA Reports on rare court victory for Burma press freedom
May 23 – RFA Burmese aired story [text in English/Burmese] on a Burmese judge ruling that a news magazine need not disclose to the government the name of a reporter who filed a controversial story about corruption. The ruling represents a rare court victory for the media.
RFA Reports on Chinese authorities warning Christian house church
May 22 – RFA Mandarin aired story [text in English/Mandarin] on authorities in China’s southwestern province of Sichuan requesting a large family-based Christian church to halt its activities. The move came as Chinese authorities intensified their harassment of Christians and cracked down on unofficial churches, called “house churches,” across several Chinese provinces.
RFA Reports on North Korean efforts to jam South’s transmissions
May 22 – RFA Korean aired story [text in English/Korean] on authorities in North Korea stepping up efforts to jam South Korean television and radio broadcasts in a bid to prevent the public from accessing news from the outside world. A North Korean resident surnamed Yoon, who lives in Kangwon province’s Wonsan city near the Chinese border, told RFA that television programs from the South had been harder to receive than usual recently, and that authorities may be interfering with the broadcasts which they fear might undermine authoritarian rule.
RFA Reports on pending trial of Bo Xilai appointee
May 21 – RFA Mandarin aired story [text in English/Mandarin] on authorities in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan preparing to try a former provincial police chief at the heart of a recent political scandal involving party official Bo Xilai for treason. Wang Lijun, whose Feb. 6 flight to the U.S. consulate in Chengdu sparked the biggest political scandal to engulf the communist leadership could face trial on treason charges as early as June.
RFA Reports on Burmese Kachin rebels appealing to United Nations
May 17 – RFA Burmese aired story [text in English/Burmese] on Burma’s Kachin rebels asking the U.N. to monitor fighting in the country’s war-torn northern border region. The request has drawn international attention to the escalating conflict that has marred reforms by President Thein Sein’s government.
RFA Reports on Suu Kyi cautioning against over optimism
May 15 – RFA Burmese aired story [text in English/Burmese] on Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi cautioning against the international community becoming overly optimistic about Burma’s reforms. She made the remarks in a video conference at the launch of a freedom project in Washington by former U.S. president George W. Bush.
RFA Reports on shooting of Cambodian girl in land clash
May 15 – RFA Khmer aired story [text in English/Khmer] on security forces in eastern Cambodia fatally shooting a teenage girl during a clash over land rights with villagers armed with axes and crossbows. The incident highlights a spate of shootings by authorities on protesters and activists in the country.
RFA Reports on closing of Tibetan schools
May 15 – RFA Tibetan aired story [text in English/Tibetan] on Chinese authorities closing two Tibetan private schools in the Gansu and Qinghai provinces and detaining at least five staff as authorities moved to restrict assertions of national identity in Tibetan-populated areas of western China.
RFA Reports on more Uyghurs missing detained loved ones
May 14 – RFA Uyghur aired story [text in English/Uyghur] on more families of Uyghurs missing in the aftermath of ethnic violence in China's Xinjiang region in 2009 coming forward to highlight their cases in the absence of information from the Chinese authorities. Since RFA's Uyghur service reported about the plight of a Uyghur mother who said her missing son was last seen three years ago, 36 families have come forward with their own stories of missing loved ones.
RFA Reports on limitations of Lao anti-trafficking efforts
May 14 – RFA Lao aired story [text in English/Lao] on hundreds of girls being trafficked into China from the northern provinces of Laos but efforts to rescue them have been largely unsuccessful due to limited resources. A Lao official, who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity from the capital Vientiane, said that over the past two years, hundreds of families from provinces bordering China had approached officials requesting help in locating their missing daughters.
RFA Reports on clash over Vietnamese evictions
May 11 – RFA Vietnamese aired story [text in English/Vietnamese] on police in northern Vietnam’s Nam Dinh province beating and arresting villagers resisting the eviction of their homes to make way for an industrial park. The incident comes in the latest dispute over land expropriation in the one-party communist state.
RFA Reports on Uyghur mother’s search for missing son
May 11 – RFA Uyghur aired story [text in English/Uyghur] on the mother of a Uyghur man missing for nearly three years after he participated in demonstrations in China’s troubled Xinjiang region saying she has been under constant surveillance by authorities. Patigul Eli said her son Imammemet Eli, 25, was taken by police on July 14, 2009, nine days after ethnic violence gripped the Xinjiang capital Urumqi, and that the last she heard about him was nine months later when fellow inmates said he was found severely tortured and bundled away in a hospital.
RFA Reports on memorial service for slain Cambodian environmental activist
May 11 – RFA Khmer aired story [text in English/Khmer] on a memorial service held for prominent Cambodian anti-logging campaigner Chut Wutty. More than 400 activists marched to the forest site where Wutty was killed in April, as a visiting U.N. rights official called for justice in the case that has sparked a national outcry.
RFA Reports on deadly suicide bombing in China amid land grabs
May 11 – RFA Mandarin aired story [text in English/Mandarin] on residents of the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan blaming a suicide bomb attack that killed four people on forced evictions and a government takeover of farmland amid a lucrative property boom. A 25-year-old man detonated a bomb at a government office in Baihetan township in Qiaojia county, using explosives tied to his body.
RFA Reports on murder charges for Chen’s nephew
May 11 – RFA Cantonese and Mandarin aired story [text in English/Cantonese/Mandarin] on authorities in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong detaining the nephew of blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng on suspicion of murder. According to a formal notice issued to his family, a copy of which was obtained by RFA, Chen Kegui was formally detained "on suspicion of deliberate homicide" by police in his home county of Yinan.
RFA Reports on Cambodian voter rolls missing names
May 10 – RFA Khmer aired story [text in English/Khmer] on polling irregularities that could prevent about 1.5 million Cambodians from exercising their right to vote in the coming commune elections. Koul Panha, executive director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel), said some 1.5 million people who had voted in the 2002 and 2007 commune elections no longer have their names on voter lists ahead of the June 3 polls.
RFA Reports on new security checkpoints in Tibet
May 10 – RFA Tibetan aired story [text in English/Tibetan] on Chinese authorities setting up police surveillance stations and other checkpoints across Tibet to monitor the activities of ordinary citizens and travelers approaching the capital city of Lhasa.
RFA Reports on suspension of Lao dam construction
May 9 – RFA Lao aired story [text in English/Lao] on Laos suspending construction of the controversial Xayaburi dam on the Mekong River following an uproar from neighboring Cambodia and environmental groups.
RFA Reports on pirated DVDs spreading North Korea
May 8 – RFA Korean aired story [text in English/Korean] on South Korean films and other entertainment programs becoming more available in North Korea due to the proliferation of DVD writers smuggled in from China and new distribution networks in the south of the country. The DVD writers are stoking the production of videos of South Korean soap operas, movies, and music which North Korean leaders have long tried to forbid in an attempt to keep unwanted foreign influences from seeping into the isolated nation, out of fears these could undermine authoritarian rule.
RFA Reports on police assault of two Vietnamese reporters
May 8 – RFA Vietnamese aired story [text in English/Vietnamese] on two Vietnamese state radio reporters being assaulted by police. The incident happened as the authorities suppressed a mass protest by villagers over a land grab in the outskirts of the capital Hanoi in April.
RFA Reports on stifling of news of Burma official’s resignation
May 8 – RFA Burmese aired story [text in English/Burmese] on Burmese authorities clamping down on news about the resignation offer by hard-line vice president Tin Aung Myint Oo. The former top general and military advisor to then-junta leader Than Shwe has submitted his letter of resignation on grounds of poor health, an official in the country’s capital Naypyidaw told RFA, speaking on condition of anonymity.
RFA Reports on forced registration of Tibetan NGOs
May 3 – RFA Tibetan aired story [text in English/Tibetan] on grassroots social groups operating in a Tibetan area of China’s Sichuan province being forced to register by the authorities or face closure. The situation has arisen as Beijing moves to restrict the ability of Tibetans to organize around issues of concern.
RFA Reports on Suu Kyi’s parliamentary debut
May 2 – RFA Burmese aired story [text in English/Burmese] on opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi being sworn in as a member of parliament. The Burmese democracy icon assured she will work for “what is best for the people” after two decades of personal struggle against the country’s authoritarian regime.
