(Washington, DC — Oct. 1, 2012) Radio Free Asia broadcast the following stories, and more, in September:
RFA Reports on Tibetan self-immolation amid outside pleas
Sept. 29 – RFA Tibetan aired story [text in English/Tibetan] on a Tibetan man self-immolating in protest against Chinese rule in Qinghai province, ignoring new calls by hundreds of Tibetan exiles a day earlier to end the burnings. Dressed in full Tibetan traditional attire, the man set himself ablaze and shouted slogans against Chinese rule in the Yushul Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture before he was taken away by Chinese security forces, sources told RFA.
RFA Reports on Bo Xilai scandal’s impact on Beijing leadership transition
Sept. 28 – RFA Cantonese aired story [text in English/Cantonese] on China announcing that its once-in-a-decade leadership transition will be finalized at the 18th Congress of the ruling Chinese Communist Party in early November, somewhat later than expected. The exact dates for the secretive event are often not made public until close to the time it takes place, and preparation for this year's Congress has been overshadowed by the biggest political scandal to hit the party in decades.
RFA Reports on jailing of Uyghur youth foundation personnel
Sept. 28 – RFA Uyghur aired story [text in English/Uyghur] on the jailing of an activist Uyghur doctor and nine fellow members of a foundation set up to help poor Uyghur students in China’s remote Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Sources told RFA the detentions show the extent to which Chinese authorities continue their clampdown on Uyghurs.
RFA Reports on Burmese ethnic protest in Rakhine state
Sept. 28 – RFA Burmese aired story [text in English/Burmese] on thousands of Buddhists gathering in Sittwe in western Burma’s Rakhine state to demand that the Muslim quarter be moved outside of the city. The protest was prompted by a false kidnapping rumor, fueling tensions between the two religious communities following bloody clashes in June.
RFA Reports on Ai Weiwei losing appeal on tax evasion charges
Sept. 27 – RFA Mandarin aired story [text in English/Mandarin] on dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei losing his final appeal to avoid being fined 2.4 million USD for tax evasion. Beijing’s No. 2 Intermediate Court upheld the punishment that was levied against Ai’s design company, Fake Cultural Development Ltd., last year. The artist, remaining defiant despite the ruling, has long considered the penalty as political retaliation against his social activism.
RFA Reports on North Korean salt shortage
Sept. 27 – RFA Korean aired story [text in English/Korean] on North Korea bracing for a severe salt shortage that could impact food supplies during the cold months of the winter. Recent floods and typhoons destroyed production facilities in the west, which has led to higher prices, sources told RFA’s Korean service.
RFA Reports on U.S. lifting of Burma sanctions
Sept. 26 – RFA Burmese aired story [text in English/Burmese] on the announced lifting of a longstanding U.S. ban on imports from Burma. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made the announcement when she met Burma’s President Thein Sein for landmark talks on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
RFA Reports on Beijing clamping down on petitioners
Sept. 26 – RFA Mandarin aired story [text in English/Mandarin] on Chinese authorities tightening controls on rights activists and lawyers ahead of the 18th Party Congress. Longtime Shanghai petitioners Wang Kouma and Tong Guojing were taken away under criminal detention by plainclothes police on suspicion of "gathering a crowd to disturb order in a public place," Wang's wife told RFA.
RFA Reports on NGOs pushing for donor conditions for Cambodia
Sept. 25 – RFA Khmer aired story [text in English/Khmer] on more than 100 nongovernmental organizations gathering in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh to call on donor countries to make further aid conditional on government reforms for a more transparent electoral process and efficient judicial system. They made the call ahead of a key meeting between donors and the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen, which has been accused of human rights abuses.
RFA Reports on alleged deaths in Foxconn tech factory riots
Sept. 25 – RFA Cantonese aired story [text in English/Cantonese] on production resuming at a factory owned by the manufacturer of Apple's iPhone in the northern Chinese city of Taiyuan after mass riots. The company denied reports that the violence was deadly. However, a Foxconn worker who spoke to RFA suggested that several people were killed.
RFA Reports on former police chief’s sentencing in China corruption scandal
Sept. 24 – RFA Mandarin and Cantonese aired story [text in English/Mandarin/Cantonese] on a court in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu handing a 15-year jail term to the former police chief of fallen political star Bo Xilai. Wang Lijun, former vice-mayor and police chief of the megacity of Chongqing, was sentenced for covering up the murder of a British businessman and for visiting a U.S. diplomatic mission in the city.
RFA Reports on sentencing of three Vietnamese bloggers
Sept. 24 – RFA Vietnamese aired story [text in English/Vietnamese] on the sentencing of three bloggers in Vietnam who spoke out on corruption in the one-party state. They each received between four and 12 years in prison for “anti-state propaganda” in court convictions criticized by the U.S. government and international human rights groups.
RFA Reports on plans to move North Korea’s command center
Sept. 21 – RFA Korean aired story [text in English/Korean] on North Korea planning to move its wartime command center from its present location near the country’s famous Mt. Paektu to an area considered less vulnerable. The command center’s new location will be at Rason city, in North Hamgyong province, and construction on the site “will begin soon,” a source working for North Korea’s National Security Department told RFA.
RFA Reports on shooting of Vietnamese land protesters
Sept. 21 – RFA Vietnamese aired story [text in English/Vietnamese] on the severe wounding of three Vietnamese women who were hurt when police opened fire on villagers protesting the construction of a road through disputed farmland in southern Vietnam’s Vinh Long province.
RFA Reports on rare Lao retailers’ demonstration
Sept. 21 – RFA Lao aired story [text in English/Lao] on hundreds of store owners in the oldest section of the Talat Sao mall in Vientiane protesting against government plans to demolish their premises and relocate them. The protest is a rare occurrence in the one-party, communist-controlled country.
RFA Reports on digital silence of Chinese AIDS activist following threats, beatings
Sept. 21 – RFA Mandarin aired story [text in English/Mandarin] on Beijing-based rights activist Hu Jia’s online silence following a 34-hour hunger strike in protest of his continuing house arrest and beatings by police. These followed threats from authorities regarding recent online posts.
RFA Reports on group rejecting Cambodian conspiracy allegations
Sept. 20 – RFA Khmer aired story [text in English/Khmer] on the leader of a U.S.-based Cambodian group pushing for democratic reforms in the Southeast Asian country rejecting charges that he and a local radio station chief conspired to oust the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen.
RFA Reports on possible Burmese peace deal with Kachin
Sept. 20 – RFA Burmese aired story [text in English/Burmese] on authorities in Burma claiming to be “one step” away from striking a peace deal with ethnic Kachin rebels. If achieved, this would remove one of the last key obstacles to the process of national reconciliation.
RFA Reports on Cambodia rejecting electoral reform
Sept. 20 – RFA Khmer aired story [text in English/Khmer] on Cambodia’s Ministry of the Interior rejecting proposals by opposition parties to reform the country’s electoral body. The minister said the people see “no problem” with the voting process despite U.N. claims that there are “major flaws” in the administration of elections.
RFA Reports on defamation charges against Burmese magazine
Sept. 20 – RFA Burmese aired story [text in English/Burmese] on a court in Burma ordering the publisher and chief editor of a local news magazine to stand trial for defamation charges brought against it by the government. The action raises fresh concerns over press freedom in the still-democratizing country.
RFA Reports on dengue fever ravaging Laos and Cambodia
Sept. 20 – RFA Lao and Khmer aired story [text in English/Lao/Khmer] on Dengue fever cases flooding hospitals in northwestern Laos and Cambodia. The disease is striking Laos and Cambodia at a time when the two countries are contending with seasonal outbreaks of malaria and other infectious tropical illnesses, and as they struggle with their own weak health care systems.
RFA Reports on ‘accidental’ shooting of Tibetan
Sept. 19 – RFA Tibetan aired story [text in English/Tibetan] on a Tibetan monk dying in Lhasa in an incident described by local police as an “accidental” shooting. Authorities later ordered the man’s family to cover up the death and keep news of the incident from spreading outside the area.
RFA Reports on court charges connected to Cambodian reporter’s death
Sept. 19 – RFA Khmer aired story [text in English/Khmer] on a provincial court in Cambodia filing charges of premeditated murder against a military police officer and his wife over the death of an investigative journalist. The reporter, Hang Serei Oudom, was looking into claims of illegal logging and extortion when he went missing on Sept. 10. His battered body was found two days later in the trunk of his car.
RFA Reports on Aung San Suu Kyi calling for removal of ‘roots of hatred’ in Burma
Sept. 18 – RFA Burmese aired story [text in English/Burmese] on Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi calling for the removal of the "roots of hatred" that have fueled the conflict between ethnic Rakhines and Muslim Rohingyas in western Burma. "Basically, whenever there is hate, there is fear. So, hate and fear are very closely related. You have to remove the roots of hatred—that is to say you have to address these issues that make people insecure and that make people threatened," she told RFA's Burmese service in an interview.
RFA Reports on China’s labor punishment facing new opposition
Sept. 14 – RFA Mandarin aired story [text in English/Mandarin] on calls to end China’s "re-education through labor" punishment after the overturning of the sentence for a Chinese political cartoonist. Beijing-based rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang, speaking after the decision to "cancel" the two-year sentence handed to his client Peng Hong in central China's Chongqing municipality, said that irregularities in the way the case was handled showed that the entire system is deeply flawed.
RFA Reports on kidnapping of Tibetan children
Sept. 13 – RFA Tibetan aired story [text in English/Tibetan] on Chinese police rounding up 12 suspects in the kidnapping of five Tibetan children, a rare crime in Tibetan-populated regions of western China. Though the ethnicity of the kidnappers is still unknown, the men taking the children were seen wearing Chinese-style paramilitary uniforms, the source told RFA’s Tibetan Service.
RFA Reports on progress of controversial Lao dam project
Sept. 13 – RFA Lao aired story [text in English/Lao] on the energy minister of Laos rejecting reports that Vietnam and Cambodia are against the construction of the controversial Xayaburi dam on the Mekong River. Minister Soulivong Daravong also said that Laos will sell power generated from the dam to Cambodia in addition to Thailand, where a lawsuit was filed last month to stop any electricity purchase from Xayaburi, citing environment and other concerns.
RFA Reports on jailed Cambodian radio chief denying secessionist charges
Sept. 11 – RFA Khmer aired story [text in English/Khmer] on Cambodian radio station chief Mam Sonando rejecting charges that he masterminded a secessionist plot as his trial opened. Judge Chang Sinath of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court read the charges against Mam Sonando, 71, who was arrested in July and accused of sparking a May land revolt and ensuing clashes in Kratie province’s Chhlong district.
RFA Reports on Burmese villagers demanding activists’ release
Sept. 11 – RFA Burmese aired story [text in English/Burmese] on hundreds of villagers protesting for the release of four activists in police custody. The villagers also called on authorities to shut down a copper mining project they allege led to the unlawful confiscation of their land in northwestern Burma.
RFA Reports on Chinese teachers demanding back pay
Sept. 10 – RFA Mandarin aired story [text in English/Mandarin] on thousands of teachers protesting in eastern China’s Shandong province demanding fair compensation and recognition for their services. The estimated 4,000 community teachers gathered on Teachers’ Day, a national holiday, in front of the provincial government office building, but were prevented by police from entering the building.
RFA Reports on removal of Chinese flag from Tibetan school
Sept. 9 – RFA Tibetan and Mandarin aired story [text in English/Tibetan/Mandarin] on Tibetan protesters pulling down a Chinese flag from a school in Kardze prefecture in Sichuan province, replacing it with the Tibetan flag, for the second time.
RFA Reports on slow trains hampering travel for North Koreans
Sept. 6 – RFA Korean aired story [text in English/Korean] on public trains in North Korea being so slow that people take what they hope will be adequate food to cope with unexpectedly prolonged journeys. A North Korean living in Hamheung of South Hamkyung province who recently visited Hyesan in neighboring Ryanggang province by train said it took him three nights and four days to get there.
RFA Reports on top Chinese investigative reporter resigning
Sept. 5 – RFA Mandarin and Cantonese aired story [text in English/Mandarin/Cantonese] on the sudden resignation of a top Chinese investigative reporter who first exposed the scandal of melamine-tainted infant formula in 2008. Jian Guanzhou, the first journalist to name Sanlu as the source of contaminated milk powder in a story for the Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post in September 2008, announced he was leaving in a post this week on China's popular Sina Weibo microblogging service, saying his ideals have been crushed.
RFA Reports on harassment of Chinese house church
Sept. 4 – RFA Mandarin aired story [text in English/Mandarin] on local officials pressuring members of a house church in southern China’s Shenzhen city to relocate only 20 days after they moved into their current location. “We had once congregated in the Bantian area, but community officials pressured our landlord, asking us to move out,” said Zhao Jianjun, pastor of the Zhongfu Gangtou church.
RFA Reports on house arrest of Uyghur mother
Sept. 4 – RFA Uyghur aired story [text in English/Uyghur] on Chinese authorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region placing an outspoken Uyghur mother under virtual house arrest over concerns she might publicize the long-running case of her missing son. This comes as the region hosts a high-profile international exposition.
