Myanmar’s military junta is increasingly resorting to attacks on civilians as a means to bring the rebel Arakan Army in the western coastal state of Rakhine to the negotiating table, Rakhine politicians and analysts told Radio Free Asia. Airstrikes targeting civilians for peace talks (RFA Video) The junta launched an airstrike on the town of Kyauktaw, dropping bombs on a crowded marketplace and other civilian areas killing at least 50 people, including children and pregnant women, according to the Arakan Army, or AA, an armed ethnic group which controls most…
Category: RFA
US bipartisan congressional delegation meets Dalai Lama during India trip
DHARAMSALA, India – A bipartisan delegation of U.S. lawmakers Wednesday told Radio Free Asia that China is a threat for engaging in transnational repression, after a meeting with the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, in his home. Congressional delegation meets the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala (RFA Video) During the meeting the Dalai Lama explained to the delegation how he has spent the majority of his life as a refugee in India, continuing Tibetan traditions and supporting the exile government headquartered in Dharamsala, after fleeing Tibet in 1959. The delegation,…
China pressure accelerates Philippines-Taiwan ties, analysts say
Taiwan’s plan to open a second trade office in the Philippines is an example of Manila and Taipei accelerating cooperation in response to Chinese pressure in the South China Sea, analysts told Radio Free Asia. During a radio interview on Sept. 15, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said that Taipei’s plan to open a second representative office in Cebu, the Philippines’ second largest city, was going smoothly. Taipei’s trade offices serve as de facto embassies and consulates in countries that officially recognize China, but maintain unofficial relations with Taiwan, which…
North Korea issue dwarfed by more pressing concerns during Trump-Xi summit
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed a wide range of issues during their summit in Washington last week, but Washington and Beijing offered few details about any discussion of North Korea, indicating that Pyongyang was not a high priority among other more pressing issues, experts told Radio Free Asia. In separate statements released following the summit, China’s Foreign Ministry and the White House said the two leaders did discuss the Korean peninsula but did not elaborate, whereas both statements described in detail discussions on the economy,…
Lao migrant’s disappearance in Thailand seems like transnational repression, NGO says
Read a version of this story in Lao. The disappearance of a Lao content creator from Thailand this month could be the latest example of Laos’ transnational repression, the leader of a Thai-based human rights organization told Radio Free Asia. Khieo Lapchanh, 26, went missing on Sept. 15, in Thailand’s Samut Sakhon province, one day before a scheduled asylum interview at the U.N. Refugee Agency office, or UNHCR, in the nearby capital of Bangkok. RFA was not able to confirm the reason for his disappearance. According to a handwritten letter…
Tibetan activists protest Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Washington visit — in photos
Tibetans gathered near the Chinese embassy in Washington on Thursday to protest Chinese President Xi Jinping as he arrived on the South Lawn of the White House to meet with U.S. President Trump. (RFA Video) “He’s not welcome here,” Thondup Tsering, a former Tibetan parliamentarian for North and South America who was attending the protest, told Radio Free Asia. “He’s not welcome because of the Chinese occupation of Tibet. The policies that [he] has put in Tibet, which are aimed to wipe out Tibetan culture and Tibetan identity.” Tsering traveled…
Photos: China’s Xi Jinping receives rare welcome as Trump summit begins
U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington on Wednesday for a three-day visit. Trump and U.S. first lady Melania Trump greeted Xi and Chinese First Lady Peng Liyuan on a 100-foot-long red carpet rolled out on the tarmac beside Xi’s plane at the Maryland military base that hosts Air Force One. A military band played, and cannons blasted ceremonial fire as they greeted each other. Trump winced as a loud B-1 military bomber flew overhead. The leaders then went their separate ways,…
As Xi lands in Washington, Uyghurs and Tibetans press Trump for human rights showdown
Chinese President Xi Jinping Wednesday arrived in Washington as diasporic minority communities urged U.S. President Donald Trump to press him on human rights and religious freedom during their three-day summit. President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump met Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. After their brief greeting, which included a military honor guard, the two leaders parted ways to make last minute preparations for a full slate of events scheduled for Thursday. Experts expect that Trump will try to work…
Uyghur rights advocate blasts China’s ‘red lines’ warning ahead of Trump-Xi summit
Human rights and Taiwan are “red lines” for China that cannot be crossed, the country’s ambassador to the U.S. warned on Wednesday, ahead of President Xi Jinping’s arrival in Washington for a three-day summit. Chinese Ambassador Xie Feng, writing in the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily, said managing differences hinges on good faith, and the U.S. should stop “fabricating pretexts” such as national security, economic imbalances and forced labor to try to constrain China. “China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests cannot be violated, and four red lines — the…
New rules to protect tech secrets could strand Taiwanese visitors in China
Taiwan has warned its high-tech professionals that if they visit mainland China, they could be stopped for questioning – or even barred from leaving the country – under new regulations that analysts told Radio Free Asia were put in place likely because Beijing is afraid of losing AI talent. The new regulations that took effect on Sept. 15 allow Chinese authorities to prevent its citizens from leaving the country if violations of export-control or technology-transfer rules could endanger “industrial or technological security.” The law applies to visiting citizens of Taiwan…