The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- Lawmakers Debate Jade Trade in Wake of Latest Landslide in Hpakant
- Kyaukphyu SEZ Discussion in Naypyidaw Misses Vote Deadline
- Fighting Flares Between Arakan Army and Govt Troops
- Graffiti Protesters Allowed to Rejoin Classes after University Backflip
- Chaw Sandi Tun Sentenced to Six Months in Jail over Facebook Post
- Nighttime Bomb Blast in Kokang Region Kills 3
- Burma Army Chief Calls for Review of Koh Tao Verdict
- Paranoid: North Korea’s Computer System Mirrors Its Political One
- China Passes Controversial Counterterrorism Law
- China Expels French Reporter Who Questioned Terrorism
| Lawmakers Debate Jade Trade in Wake of Latest Landslide in Hpakant Posted: 28 Dec 2015 05:21 AM PST  Trucks are seen at a Hpakant jade mine in Kachin State, November 25, 2015. (Photo: Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters) RANGOON — Burma's deputy minister of mines on Monday outlined the ministry's plan to crack down on illegal prospecting and improve safety in the jade mining region of Kachin State's Hpakant, in the wake of yet another landslide. Deputy minister Than Tun Aung told lawmakers at a parliamentary session on Monday that the government may increase its police presence in the Hpakant region and would consider shutting down jade mines in the Hpakant Township village of Lone Khin. Than Tun Aung also canvassed the possibility of declaring martial law in the area in a bid to enforce law and order, with reports of accelerated extraction efforts in recent months. However, parliamentarians criticized the deputy minister's plans and called on the ministry to provide assistance to the many migrants who derive a livelihood from picking through mountains of discarded waste at mine sites in search of precious jade residue. In a Dec. 21 session of parliament, the official vowed the ministry would "take legal action against illegal miners and prospectors who are looking for residual jade in the pilings of mining waste." His statement was in response to a motion submitted by Kachin lawmaker Khet Tein Nan urging solutions to some of the issues that have plagued the jade trade in Hpakant Township. Another landslide hit Hpakant on Friday afternoon, with Than Tun Aung stating that three people were missing, as was reported in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar on Monday. Earlier reports had suggested dozens of miners may have been buried. Deadly landslides of mine waste pilings have been all too frequent in 2015, with the deadliest such collapse killing at least 114 people last month. Khaing Maung Ye, an MP from Ahlone constituency in Rangoon Division, said the ministry should look for more viable options to address unchecked mining and prevent further landslides while also considering what could be done for small-scale prospectors, also known as hand-pickers. "They have to make a living without the fear of death. They have no other job to do," said Upper House National League for Democracy (NLD) lawmaker Myat Nyana Soe. Outspoken ruling party lawmaker Hla Swe, who chairs the parliamentary committee on mining, said companies were awarded vast areas to operate in, within a relatively short timeframe, resulting in them taking shortcuts in their operations. He suggested giving companies more time to operate. Independent MP Phone Myint Aung suggested a dramatic pull back in the industry so that jade could be reserved for future generations. Kachin MP Khet Tein Nan agreed, saying systematic conservation efforts were needed in the area that has come to resemble an unlivable moonscape. According to the deputy mines minister, 857 companies are currently operating in the Hpakant region, in an industry that was suspended in May 2012 due to conflict between government troops and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). Than Tun Aung also explained that there were a total of 13 designated areas for companies to discard waste on existing piles. "I am not being biased toward the companies," Than Tun Aung said. "The jade mining had to suddenly stop in May 2012 because no security could be guaranteed to companies as there was fighting between the Burmese military and the KIA. The KIA destroyed [machinery] and set fires in the area and small scale prospectors also came into the area." The official went on to deny widespread reports that much of Burma's jade was smuggled over the border to China, while simultaneously suggesting that, if that was the case, small-scale miners may be involved. The post Lawmakers Debate Jade Trade in Wake of Latest Landslide in Hpakant appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Kyaukphyu SEZ Discussion in Naypyidaw Misses Vote Deadline Posted: 28 Dec 2015 03:53 AM PST  Preliminary development at the Kyaukphyu special economic zone in 2014. (Photo: Ko Soe / The Irrawaddy) CHIANG MAI, Thailand — Debate over the approval of the Kyaukphyu special economic zone in Arakan State has dragged on in Union Parliament, with an expected Monday vote on the 4,289-acre project deferred until later in the week. Khin Saw Wai, a lawmaker for Arakan's Rathedaung constituency, said that residents of the state wanted reassurance that the project would have adequate transparency and accountability mechanisms before parliamentarians gave their approval. "We are not opposing the project," she said, "but we want guarantees from the government on local employment and development promises, as well as transparency around compensation if locals need to be moved from their land." Around 85 percent of investment into the Kyaukphyu SEZ is slated to come from Chinese companies, while the rest will come from local firms. The project will include housing, an industrial zone and deep-sea ports, with plans to begin construction in 2017. Despite being rich in natural resources, Arakan is the second-poorest state in Burma, with a lack of local job opportunities, decrepit infrastructure, and ongoing tensions between Buddhist and Muslim communities after the mob violence of 2012. Since the motion to approve the Kyaukphyu project was tabled in parliament, local civil society groups have urged lawmakers to delay the project until a new government led by the National League for Democracy (NLD) takes the reins at the end of March. Over 650 villagers from within the project site, who will be affected once the project begins, gathered in Kyaukphyu on Sunday to urge the government to halt the project until it had provided employment opportunities and regional development programs. Tun Kyi, a member of Kyaukphyu Rural Area Development Association, told The Irrawaddy that the project posed a serious threat to local livelihoods. "We have been making our lives on this ground and many of us are agricultural workers. We need a great deal of support, jobs and vocational skills when the development projects arrive." Despite years of discussion around the proposal, many locals were unaware of the project until recently, when employees of the government's Kyaukphyu SEZ Management Committee began erecting fence posts around an area encompassing 21 villages in order to delineate the project site. Khin Saw Wai said villagers had been told that housing and infrastructure for the SEZ would not disrupt local communities. "Only residents from two village tracts were aware of the project," she claimed. The post Kyaukphyu SEZ Discussion in Naypyidaw Misses Vote Deadline appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Fighting Flares Between Arakan Army and Govt Troops Posted: 28 Dec 2015 03:39 AM PST 
RANGOON — Fighting broke out on Sunday between the Arakan Army (AA) and government troops in Kyauktaw Township of northern Arakan State, according to the ethnic armed group, which released information on the skirmish on Monday. The fighting took place near the Sittwe-Rangoon highway in Kyauktaw Township, around 6 km from the Mahamuni Pagoda, and continued on Monday morning when government troops called in reinforcements. The Arakan Army claimed several Burma Army troops were wounded but said it was still assessing casualties. Hla May, founder of the Kyauktaw Women's Network, confirmed that fighting had broken out in a sparsely populated area near Ram Chaung tributary. "Residents are worried about the conflict because in previous fighting, some villagers were detained and interrogated on accusations of being connected with an unlawful association," Hla May said. Burma Army troops clashed several times with Arakan Army forces in a number of areas in the western state beginning in late March. Following the fighting, at least 20 people were detained under Burma's Unlawful Association Law for their alleged links to the armed faction. According to Kyauktaw Township authorities, at least 18 Arakan Army soldiers were arrested following the fighting earlier this year. The Arakan Army is also based in Laiza, Kachin State, where the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) is headquartered, and has been active in conflict areas where the KIA, the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) have clashed with government troops. The government declined to allow the TNLA, AA and MNDAA to sign the so-called nationwide ceasefire agreement concluded in mid-October, while the KIA, alongside several other major ethnic armed groups, withheld its signature. CAPTION: Arakan Army soldiers conduct a military exercise at Laiza in Kachin State, where the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) is headquartered. (Photo: Thaw Hein Htet / The Irrawaddy) The post Fighting Flares Between Arakan Army and Govt Troops appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Graffiti Protesters Allowed to Rejoin Classes after University Backflip Posted: 28 Dec 2015 03:18 AM PST  The three released student protesters from Yadanabon University outside Mandalay's Obo Prison on Dec. 22. (Photo: Min Htet Nyein Chan / The Irrawaddy) MANDALAY — The administration of Yadanabon University in Mandalay has relented and allowed three students recently released from prison to continue their education after they were informed last week they would be barred from reenrollment. Aung San Oo, now in the final year of his physics course, was one of three students to spend six months in jail after spray-painting slogans calling for the resignation of the government and the release of those detained after the crackdown on students protesting the National Education Law. He told The Irrawaddy on Monday that he, Jit Tu and Nyan Lin Htet had now received letters giving them permission to return to the Yadanabon campus. "The professors, deans and rectors held a meeting and said they will allow us to resume our classes. We received official letters today," he said. The three men had urged university authorities to withdraw their expulsion, after they were informed of the decision by a university registrar on Thursday. "If we did not speak up for our rights, we would not be allowed to continue our studies. We do not need to thank anyone, because we’ve served our prison term and we have a right to education," Aung San Oo said. All three men served a six-month prison sentence in Mandalay's Obo Prison after their July arrests. Nai Ye Wai, a fellow protester and the president of the Yadanabon University Student Union, is serving an additional three months and it is currently unknown whether he will be allowed to return to his classes. Another student, Ye Yint Paing Hmu, was arrested on Dec. 25 for his alleged role in the June protests and told friends he is being held in Obo Prison. The post Graffiti Protesters Allowed to Rejoin Classes after University Backflip appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Chaw Sandi Tun Sentenced to Six Months in Jail over Facebook Post Posted: 28 Dec 2015 12:57 AM PST  Chaw Sandi Tun at Maubin Township court on Monday morning. The 25-year-old was sentenced to six months' imprisonment for sharing a Facebook post deemed insulting to the military. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — An Irrawaddy Division court sentenced 25-year-old Chaw Sandi Tun to six months in prison on Monday for sharing a photo collage online which compared redesigned uniforms worn by Burmese military personnel to the apparel worn by National League for Democracy (NLD) chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi. The Maubin Township court handed down the sentence under Article 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law for defamation relating to the Facebook post which was deemed insulting to the military. Chaw Sandi Tun was a former member of the Maubin Students' Union and took part in the recent student protest movement against the controversial National Education Law. She was involved in campaigning for the NLD until her arrest in October. An additional charge, brought against the defendant in late October under Article 500 of the Penal Code—also a defamation clause—was dropped on Dec. 14. After Monday's verdict, Chaw Sandi Tun referred to another Facebook furor in mid-2014, when a doctored image of Suu Kyi in Islamic garb was shared online, including by Khin Sandar Tun, the wife of Burma's information minister Ye Htut. "If they found me guilty, Ye Htut's wife is also [guilty]. I want her to be sued too. All should be the same under the law," Chaw Sandi Tun told reporters. The 25-year-old's case is thought to be the first prosecution for defamation related to sharing content on social media. "The rule of law in Burma is isolated," said the defendant's lawyer, Robert San Aung, adding that his client also denied sharing the post. "Others who spread hate speech [online] that assaults race and religion and the community are free while she was jailed. "It is the first prosecution related to a Facebook post so there are a lot of weak points in this case," the lawyer added. Similar cases are currently before the courts, including that of aid worker Patrick Khum Jaa Lee, who has been detained—with several requests for bail denied—since October over a Facebook post he disputes sharing. A young poet in Rangoon was detained on Nov. 5 after posting a poem on Facebook claiming that he had an image of President Thein Sein tattooed on his penis. Than Tun, a Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) official, is also facing trial for allegedly doctoring a photo of Suu Kyi, whose face was transposed onto the body of a naked woman in the offending image. The post Chaw Sandi Tun Sentenced to Six Months in Jail over Facebook Post appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Nighttime Bomb Blast in Kokang Region Kills 3 Posted: 28 Dec 2015 12:20 AM PST  An aid convoy sits parked along the side of a road in Kokang Special Region in February. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Three civilians were killed after a nighttime bomb blast in Chin Shwe Haw, a border town in Burma's restive Kokang region, according to a local politician. The blast occurred at a bus stop in the early hours of Dec. 26, according to Haw Shauk Chan. The Lower House lawmaker for Kunlong Township was quick to lay blame for the attack on ethnic Kokang insurgents from the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA). "Three men were killed on the blast. It was unlucky for them," he said. "Everyone know who did it. (The MNDAA) want instability here. This is why they come to cause problems sometimes." No-one has been arrested in relation to the blast. Chin Shwe Haw was one of the towns attacked by the MNDAA in February as the group attempted to regain control of Laukkai, the Kokang capital, six years after it was expelled from the area by the Burma Army. The town was a staging post for tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the conflict across the Chinese border and to Lashio in the southwest. After regaining control of Laukkai and nearby towns, the Burma Army imposed a nine-month state of emergency in the region, which was lifted shortly after the election. The MNDAA has continued low level activity around Laukkai and has been engaged in occasional battles with Burma Army troops. The insurgent group claimed to have killed six soldiers during a Dec. 19 clash near the village of Mawdike, with photos released to the Jade Land Kachin Facebook page apparently showing the bodies of dead troops and a seized cache of arms and ammunition. The post Nighttime Bomb Blast in Kokang Region Kills 3 appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Burma Army Chief Calls for Review of Koh Tao Verdict Posted: 27 Dec 2015 10:23 PM PST  Demonstrators, including Buddhist monks, gather outside Aung San Suu Kyi's home in Rangoon on Sunday to protest the sentencing to death of two Burmese migrants for murder in Thailand. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) CHIANG MAI, Thailand — The head of Burma's Armed Forces has called on Thai authorities to review the evidence that led to the conviction and sentencing to death of two Burmese migrants for the 2014 murder of two British tourists on a Thai resort island. A Koh Samui Court on Thursday sentenced migrants Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo to death for the killing of two British backpackers, David Miller and Hannah Witheridge, on Koh Tao in September last year—a high profile case that has attracted significant controversy amid allegations Thai police mishandled evidence and mistreated the accused. In a New Year greeting to Thai Defense Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan, Burma Army chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing wrote that it was paramount to avoid punishing innocent people. "Regarding the verdict, we believe and hope that Thai authorities will proceed fairly with the case in accordance with the law," the message read, which was posted to the commander-in-chief's Facebook. Min Aung Hlaing cited the neighboring countries' strong bilateral friendship and stressed he respected the judicial process in Thailand. Many Burmese have reacted with anger to the verdict, with hundreds protesting outside the Thai Embassy in Rangoon over consecutive days since Friday. Protesters contend the Burmese pair have been made scapegoats for the brutal crime. The defendant's lawyers have vowed to appeal. The Thai Embassy announced on Sunday that its consular section will be closed from Monday to Wednesday due to the ongoing demonstrations. "The consular section of the Royal Thai Embassy in Yangon will be closed during 28–30 December 2015 due to unexpected and prolonged demonstrations around the Embassy, following the Koh Samui Provincial Court's recent judgment," the statement read. The Thai Embassy also issued a separate notification on Friday, warning Thai citizens to take precautions in Burma and avoid identifying as Thai nationals if not necessary. In solidarity with protests in the commercial capital, Burmese communities in the border towns of Tachilek, Myawaddy and Three Pagodas Pass also held demonstrations over the weekend. Burmese nationals also protested outside respective Thai embassies in Japan and South Korea over the guilty verdict. Other Burmese officials, including information minister Ye Htut, President's Office Minister Zaw Htay and Burmese Ambassador to Thailand Win Maung have expressed hope the verdict will be thoroughly reviewed. Thai police on Sunday defended the probe as transparent and in line with international standards, according to a report in the Bangkok Post. Police Maj-Gen Piyaphan said the DNA evidence "cannot lie" and warned against attempts to politicize the case, according to the Thai newspaper. The post Burma Army Chief Calls for Review of Koh Tao Verdict appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Paranoid: North Korea’s Computer System Mirrors Its Political One Posted: 27 Dec 2015 08:54 PM PST  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gives field guidance at the Sci-Tech Complex in Pyongyang, Oct. 28. (Photo: KCNA / Reuters) SINGAPORE/SEOUL — North Korea’s homegrown computer operating system mirrors its political one, according to two German researchers who have delved into the code: a go-it-alone approach, a high degree of paranoia and invasive snooping on users. Their research, the deepest yet into the secretive state’s Red Star OS, illustrates the challenges Pyongyang faces in trying to embrace the benefits of computing and the internet while keeping a tight grip on ideas and culture. The researchers, Florian Grunow and Niklaus Schiess of German IT security company ERNW GmbH, spoke to Reuters before presenting their findings to the Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg on Sunday, a gathering of hackers and security researchers. The operating system is not just the pale copy of western ones that many have assumed, they concluded after downloading the software from a website outside North Korea and exploring the code in detail, “(Late leader) Kim Jong Il said North Korea should develop a system of their own,” said Grunow. “This is what they’ve done.” North Korea, whose rudimentary intranet system does not connect to the outside internet but allows access to state media and some officially approved websites, has been developing its own operating system for more than a decade. This latest version, written around 2013, is based on a version of Linux called Fedora and has eschewed the previous version’s Windows XP feel for Apple’s OSX—perhaps a nod to leader Kim Jong Un, who like his father has been photographed near Macs. But under the hood there’s a lot that’s unique, including its own version of encrypting files. “This is a full blown operation system where they control most of the code,” said Grunow. This, the researchers say, suggests North Korea wants to avoid any code that might be compromised by intelligence agencies. “Maybe this is a bit fear-driven,” said Grunow. “They may want to be independent of other operating systems because they fear back doors” which might allow others to spy on them. Grunow and Schiess said they had no way of knowing how many computers were running the software. While private computer use is on the rise in North Korea, visitors to the country say most computers still use Windows XP, now nearly 15 years old. No Tampering The Red Star operating system makes it very hard for anyone to tamper with it. If a user makes any changes to core functions—like trying to disable its antivirus checker or firewall—the computer will display an error message, or reboot itself. Red Star also addresses a more pressing concern: cracking down on the growing underground exchange of foreign movies, music and writing. Illegal media is usually passed from person-to-person in North Korea using USB sticks and microSD cards, making it hard for the government to track where they come from. Red Star tackles this by tagging, or watermarking, every document or media file on a computer or on any USB stick connected to it. That means that any file could be traced back to anyone who had previously opened or created the file. “It’s definitely privacy invading, it’s not transparent to the user,” said Grunow. “It’s done stealthily, and touches files you haven’t even opened.” Such efforts, says Nat Kretchun, an authority on the spread of foreign media in the isolated country, reflect North Korea’s realization that it needs “new ways to update their surveillance and security procedures to respond to new types of technology and new sources of information.” There’s no sign in the operating system, the researchers say, of the kinds of cyber attack capability North Korea has been accused of. “It really looks like they’ve just tried to build an operating system for them, and give the user a basic set of applications,” says Grunow. That includes a Korean word processor, a calendar and an app for composing and transcribing music. North Korea is not the only country to try to develop its own operating system. Cuba has its National Nova, while China, Russia and others have tried to build theirs. The post Paranoid: North Korea’s Computer System Mirrors Its Political One appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| China Passes Controversial Counterterrorism Law Posted: 27 Dec 2015 08:49 PM PST  Police and civilians take part in an anti-terrorism drill at a college in the Chinese city of Hangzhou on Dec. 10. (Photo: Reuters) BEIJING — China’s parliament passed a controversial new anti-terrorism law on Sunday that requires technology firms to hand over sensitive information such as encryption keys to the government and allows the military to venture overseas on counterterror operations. Chinese officials say their country faces a growing threat from militants and separatists, especially in its unruly Western region of Xinjiang, where hundreds have died in violence in the past few years. The law has attracted deep concern in Western capitals, not only because of worries it could violate human rights such as freedom of speech, but because of the cyber provisions. US President Barack Obama has said that he had raised concerns about the law directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Speaking after China’s largely rubber-stamp parliament passed the law, Li Shouwei, deputy head of the parliament’s criminal law division under the legislative affairs committee, said China was simply doing what other Western nations already do in asking technology firms to help fight terror. “This rule accords with the actual work need of fighting terrorism and is basically the same as what other major countries in the world do,” Li told reporters. This will not affect the normal operation of tech companies and they have nothing to fear in terms of having “backdoors” installed or losing intellectual property rights, he added. Officials in Washington have argued the law, combined with new draft banking and insurance rules and a slew of anti-trust investigations, amounts to unfair regulatory pressure targeting foreign companies. China’s national security law adopted in July requires all key network infrastructure and information systems to be “secure and controllable”. The anti-terrorism law also permits the People’s Liberation Army to get involved in anti-terrorism operations overseas, though experts have said China faces big practical and diplomatic problems if it ever wants to do this. An Weixing, head of the Public Security Ministry’s counter-terrorism division, said China faced a serious threat from terrorists, especially “East Turkestan” forces, China’s general term for Islamists separatists it says operate in Xinjiang. “Terrorism is the public enemy of mankind, and the Chinese government will oppose all forms of terrorism,” An said. Rights groups, though, doubt the existence of a cohesive militant group in Xinjiang and say the unrest mostly stems from anger among the region’s Muslim Uighur people over restrictions on their religion and culture. The new law also restricts the right of media to report on details of terror attacks, including a provision that media and social media cannot report on details of terror activities that might lead to imitation, nor show scenes that are “cruel and inhuman”. The post China Passes Controversial Counterterrorism Law appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| China Expels French Reporter Who Questioned Terrorism Posted: 27 Dec 2015 08:35 PM PST  A woman shouts at Chinese paramilitary police on a street in Urumqi, the capital of China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region, in 2009. (Photo: David Gray / Reuters) BEIJING — China said Saturday that it will not renew press credentials for a French journalist, effectively expelling her following a harsh media campaign against her for questioning the official line equating ethnic violence in China’s western Muslim region with global terrorism. Expecting the move, Ursula Gauthier, a longtime journalist for the French news magazine L’Obs, said late Friday night that she was prepared to leave China. Once she departs on Dec. 31, she will become the first foreign journalist forced to leave China since 2012, when American Melissa Chan, then working for Al Jazeera in Beijing, was expelled. “They want a public apology for things that I have not written,” Gauthier said. “They are accusing me of writing things that I have not written.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said that Gauthier was no longer “suitable” to be allowed to work in China because she had supported “terrorism and cruel acts” that killed civilians and refused to apologize for her words. “China has always protected the legal rights of foreign media and foreign correspondents to report within the country, but China does not tolerate the freedom to embolden terrorism,” Lu said in a statement. Gauthier on Saturday called the accusations “absurd,” and said that emboldening terrorism is morally and legally wrong. She said that she should be prosecuted if that were the case. “All this is rhetoric,” Gauthier said. “It’s only meant to deter foreign correspondents in the future in Beijing.” In a statement Friday, the French foreign ministry said: “We regret that the visa of Madame Ursula Gauthier was not renewed. France recalls the importance of the role journalists play throughout the world.” The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China said the accusation that Gauthier supports terrorism “is a particularly egregious personal and professional affront with no basis in fact.” It said it was “appalled” by the decision, and expressed concerns that Beijing was using the accreditation and visa process to threaten foreign journalists. “The FCCC views this matter as a most serious development and a grave threat to the ability of foreign correspondents to work in China,” it said in a statement. The fallout began with Gauthier’s Nov. 18 article, shortly after the attacks in Paris. She wrote that Beijing’s proclaimed solidarity with Paris is not without ulterior motives, as Beijing seeks international support for its assertion that the ethnic violence in its Muslim region of Xinjiang is part of global terrorism. Gauthier wrote that some of the violent attacks in Xinjiang involving members of the minority Uighur community appeared to be homegrown, with no evidence of foreign ties—an observation that has been made by numerous foreign experts on security and on Xinjiang’s ethnic policies and practices. Advocacy groups have argued that the violence is more likely to be a response to Beijing’s suppressive policies in Xinjiang. Beijing blames the violence on terrorism with foreign ties. Amid a counterterrorism campaign, a Xinjiang court last year sentenced a Uighur scholar critical of China’s ethnic policies in Xinjiang to life in prison. This month, a Beijing court convicted a prominent lawyer of fanning ethnic hatred based on his comments that Beijing should rethink its Xinjiang policies. In her article, Gauthier focused on a deadly mine attack in a remote region of Xinjiang, which she described as more likely an act by Uighurs against mine workers of the majority Han ethnic group over what the Uighurs perceived as mistreatment, injustice and exploitation. The article quickly drew stern criticism from state media and China’s government. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized Western media for using double standards in reporting on the violence. “Why is terrorism in other countries called terrorist actions, but it turns out to be ethnic and religious issues in China?” ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular news briefing on Dec. 2. By then, state media had launched an abusive and intimidating campaign against Gauthier, accusing her of having deep prejudice against China and having hurt the feelings of the Chinese people. On Friday, Gauthier said that the Foreign Ministry demanded her to apologize for “hurting Chinese people’s feelings with wrong and hateful actions and words,” and to publicly state that she recognizes that there have been terrorist attacks in and outside Xinjiang. She said she was also asked to distance herself from any support group that presents her case as infringement of press freedom in China. The post China Expels French Reporter Who Questioned Terrorism appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
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