Day: May 5, 2023

Uyghur News Recap: April 21 – May 5, 2023

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WASHINGTON —  ‘Returning to the Past’: Uyghur Teenagers Reconnect with Their Heritage in Berlin A group of 26 Uyghur teenagers from seven European countries participated in an educational program called “Returning to the Past” in Berlin, where they learned about their cultural and historical roots through artifacts discovered in Xinjiang caves by a German expedition team in the early 20th century. The program organizers, according to Radio Free Asia, drew parallels between China’s ongoing genocide of the Uyghur population and the genocide of Jews during the Holocaust. Virginia After-School Program…

Hong Kong Police Seize Statue in ‘Incitement to Subversion’ Probe

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HONG KONG —  Hong Kong police seized an exhibit Friday in connection with what they said was an attempt to incite subversion, with media reporting it was a statue commemorating Beijing’s Tiananmen Square crackdown on democracy protesters in 1989. Media reported the exhibit was the “Pillar of Shame,” an 8-meter-tall statue depicting dozens of torn and twisted bodies that commemorates protesters killed in the crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square more than three decades ago. Police did not give details of the exhibit they said they had seized in the…

China’s foreign minister to hold talks with the Taliban

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China’s foreign minister will meet officials from the Taliban at the weekend as Beijing explores boosting investment in Afghanistan, including bringing the crisis-hit country into its Belt and Road infrastructure project. Qin Gang will hold talks on Saturday in Pakistan with Afghanistan’s acting foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, and Pakistan’s Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Saturday as part of the China-Pakistan-Afghanistan Trilateral Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue. The three ministers will discuss “regional stability and transit”, according to Afghanistan’s foreign ministry, along with boosting trade ties. The meeting comes after China’s foreign ministry…

Damning evidence emerges in Cambodian monkey smuggling case

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Hidden camera footage has emerged showing what U.S. prosecutors say is clear involvement by a senior Cambodian official in running a research monkey smuggling operation. In the video, whose existence was first reported by RFA last year, former Cambodian Department of Wildlife and Biodiversity head Kry Masphal is seen facilitating an illicit drop-off of long-tailed macaques at a breeding facility in northern Cambodia, even offering advice on how to move the endangered species more efficiently. “Why don’t you make another road?” Kry is seen asking a worker. “If you make…

Taiwan’s undersea submarine base plan resurfaces as cross-strait tensions rise

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“The geological structures of the sea cliffs in Hualien are composed of hard rock, which is suitable to dig deep caves or tunnels.” Lu’s suggestion came as the self-ruled island’s military on Friday said that sea trials for the first domestically produced diesel-electric powered submarine could begin as early as March next year. Advertisement Taiwan plans to develop and build a fleet of at least eight diesel-electric powered attack submarines under its Indigenous Defence Submarine (IDS) Programme, with the first vessel expected to launch in September and go into service…

Activists demand release of Uyghurs held in Thai immigration detention center

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Raising her fist in the air, Zumretay Arkin shouted into a microphone on a quiet side street in Munich, Germany, outside the Thai consulate. “Liberty for Uyghurs! We want freedom! We want justice! We want liberty! Release Uyghur detainees!” yelled Arkin, a Uyghur-Canadian, as a group of about 20 demonstrators – some holding the blue and white crescent-and-star flag of East Turkistan, the Uyghurs’ homeland in what is now Xinjiang, China – chanted the words back to her. The protests came in response to the April death of Mettohti Metqurban,…

Flags, Fireworks as Cambodia Kicks Off SEA Games

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Phnom Penh, Cambodia —  Cambodia kicked off its first-ever hosting of the Southeast Asian Games on Friday, in a historical ballyhoo of singing, dancing, flag-waving and fireworks. The evening’s festivities welcomed athletes from across the region to the biennial multi-sport event while trumpeting the country’s rich history and thanking its long-ruling leader for recent modernization. Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party is keen to build excitement and patriotic fervor around the SEA Games, with a successful event and medals haul likely to boost national sentiment two months ahead…

Hun Sen feted at Cambodia’s SEA Games opening ceremony

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With Cambodia’s king noticeably absent, Prime Minister Hun Sen staged a glitzy opening ceremony to kick off the Southeast Asian Games on Friday at a new Chinese-built, 60,000-seat stadium in the capital. Cambodia is hosting the SEA Games for the first time. The 32nd edition of the regional Olympiad, which is held every two years, has attracted some 12,000 participants from 11 nations who will compete in 36 sports, from billiards and jujitsu to sailing and volleyball. The event, which runs until May 17, is an opportunity to burnish the…

Hundreds of Cambodian migrant workers arrested in Thailand

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The recent mass arrest in Thailand of hundreds of Cambodian migrant workers – some of whom were photographed chained together in Bangkok – has prompted one NGO to urge the Cambodian government to take action with Thai authorities. Many of the 800 workers arrested last month didn’t have enough money to pay fees at the border, had expired working permits or didn’t have enough documentation. The workers were returning to Thailand illegally following the recent Khmer New Year holiday, which ran from April 14-16.  Photos shared on social media showed…