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Tuesday, November 3, 2015

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Hunger Strike Grows at Thayawady Prison as Students Protest Continued Detention
Number of New IDPs in Shan State Tops 6,000, Rights Group Says
Non-Signatory Armed Leaders Float New Ethnic Alliance at Panghsang
No Justice for Father Accusing Burma Army of Killing Child
Exposed: Beijing’s Covert Global Radio Network
UN Group Says Anwar’s Jailing in Malaysia Politically Motivated
Japan, South Korea Agree to Work to Resolve WWII Sex Slave Issue
Nepali Police Kill Indian Protester at Border Blockade

Hunger Strike Grows at Thayawady Prison as Students Protest Continued Detention

Posted: 03 Nov 2015 05:00 AM PST

A student protester exits a prison vehicle in Letpadan on Mar. 11. (Photo: Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters)

RANGOON — A total of seven people have now joined the hunger strike that began at Thayawady Prison, demanding the government drop all charges and release those detained in the aftermath of the Letpadan student protest crackdown.

Mar Naw, one of the detained students, told The Irrawaddy that four more people joined the hunger strike on Monday, following a pledge last week to participate if the government refused to release all prisoners of conscience in Burma.

"Altogether seven people are now participating," he said. "Other students and supporters plan to join every five days until we get our demands."

More than 60 people are in Thayawady Prison on charges relating to the Mar. 10 protest, the violent denouement to six weeks of nationwide protests against Burma's National Education Law. Most have been in detention for nearly eight months, facing prison terms of up to nine and a half years and sitting through a trial subject to numerous adjournments and walkouts by the presiding judge.

Eight students submitted a request to waive their legal counsel on Oct. 27, saying they had lost faith in the court, while on the same day a number of students vowed to join a hunger strike that began on Oct. 23.

At least three hunger strikers have now been hospitalized, according to students. Mar Naw told The Irrawaddy Myo Htet Paing, Aung Hmone San and Myo Myat San required medical attention after prison officers began refusing to provide water to the pair last Wednesday.

"Myo Htet Paing already had a gastric illness. After the prison authorities stopped giving water he became unconscious and was sent to hospital," said Mar Naw. "Now he has stopped participating in the hunger strike at the request of the ABFSU (All Burma Federation of Student Unions) and is taking medical treatment."

Students who joined the hunger strike have been moved into solitary confinement by prison authorities. Swe Lin Tun, one of the participants, said that guards were rationing out five cups of water per day to the hunger strikers.

The health of most participants has not reached a critical level but most are reporting the symptoms of low blood sugar and low blood pressure.

Aung Hmone San, a student leader who initiated the Thayawady hunger strike campaign, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday he had lost around 13 kilograms (28 pounds) since he started refusing food 12 days earlier.

Shine Yarzar Tun, an ABFSU spokesperson, told The Irrawaddy that political prisoner Tin Htut Paing, who is serving a sentence at Insein Prison for a 2014 protest outside the Chinese Embassy, had joined the hunger strike. Prisoners of conscience from Myingyan Prison in Mandalay Division had also pledged their support and were planning to participate in the near future.

The post Hunger Strike Grows at Thayawady Prison as Students Protest Continued Detention appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Number of New IDPs in Shan State Tops 6,000, Rights Group Says

Posted: 03 Nov 2015 02:30 AM PST

A map produced by SHRF illustrates the locations of conflict sites and IDP camps in central Shan State. (Credit: SHRF)

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — More than 6,000 people have been displaced by recent conflict between the Burmese government and ethnic rebels in eastern Burma's Shan State, according to the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF).

A new situation report published by the group on Tuesday details what SHRF calls an offensive by the Burma Army against the Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP) and its militant arm, the Shan State Army-North, that began on Oct. 6 and intensified over the past week.

Just less than a month since the conflict erupted, the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) has skyrocketed in temporary camps and monasteries, where thousands are being cut off from vital assistance, SHRF said.

"These displaced have had to abandon their homes and farms, and are in dire humanitarian need. 14 schools have been forced to close, with over 1,250 children unable to attend classes," the report read.

Sai Kheun Mai, a spokesperson for SHRF, told The Irrawaddy that as of Sunday the Burma Army had blocked access to Hai Pa, one of the largest IDP camps in Monghsu Township sheltering some 1,300 civilians. Other IDPs have taken refuge in makeshift camps or monasteries in Mong Nawng and Kyethi townships.

"It has been four to five days since they fled from their homes to take shelter in Hai Pa," he said. "They do not have enough medicine, and now it is raining in those areas."

The report also said four villagers had been injured by "indiscriminate shelling and shooting" in recent weeks. One man was shot on Oct. 16 while returning home from his farmland, while three others were struck by shrapnel during artillery shelling in Mong Nawng, Wan Hai and Kyethi townships on Oct. 26 and 28, the report said.

Local relief groups have been struggling to attend to the growing number of IDPs, particularly in the area's largest displacement camp, Wan Hsaw, where about 1,900 people are sheltering near the SSPP-SSA-N headquarters in Wan Hai.

According to SSPP spokesperson Maj. Sai La, Wan Hai has twice come under attack in the past week, on Oct. 29 and 30, and conflict has continued sporadically to date.

"We heard several rounds of gunfire from Kiu Mawk Khao [a nearby Burma Army base] to Mong Ark [near the Wan Hsaw IDP camp] at around 4am this morning," the spokesman said, adding that the number of casualties is not yet known "as we are still fighting."

Wan Hai is surrounded by one Burma Army battalion to its south and three to the north under the central command, Sai La said, which had been deployed in 2013.

Describing the attacks since early October as a "relentless military invasion" of which the effects are being felt mostly by innocent civilians, SHRF urged President Thein Sein to bring an immediate end to the conflict, and appealed to the international community to "publicly denounce Naypyidaw's military aggression and withhold further support" for the peace process.

On Oct. 15, the Burmese government reached a multilateral ceasefire agreement with eight of the country's more than 20 non-state armed groups, which was broadly welcomed by the international community despite falling short of the goal of a "nationwide" accord.

The SSPP was not among the signatories to the historic pact, and a bilateral agreement reached in 2012 has been violated more than 100 times, according to SHRF.

The post Number of New IDPs in Shan State Tops 6,000, Rights Group Says appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Non-Signatory Armed Leaders Float New Ethnic Alliance at Panghsang

Posted: 03 Nov 2015 02:22 AM PST

The leaders of 11 ethnic armed groups pose for a group photo in Panghsang, Wa Special Region, where they are attending a summit. (Photo: Lawi Weng / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Ongoing discussions among ethnic rebel leaders attending a summit in Panghsang, Wa Special Region, could bring about the formation of a new alliance of ethnic armed groups that would for the first time include two of Burma's largest non-state fighting forces, the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA).

If an agreement is reached, formation of the alliance—constituting current non-signatories to a so-called nationwide ceasefire agreement reached last month—would also see the dissolution of the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), a grouping of 11 ethnic armed groups created in 2011, according to summit attendees.

"We are still discussing about how to form. Our UNFC has become weak, we intend for the Wa and Mong La [ethnic armed groups] to participate in our new alliance," said Nai Hong Sar, the vice chairman of the New Mon State Party (NMSP).

A name for the new grouping has not yet been decided, but each member group would appoint two representatives to serve as envoys to the alliance.

"We will focus on working together politically. From our group, we will appoint two people to work with the alliance," said Sai Mauk, a central committee member of the Mong La-based NDAA.

Neither the NDAA nor UWSA are members of the UNFC, which has previously invited the two armed groups to join, only to be rebuffed. The UNFC has at times been a vocal critic of President Thein Sein's administration and the Burma Army during peace negotiations between the government and more than a dozen ethnic armed groups that began in 2011.

Most recently, ahead of the signing of a multilateral ceasefire between the government and eight non-state armed groups on Oct. 15, the UNFC issued a statement questioning Naypyidaw's sincerity amid ongoing Burma Army offensives against ethnic rebels in Shan and Kachin states.

"If the government is going through the fake motions of building peace for show but continuing to use the outdated policy of total annihilation based on chauvinism, which had been used by successive governments, peace in the country would still be far and distant," the alliance warned.

While Burma's ethnic armed groups have forged multiple alliances of varying effectiveness over the years, Tar Bong Kyaw of the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) said the inclusion of the UWSA and NDAA would be a notable development.

"All our fighting armed groups will be involved in this new alliance group. One special thing is Wa and Mong La will join in it," said the general secretary of the TNLA, a UNFC member.

The leaders of 11 ethnic armed groups that did not sign the nationwide ceasefire agreement last month are attending the Panghsang summit, with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang), another non-signatory, also receiving an invite but unable to join.

In addition to the UWSA, TNLA, NDAA and NMSP, the proposed alliance would also include the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Karen National Defense Organization (KNDO), Kayan New Land Party, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), Shan State Army-North (SSA-N), Arakan Army and Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), all of which have sent representatives to the Panghsang meeting.

The three-day summit will end on Tuesday, and participants are expected to issue a statement about the outcome of the gathering.

Ahead of the meet-up, the UWSA said last week that attendees would discuss building cooperation between non-signatory armed groups and assess how to approach Burma's political landscape in 2016 and beyond, when a new government could take power.

On the opening day of the summit, a spokesman for the UWSA said Burma's largest ethnic armed group supported the "holding of a free and fair election, [with] good transparency," on Nov. 8.

Among the 11 groups in attendance, some are UNFC members while others are not. Likewise, some UNFC members were signatories to the ceasefire agreement, while others abstained.

The post Non-Signatory Armed Leaders Float New Ethnic Alliance at Panghsang appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

No Justice for Father Accusing Burma Army of Killing Child

Posted: 03 Nov 2015 12:03 AM PST

The 14-year-old,Ja Seng Ing, was shot by soldiers in September 2012 in her village in Kachin State. (Photo: Ja Seng Ing Truth Finding Committee)

HKAPANT, Kachin State — Brang Shawng had never written a letter to the president before, never even dreamed of it. But he'd heard that his country was changing, and that the military junta in Burma had given way to a civilian government. And he believed that in this acclaimed new democracy, he could find justice for a 14-year-old girl shot to death.

So he wrote a letter to President Thein Sein, a former general, telling him how the army had killed his daughter in what witnesses say was a burst of gunfire. He sent a complaint to Burma's human rights commission, launched just four years ago. He asked for an investigation.

What happened next shattered his faith. He got the court case he wanted—but it was not the army that was put on trial. It was the bereaved father himself.

Over the next two years, he would appear in court more than 55 times for daring to accuse the army of charges it staunchly denies. His ordeal would reflect just how perilous the quest for justice in Burma can be because of the considerable power the military still holds, especially over the ethnic groups to which his family belongs.

"It's completely unfair for a man who lost his daughter to be charged again," said Brang Shawng, a genteel, earnest man from the Kachin minority. "The army has to admit what they did. I want them to admit that they killed my daughter. … It's important to have the truth, for people to know what happens in this country."

The story of Ja Seng Ing's death is backed up by nearly 100 pages of court documents reviewed by The Associated Press, as well as interviews with more than 20 witnesses, residents and human rights advocates who followed the case. Her father tells it slowly, methodically, almost as if he is reciting the facts yet again about someone else's daughter. But when asked to talk of his memories, he breaks down into sobs, and has to leave the room.

Brang Shawng's family lives in Kachin State in the north, where jade mining has carved up the hills like giant slices of cake. For all the wealth hidden in the ground, life here is rough, even by the standards of one of Asia's poorest countries. This is a place where soldiers and police roll up their sleeves to get opium fixes, where the courts still rely on manual typewriters and chained elephants haul out cars stranded in the mud.

Here, military rule never went away. The army is fighting the Kachin rebels, who are largely Christians demanding more independence in a mostly Buddhist country. The military is accused of a wide range of human rights abuses, such as extrajudicial killings, rape, forced labor and the displacement of tens of thousands of Kachins, many of them civilians thought to support the rebels.

When dawn broke on the morning of Sept. 13, 2012, about 80 soldiers had stopped in Hkapant. Ja Seng Ing was on the other side of the village, and her mother told her to stay with relatives there, just to be safe.

Late that afternoon, the villagers heard a huge blast. The rebels had detonated a mine in the side of a steep hill, and three soldiers were gravely wounded.

From his porch, Brang Shawng watched the plume of smoke rise skyward. A brief minute of silence. Then an army commander shouted: "Open fire!"

For nearly an hour, the hills echoed with the crackle of guns. Residents interviewed by the AP said soldiers started shooting indiscriminately in anger, likely confused by the echoes of gunfire and possibly thinking they were under attack. They rounded up, beat and kicked Brang Shawng and the neighborhood's 50 other men, witnesses reported.

It was not until later that he found out where his daughter was.

Ja Seng Ing was usually a good girl who did what she was told without protest, went to church regularly and smiled all the time. But on that day, unbeknownst to her family, she had ignored her mother's instructions to stay away because she wanted a home-cooked meal. So she, three girlfriends and a teacher carrying her 3-year-old daughter headed toward the wooden footbridge about a kilometer from her house.

Then the blast shook the ground, and they started to run. Several soldiers sprinted toward them. One barked: "Get out of here. Find somewhere safe."

They sought refuge in an open-air kitchen nearby covered by a blue tarp, while troops began to search from house to house. The girls whimpered. The teacher, Nang San, tried her best to calm them down.

"Don't worry. Don't be afraid," she said. "Pray to God. And don't make a sound."

When the gunfire finally eased, they heard the voice of a soldier somewhere outside.

"Come out, right now," he said. "Or we'll burn everything in this village."

One of the girls, Jaw Bawk Lu, peeked through the laundry hanging above her head. She saw two soldiers about 20 feet away, one pointing an automatic rifle. Suddenly, inexplicably, he pulled the trigger, she said.

It's unclear whether the shots were meant as a warning, and at first it appeared they had missed. But when they stood up to leave, Ja Seng Ing screamed, "I'm hurt! I'm hurt!"

"She was begging us, Please don't leave me here. Please take me with you," her friend recalled.

Roi Nu, another girl who was there, confirmed the soldier shot in their direction. Immediately afterward, she saw the wound on Ja Seng Ing's left hip. The blood began pooling on the dirt where she lay.

Ja Seng Ing was carried to the nearby house of a deacon, where an army medic stuffed cotton gauze into her wound. She was too shy to let him remove her clothes and search for more injuries.

The teacher urged the soldiers to call the girl's father. Brang Shawng begged a commander to let his daughter go the hospital. But the commander said he would have to wait for the soldiers to evacuate the area first, according to several people who witnessed the exchange.

By the time Ja Seng Ing arrived at the hospital, about two hours later, her face was pale. She was weak, likely in shock. As the hospital's only surgeon prepared to operate, he was ordered to a nearby army base instead, said his assistant, Kaung Myat San. Army officials could not be reached for explanation, and have said only that the girl was injured by a rebel land mine.

When the surgeon returned half an hour later, he found no bullet fragment, no shrapnel and no exit wound, the assistant said. Yet whatever struck Ja Seng Ing's hip had torn through her and caused massive bleeding.

In the hallway outside, Brang Shawng trembled, hands clasped together in prayer. "Dear God," he said softly, "don't let my child die. Please, please, let her live."

When the surgeon emerged, he hugged the father. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm so sorry."

Five days later, Brang Shawng was called to Hkapant's army base, which sprawls across a hilltop visible from most of the town. He was taken to several soldiers at a table.

They apologized for his daughter's death, he said, and one of the soldiers gave him an envelope containing 100,000 kyat—about $100. "'This is the most we can do,'" he recalled an officer saying.

And then they told him to leave.

Beaten down after half a century of military dictatorship, many people in Burma would have taken the money and stayed quiet.

After all, the police still report to a soldier on active duty. The government-appointed human rights commission will not even disclose how many out of thousands of complaints are about the military. And the United States and Europe are debating how far they should provide training and military aid because of reports of abuse.

But Brang Shawng believed that when the junta stepped down in 2011 and international sanctions were lifted, real change was afoot. And so, on Sept. 25, nearly two weeks after the death of his daughter, he wrote a letter to the president.

"We couldn't understand why the Myanmar [Burma] army was shooting at innocent civilians instead of protecting us," he said. "As the citizens of this country, who can we rely on?"

A week later, Brang Shawng penned a similar letter to the human rights commission. And then he waited.

On March 8, 2013, a local government official delivered an envelope to his home that stunned Brang Shawng. It contained a summons to appear in court—for falsely accusing the military of killing his daughter.

"It's completely unfair for a man who lost his daughter to be charged again," he said. "I was still in mourning, and suddenly there was this heaviness pressing down on me. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't eat. My head was so hot, I couldn't think anything else anymore… I thought maybe I should run away."

The basis of the accusation was his letter to the rights commission—which had referred the matter to the president's Cabinet, which had forwarded it to the defense ministry, which had put it in the hands of the army.

When asked about the fact that the commission's role, however intended, ultimately led to charges being brought, Mya Mya, an official in the complaints division, was evasive. She said it was against the commission's mandate to have those who complained punished.

"We're standing against violations of human rights," she said. "We looked over the complaint, we sent it the Cabinet for necessary action. We actually helped him."

Asked about the military's outsized influence in Kachin State, Mya Mya replied: "You should change your mindset. You're talking about the old government. Now we are a democratic government … there are still some leftover policies, but change has to come step by step."

Soldiers in Hkapant could not be reached for comment on this story. And several officials in the president's office said they did not know about Brang Shawng's letter and so refused to comment. The office said it did not have time to look for paperwork that was more than two years old.

Daniel Aguirre, an adviser to a nonprofit conducting legal training in Burma, said the case was representative of everything that was wrong with the system.

"Where do you turn for help?" asked Aguirre, who works in Burma for the International Commission of Jurists, a Geneva-based legal advocacy group. "If you have rule of law without human rights, you have the law being used against the people."

The trial began in early 2013 at the civilian Hkapant Township Court. The first thing Brang Shawng's lawyer told him was to lower his expectations. In more than 40 cases brought against the army and the government, mostly for land-grabbing, she had never won.

"They never saw him as a father of a slain girl, or even as a civilian," said Ywet Nu Aung, the lawyer. "They only saw him as the enemy."

For the first five of dozens of hearings, the officer who accused Brang Shawng did not show up. When the army major first testified, on May 6, 2013, he was accompanied by two dozen soldiers who stood guard outside the courthouse. A soldier with a pistol tried to sit next to witnesses as they testified; when Ywet Nu Aung asked for him to be removed, the judge merely told him to sit in the audience instead.

Later, the major asked the lawyer, bluntly, "Why are you helping him?" Another officer who testified saw her at Myitkyina airport and took her aside, saying—"'I know your mother. I know your father passed away … I know where you live.'" Neither officer could be reached for comment or verification.

The lawyer, who made the long trip to Hkapant dozens of times, said she was always followed by plainclothes police and intelligence officers on motorcycles.

"They were trying to wear us out, mentally and physically," she said.

During the trial, the army stuck to its story that Ja Seng Ing died in a rebel landmine explosion. The crux of their argument: Nobody actually saw a bullet leave a soldier's gun and enter Ja Seng's body, therefore, it must have been the rebels.

Army officials argued that the three girls with Ja Seng Ing had said nothing during interviews. However, two of the teens testified that Ja Seng Ing was only wounded an hour after the blast, and after a soldier fired at them. The girls told the AP that they were asked by the army to sign a letter the following day—which none of them read because they were too frightened.

The teacher testified that the army contributed to her death by delaying the trip to the hospital, and then calling away the town's only qualified surgeon. And nobody—not even the soldiers—testified that they had seen any rebels that day.

The verdict came on Feb. 13, 2015.

The judge acknowledged that Ja Bawk Lu had witnessed the shooting. But he discounted her testimony because she couldn't identify the shooter, and because he said she had not told the military that soldiers killed her friend.

Brang Shawng was found guilty. He was given the option to serve a six-month prison term or pay a 50,000 kyats ($50) fine.

He chose the fine.

Mung Dan, of the Humanity Institute rights group in Myitkyina, said the verdict shows how much the military still enjoys impunity.

"They have [de facto] authority over the judiciary, the legislature, and the executive," he said. "They can tell them what they want them to do."

Brang Shawng is still appealing the case. But his family has already made its own verdict clear.

Atop a hill overlooking Hkapant, at the Christian cemetery, his daughter lies buried in a tomb with a wooden cross. The inscription reads, in Kachin: "Ja Seng Ing, Age 14, Peacefully Sleeps in Jesus."

It is customary to place a portrait at the head of the tombstone. But Ja Seng Ing's faded portrait, encased in glass, is placed on the side instead, intentionally facing the road, for all to see.

Under the picture, another inscription says: "Ja Seng Ing was shot and killed by the Burmese Army Light Infantry 389 on 12th September 2012."

The post No Justice for Father Accusing Burma Army of Killing Child appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Exposed: Beijing’s Covert Global Radio Network

Posted: 02 Nov 2015 11:38 PM PST

A logo of China Radio International (CRI) is seen during an exhibition at CRI's headquarters in Beijing on Aug. 24, 2011. (Photo: Reuters)

BEIJING / WASHINGTON — In August, foreign ministers from 10 nations blasted China for building artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea. As media around the world covered the diplomatic clash, a radio station that serves the most powerful city in America had a distinctive take on the news.

Located outside Washington, D.C., WCRW radio made no mention of China's provocative island project. Instead, an analyst explained that tensions in the region were due to unnamed "external forces" trying "to insert themselves into this part of the world using false claims."

Behind WCRW's coverage is a fact that's never broadcast: The Chinese government controls much of what airs on the station, which can be heard on Capitol Hill and at the White House.

WCRW is just one of a growing number of stations across the world through which Beijing is broadcasting China-friendly news and programming.

A Reuters investigation spanning four continents has identified at least 33 radio stations in 14 countries that are part of a global radio web structured in a way that obscures its majority shareholder: state-run China Radio International, or CRI.

Many of these stations primarily broadcast content created or supplied by CRI or by media companies it controls in the United States, Australia and Europe. Three Chinese expatriate businessmen, who are CRI's local partners, run the companies and in some cases own a stake in the stations. The network reaches from Finland to Nepal to Australia, and from Philadelphia to San Francisco.

At WCRW, Beijing holds a direct financial interest in the Washington station's broadcasts. Corporate records in the United States and China show a Beijing-based subsidiary of the Chinese state-owned radio broadcaster owns 60 percent of an American company that leases almost all of the station's airtime.

China has a number of state-run media properties, such as the Xinhua news agency, that are well-known around the world. But American officials charged with monitoring foreign media ownership and propaganda said they were unaware of the Chinese-controlled radio operation inside the United States until contacted by Reuters. A half-dozen former senior US officials said federal authorities should investigate whether the arrangement violates laws governing foreign media and agents in the United States.

'Serious Inquiry'

A US law enforced by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) prohibits foreign governments or their representatives from holding a radio license for a US broadcast station. Under the Communications Act, foreign individuals, governments and corporations are permitted to hold up to 20 percent ownership directly in a station and up to 25 percent in the US parent corporation of a station.

CRI itself doesn't hold ownership stakes in US stations, but it does have a majority share via a subsidiary in the company that leases WCRW in Washington and a Philadelphia station with a similarly high-powered signal.

Said former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt: "If there were allegations made about de facto Chinese government ownership of radio stations, then I'm sure the FCC would investigate."

US law also requires anyone inside the United States seeking to influence American policy or public opinion on behalf of a foreign government or group to register with the Department of Justice. Public records show that CRI's US Chinese-American business partner and his companies haven't registered as foreign agents under the law, called the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA.

"I would make a serious inquiry under FARA into a company rebroadcasting Chinese government propaganda inside the United States without revealing that it is acting on behalf of, or it's owned or controlled by China," said D.E. "Ed" Wilson Jr., a former senior White House and Treasury Department official.

CRI headquarters in Beijing and the Chinese Embassy in Washington declined to make officials available for interviews or to comment on the findings of this article.

Justice Department national security spokesman Marc Raimondi and FCC spokesman Neil Grace declined to comment.

Other officials at the FCC said the agency receives so many license applications that it only launches a probe if it receives a complaint. People familiar with the matter said no such complaint has been lodged with the FCC about the CRI-backed network in the United States.

Building 'Soft Power'

Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has chafed at a world order he sees as dominated by the United States and its allies, is aware that China struggles to project its views in the international arena.

"We should increase China's soft power, give a good Chinese narrative and better communicate China's message to the world," Xi said in a policy address in November last year, according to Xinhua.

CRI head Wang Gengnian has described Beijing's messaging effort as the "borrowed boat" strategy—using existing media outlets in foreign nations to carry Chinese propaganda.

The 33 radio stations backed by CRI broadcast in English, Chinese or local languages, offering a mix of news, music and cultural programs. Newscasts are peppered with stories highlighting China's development, such as its space program, and its contribution to humanitarian causes, including earthquake relief in Nepal.

"We are not the evil empire that some Western media portray us to be," said a person close to the Communist Party leadership in Beijing who is familiar with the CRI network. "Western media reports about China are too negative. We just want to improve our international image. It's self-protection."

In some ways, the CRI-backed radio stations fulfill a similar advocacy role to that of the US-run Voice of America. But there is a fundamental difference: VOA openly publishes the fact that it receives US government funding. CRI is using front companies that cloak its role.

A few of the programs broadcast in the United States cite reports from CRI, but most don't. One program, The Beijing Hour, says it is "brought to you by China Radio International."

Some shows are slick, others lack polish. While many segments are indistinguishable from mainstream American radio shows, some include announcers speaking English with noticeable Chinese accents.

The production values vary because the broadcasts are appealing to three distinct audiences: first-generation Chinese immigrants with limited English skills; second-generation Chinese curious about their ancestral homeland; and non-Chinese listeners whom Beijing hopes to influence.

One thing the programs have in common: They generally ignore criticism of China and steer clear of anything that casts Beijing in a negative light.

A top-of-the-hour morning newscast on Oct. 15, broadcast in Washington and other US cities, was identified only as "City News." It reported that US officials were concerned about cyber attacks, including one in which the personal information of about 20 million American government workers was allegedly stolen. The broadcast left out a key element: It has been widely reported that US officials believe China was behind that hack.

Last year, as thousands of protesters demanding free elections paralyzed Hong Kong for weeks, the news on CRI-backed stations in the United States presented China's point of view. A report the day after the protests ended did not explain why residents were on the streets and carried no comments from protest leaders. The demonstrations, a report said, had "failed without the support of the people in Hong Kong."

Many of these stations do not run ads and so do not appear to be commercially motivated.

Three Surrogates

Around the world, corporate records show, CRI's surrogates use the same business structure. The three Chinese businessmen in partnership with Beijing have each created a domestic media company that is 60 percent owned by a Beijing-based group called Guoguang Century Media Consultancy. Guoguang, in turn, is wholly owned by a subsidiary of CRI, according to Chinese company filings.

The three companies span the globe:

In Europe, GBTimes of Tampere, Finland, has an ownership stake in or provides content to at least nine stations, according to interviews and an examination of company filings.

In the Asia-Pacific, Global CAMG Media Group of Melbourne, Australia, has an ownership stake in or supplies programming to at least eight stations, according to corporate records.

And in North America, G&E Studio Inc, near Los Angeles, California, broadcasts content nearly full time on at least 15 US stations. A station in Vancouver also broadcasts G&E content. In addition to distributing CRI programming, G&E produces and distributes original Beijing-friendly shows from its California studios.

In a Sept. 16 interview at his offices near Los Angeles, G&E president and CEO James Su confirmed that CRI subsidiary Guoguang Century Media holds a majority stake in his company and that he has a contract with the Chinese broadcaster. He said that a non-disclosure agreement bars him from divulging details.

Su said he complies with US laws. G&E doesn't own stations, but rather leases the airtime on them. "It's like a management company that manages a condominium," he said.

Su added that he is a businessman, not an agent for China. "Our US audience and our US public has the choice," Su said. "They can choose to listen or not listen. I think this is an American value."

GBTimes CEO Zhao Yinong, who spearheads the European arm of the expatriate radio operation, confirmed that he receives several million euros a year from CRI. In an interview in Beijing, Zhao said he was "not interested in creating a false China" and he had "nothing to hide."

Tommy Jiang, the head of CAMG, the Australian-based company that owns and operates stations in the Asia-Pacific region, declined to comment.

Born in a Cave

CRI has grown remarkably since its founding in 1941. According to its English-language website, its first broadcast was aired from a cave, and the news reader had to frighten away wolves with a flashlight. Today, CRI says it broadcasts worldwide in more than 60 languages and Chinese dialects.

CRI content is carefully scripted, with the treatment of sensitive topics such as the banned Falun Gong spiritual group adhering strictly to the government line. Those restrictions might make China's soft-power push an uphill battle with audiences in places like Houston, Rome or Auckland.

But CRI does have something to offer station owners. Since 2010, CRI's broadcast partner in the United States has struck deals that bailed out struggling community radio stations, either by purchasing them outright or paying tens of thousands of dollars a month to lease virtually all their airtime. The latter is known as "time-brokering" and is the method G&E used to take to the air in Washington.

The 195-foot towers broadcasting Beijing's agenda throughout the Washington region are located in suburban Loudoun County, Virginia, near Dulles International Airport. They pump out a 50,000-watt signal, the maximum for an AM station in the United States.

The towers went live in 2011. In the previous five decades, before the Chinese got involved, the station was known as WAGE, and it used smaller equipment and broadcast mostly local news and talk.

At just 5,000 watts, the signal didn't carry far. This didn't matter much until the 1990s, when Loudoun County boomed into a bedroom community for Washington. Commuters would lose the signal halfway to the capital.

In 2005, an American company called Potomac Radio LLC purchased the station and added some nationally syndicated programming. Potomac Radio president Alan Pendleton said his company had a history of leasing time to ethnic programmers, including an hour a day to CRI on another station. Revenue at WAGE continued to fall, however, and in 2009, it went off the air.

"It was a painful, painful experience," said Pendleton. "We were losing millions of dollars a year down the drain."

Loudoun County's 'Last Hope'

Saying they hoped to resurrect the station, other Potomac Radio executives asked Loudoun County in 2009 for permission to erect three broadcast towers on land owned by a county utility, records show. The new towers would boost the station's signal tenfold to 50,000 watts, reaching into Washington.

In their application, Potomac Radio executives argued that the new towers offered the "last hope to retain Loudoun County's only" radio station. The paperwork made no mention of plans to lease airtime to Su and CRI.

Potomac Radio also invoked the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, a day when the station provided "critical information to county businesses and parents" as mobile phone service became overloaded. The new towers would contribute to public safety, proponents said.

The county Board of Supervisors approved the towers. In the days before the station came back on air in April 2011, Potomac Radio sought FCC permission to change the name to WCRW.

Asked about the initials, Pendleton confirmed that they stand for China Radio Washington. The change was his idea, not CRI's, he said.

Loudoun County officials were surprised when the amped-up station returned as WCRW and began broadcasting G&E and CRI content about China.

"It was all very deceptive," said Kelly Burk, a county supervisor at the time. "They presented it as all about being about local radio, and never let on what they were really up to."

Potomac Radio's Pendleton said there was no deception. His company was approached by CRI several months after the county approved the towers, he said.

Pendleton said he didn't know that G&E was 60 percent owned by a subsidiary of the Chinese government until Reuters informed him. But the arrangement complies with FCC law, he said, because G&E leases the airwaves instead of owning the station.

In any event, he said, CRI is open about its goals: to present a window into Chinese culture and offer Chinese points of view on international affairs.

"If you listen to other state-sponsored broadcasters," especially Russia's, "they're really insidious," Pendleton said. "CRI's not like that at all."

Pendleton said he has no input in WCRW content: He simply rebroadcasts whatever programs arrive from CRI's man in America, G&E founder James Su.

China's 'Proxy'

James Yantao Su was born in Shanghai in 1970, the year China launched its first satellite. He moved to the United States in 1989, he said, ultimately settling in West Covina, a suburb of Los Angeles, and became a US citizen.

By the early 2000s, Su was a moderately successful media entrepreneur. But after his 2009 deal to create G&E, in which the Chinese state-owned subsidiary has a majority stake, his fortunes rose.

Today, the 44-year-old owns or co-owns real estate and radio stations worth more than $15 million, according to a Reuters analysis of US corporate, property, tax and FCC records. His projects include English and Chinese-language stations, a magazine, a newspaper, four apartment buildings, condos at the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, a film festival and a charity that last year donated $230,000 to an orphanage in China.

Two of his primary companies are G&E Studio and EDI Media Inc. G&E dedicated a page on its website to showcase CRI as a "close" partner, but it recently deleted the page after Reuters made inquiries. EDI's site says it has become "China's outward media and advertising proxy" in the United States.

In 2013, the Chinese government presented Su with a special contribution award at a media event for Chinese broadcasters.

Other ties are not as visible: The key disclosure that G&E is 60 percent owned by Guoguang Century—the Beijing firm that's 100 percent owned by CRI—is contained in a footnote in a lengthy FCC filing made on behalf of another Su company, Golden City Broadcast, LLC.

Su declined to discuss his business career in detail. An early highlight, though, was a speech he gave in 2003, when he was in his early 30s.

Covered by China's state-run media, the speech laid out Su's vision for a business that could be profitable and also help China project its message in the United States. The business would need to be structured to comply with US ownership laws and would "endorse China's ideology," Su was quoted as saying.

In the same speech, he spoke of his fellow expats' affinity for China. "The sense of belonging to China among countrymen residing abroad and their endorsement of China's current policies grow with each day," Su said, according to Xinhua.

In 2008, Su gave an address in which he criticized US media for focusing their China coverage on issues such as human rights.

The media were misleading "the American masses' objective understanding of China, even engendering hostile emotions," Su said, according to a China National Radio report.

It was in 2009 that Su's vision really began to take shape. That year, records show, Su created G&E Studio.

'Unfiltered Real News'

G&E now broadcasts in English and Chinese on at least 15 US stations, including Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Houston, Honolulu and Portland, Oregon.

The content is largely the same on each station, produced either by CRI from Beijing or by G&E from California.

A typical hour on most stations begins with a short newscast that can toggle between China news and stories about violent crimes in the United States. Besides the overtly political coverage, topics range from global currency fluctuations and Chinese trade missions to celebrity wardrobe analysis and modern parenting challenges.

While Su owns a minority share of G&E, he has structured his radio station holdings in various ways. According to the most recent FCC records, he is the majority owner of at least six stations, such as the one in Atlanta, which he purchased for $2.1 million in 2013.

In other cases he leases airtime. In Washington, for instance, he leases virtually all the time on WCRW for more than $720,000 a year through G&E. A Philadelphia station is leased under a similar arrangement for at least $600,000 a year.

A spokeswoman for Su said Reuters' description of the extent of his network is "generally correct."

Su declined to describe how he makes money when most of the US stations air virtually no commercials. He also declined to say how he got the money to finance his radio leases and acquisitions.

His stations, Su said, offer the American public an alternative viewpoint on Chinese culture and politics. He has "no way to control" what CRI broadcasts on the stations, he said, nor is he part of any plan to spread Chinese propaganda.

"We are only telling the unfiltered real news to our audience," he said.

On Oct. 29, WCRW carried a program called "The Hourly News." Among the top stories: Senior Chinese and US naval commanders planned to speak by video after a US Navy ship passed close by China's new artificial islands in the South China Sea.

Washington and its allies see the island-building program as a ploy to grab control of strategic sea lanes, and the Navy sail-by was meant to counter China's territorial claims.

WCRW omitted that side of the story.

The admirals are holding the talks, the announcer said, "amid the tension the US created this week."

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UN Group Says Anwar’s Jailing in Malaysia Politically Motivated

Posted: 02 Nov 2015 09:04 PM PST

Malaysian opposition politician Nurul Izzah Anwar, daughter of jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, appears at the Oslo Freedom Forum in Oslo, Norway, May 26, 2015. (Photo: Terje Pedersen / Reuters)

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Imprisoned Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was prosecuted for political reasons and should be released, a UN body concluded after reviewing the case widely seen as politically motivated. The government rejected the findings and called for the legal process to be respected.

Anwar began serving a five-year jail sentence in February after the country's top court ruled that he sodomized a former male aide in 2008. His case has been seen as intended to eliminate any threats to the ruling coalition, whose popularity has eroded in the last two elections.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found Anwar was denied a fair trial and his jailing was politically motivated. It called for his immediate release, according to a letter from the group seen Monday. Its full report is not yet available.

Anwar's daughter, Nurul Izzah Anwar, said she hopes the government will abide by the group's conclusion.

"I am deeply grateful that the United Nations has called for Anwar's release," said Nurul Izzah, a lawmaker. "Its strong stance in solidarity with my father sends a clear and unequivocal message to Prime Minister Najib Razak, and ensures that the sharp decline in human rights under his administration will not go unnoticed."

The government reiterated that Anwar's trial was "a criminal, not a political case" as it was brought against him by a private individual. It also said the final verdict was reached by the courts after an exhaustive and comprehensive legal process over many years.

"It had nothing to do with the government," the prime minister's office said in a statement. "Malaysia has an independent judiciary—with many rulings going against senior government figures—and the government does not have the power or authority to overrule the decisions of the courts."

It urged all parties to respect "the legal process, the judgment of Malaysia's courts and the rights of the victim to seek justice."

The working group is appointed by the UN Human Rights Council and its five current members are from Australia, Benin, Mexico, South Korea and Ukraine. The independent body is mandated to consider and render opinions about alleged cases of arbitrary detention.

In the letter, the group also expressed concerns about Anwar's physical and psychological health amid allegations that he is being held in solitary confinement. It said the Malaysian government didn't respond to its queries on the case.

The US State Department on Monday reiterated its "deep concern" that Anwar's detention was apparently politically motivated. Spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said that Secretary of State John Kerry had raised the issue with Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi when he visited Washington in October.

"The decision to prosecute Anwar and his trial have raised serious concerns about the rule of law and the independence of the court," Trudeau told reporters in Washington.

Anwar, who was seen as the most potent political rival to the government, has been jailed twice for sodomy in just over a decade. Homosexuality is a crime in Muslim-majority Malaysia, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and by whipping, although prosecutions are rare.

He previously was imprisoned for six years after being ousted as deputy prime minister in 1998 on earlier charges of sodomizing his former family driver and abusing his power. He was freed in 2004 after the top court quashed that sodomy conviction.

Anwar led his alliance to unprecedented gains in 2008 elections and made further inroads in 2013 polls. The ruling National Front coalition won with a slimmer majority and lost the popular vote to the opposition.

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Japan, South Korea Agree to Work to Resolve WWII Sex Slave Issue

Posted: 02 Nov 2015 08:47 PM PST

South Korea's President Park Geun-Hye talks to her staff during the East Asia Summit plenary session in Naypyidaw, November 13, 2014. (Photo: Damir Sagolj / Reuters)

SEOUL, South Korea — The leaders of South Korea and Japan resumed formal talks Monday after a 3.5-year freeze and agreed to try to resolve the decades-old issue of Korean women forced into Japanese military-run brothels during World War II.

The agreement is a step forward but not a breakthrough. Ties between the two countries have sagged to one of their lowest ebbs since the late 2012 inauguration of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who takes a more hawkish, nationalistic stance than many of his predecessors. Seoul believes that Abe seeks to obscure Japan's brutal colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula in 1910-1945.

The biggest source of friction is over Japanese responsibility for wartime sex slaves, who were euphemistically called "comfort women." Historians say tens of thousands of women from around Asia, many of them Korean, were sent to front-line military brothels to provide sex to Japanese soldiers.

Japan has apologized many times before, but many South Koreans see the statements and past efforts at private compensation as insufficient.

Abe hoped to weaken a 1993 apology but later promised not to do so following protests from South Korea and elsewhere.

On Monday, Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-hye agreed to try harder to settle the issue through dialogue, according to Park's office.

"President Park noted the issue of 'comfort women' is the biggest obstacle in efforts to improve bilateral ties. She stressed that the issue must be quickly settled in a way that our people can accept," said Park's senior adviser for foreign affairs and national security, Kim Kyou-hyun.

Abe confirmed the agreement.

"On the comfort women issue, I think the issue should not become an obstacle for the next generation so we can build future-oriented cooperative relations," he told reporters after the meeting. "We have agreed to speed up our negotiations toward a resolution as soon as possible."

In Washington, US State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau welcomed the reports that Park and Abe agreed to accelerate their efforts "to resolve this sensitive issue."

South Korea and Japan together host about 80,000 US troops, the core of America's military presence in the Asia-Pacific. Washington wants to solidify its alliances with the two countries to better deal with a rising China and with North Korean threats.

The closely watched meeting between Park and Abe came a day after they joined a three-way summit with China's premier and agreed to improve ties strained over historical and territorial disputes. Many in China also harbor similar resentment against Japan.

Nothing major came from the trilateral summit in Seoul. But just sitting down together was seen as a positive sign after the gap in such meetings, which used to be an annual affair. A joint statement said the three agreed to try to resolve the issues by "facing history squarely and advancing toward the future," boosting exchanges, and cooperating in economic, cultural and other areas.

Despite their harsh history, South Korea, Japan and China are closely linked commercially. China is the largest trading partner for both South Korea and Japan, while South Korea and Japan are each other's third-largest trading partners.

The last two-way summit between Japan and South Korea was in May 2012, when Park's predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, met with then Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.

Park has faced calls at home to improve ties with Japan.

Park and Abe agreed Monday to strengthen South Korean-Japanese-US relations to deal with North Korea. On Sunday, they and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said they would make further efforts to resume stalled negotiations on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

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Nepali Police Kill Indian Protester at Border Blockade

Posted: 02 Nov 2015 08:40 PM PST

Passengers ride on an overcrowded bus as limited public transportation operates during an ongoing oil and fuel crisis in Kathmandu, Nepal, September 29, 2015. (Photo: Reuters)

KATHMANDU — Nepali police shot and killed an Indian citizen at a border checkpoint on Monday as they tried to clear protesters whose blockade has strangled Nepal's fuel supplies and badly damaged relations between the neighbors.

Nepal has faced an acute fuel crisis for more than a month since protesters in the lowland south, angered that a new constitution fails to reflect their interests, prevented supply trucks from entering from India.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the killing of an Indian youth and spoke with Nepal's Prime Minister KP Oli to seek details about the incident.

Many in Nepal see India's hand in the protests although it denies any role.

Modi said he had assured the Nepalese leader that there was "no obstacle" from India to the supply of fuel and other essentials to Nepal.

With the landlocked Himalayan nation of 28 million recovering from its worst earthquake on record, the government has turned to China for extra fuel. Officials said some Chinese oil was due to arrive in Kathmandu late on Monday.

Hundreds of stick-wielding protesters battled with police near the border crossing, known as the "friendship bridge," in Birgunj district, television pictures showed.

Raju Babu Shrestha, district police superintendent, said protesters threw petrol bombs and stones at a police post prompting them to "fire in self defense."

"One protester, an Indian national, who was attacking the police post with the petrol bomb was killed in the firing," Shrestha said, adding that the man was killed a few hundred meters from the border crossing.

More than 20 people including 15 police officers were injured in the clash, he said.

Indian foreign ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said India was deeply concerned about the violence in which "an innocent Indian" was killed. He said Indian fuel-truck drivers were advised not to put themselves in danger.

Protests over a new constitution turned violent in August and more than 40 people have been killed as southern plains dwellers objected to seeing their lands divided and included in several federal states dominated by mountain communities.

The constitution was nonetheless adopted on Sept. 20, paving the way for the formation of a government headed by Prime Minister KP Oli, who has failed to calm passions that have paralyzed economic and political life.

Earlier on Monday, police cleared protesters staging a sit-in on the bridge but a protest leader said they had re-occupied it and five people had been hurt.

The protesters had gone into Birgunj town where they were burning tires. A protest leader, Purushottam Jha, from a political party that represents minority Madhesis, said police had used teargas in the town and fired into the air.

Police said 219 empty trucks had been cleared to return to India but that none had entered from India.

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