Category: Chinese

  • Chinese netizens reacted with embarrassment and frustration to the men’s national soccer team’s humiliating 0-7 loss to Japan in a World Cup qualifying match, with some calling it a “Day of Humiliation.”

    “Ah! It’s simply embarrassing to talk about. As a Chinese, I am ashamed,” sports enthusiast Zhao Xiang told Radio Free Asia. “This is practically a joke.”

    “Why can’t we solve these problems?” he asked. “I don’t think the physique of Chinese people is an issue. Koreans and Japanese are also Asian and they make it to the (World Cup). Why can’t we?”

    Japan is one of Asia’s strongest teams, competing in every World Cup since 1998. Meanwhile, China has only managed to qualify once, in 2002 – so getting beaten isn’t terribly surprising.

    But losing by such a lopsided score in Thursday’s match in Saitama, north of Tokyo, was hard for many Chinese fans to swallow. 

    02-China-Japan-Soccer-World-Cup_Football.jpg
    Japan’s Takumi Minamino fights for the ball with China’s defender Liu Yang during their World Cup qualifying match in Saitama, Sept. 5, 2024. (Yuichi Yamazaki/AFP)

    Despite its relative lack of success in the world’s premier tournament, China is a soccer-crazed nation. President Xi Jinping, a fan himself, once expressed his hope for China to host and even win the men’s World Cup one day. 

    “Sept. 5 is a day of humiliation for Chinese soccer,” said an online media outlet run by the government of Shandong province.

    Chinese citizens have a complex relationship with Japan, owing to the troubled history between the two nations, which fought major wars against each other during the 20th century and found themselves aligned on opposite sides of the Cold War.


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    While thousands of Chinese tourists have flocking to Japan each year, Chinese social media regularly erupts in Japan-bashing sentiment, such as when Japan released wastewater from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant last year into the ocean, sparking fears about tainted seafood. 

    ‘Real gap’

    It was the worst loss for China’s men’s team since 2012, when the team suffered a 0-8 shellacking to perennial world powerhouse Brazil.

    The Chinese women’s national soccer team has performed much better, competing in eight World Cups, with the 1999 team finishing 2nd in that year’s tournament. The women’s team is ranked 18th in the world, while the men’s team is ranked 87th.

    Zhang Yuning, a former player of the Chinese team, said the match “demonstrates the real gap between Chinese and Japanese football.” 

    “It is ultimately reflected in the score, which demonstrates the difference between Chinese and Japanese football,” he said.

    03-China-Japan-Soccer-Fernandinho-Alan-Dalei-Wang.JPG
    China’s Fernandinho, Alan, Dalei Wang and teammates after their 0-7 World Cup qualifier loss to Japan in Saitama, Sept. 5, 2024. (Issei Kato/Reuters)

    He said the Chinese team should acknowledge the gap and try to perform better in the upcoming matches.

    According to Chinese media reports, Fan Zhiyi, another former national player, also criticized the home team by stating that the loss to a powerful team like Japan was understandable, but it was terrible that Japan was allowed to score so easily.

    “If it weren’t so far from here, I would have really jumped into the Huangpu river,” Fan said, referring to Shanghai’s main waterway, in a widely circulated video. “How many football association presidents have we had? Has anything changed? It’s just changing the syrup without replacing the prescription!” 

    Competing for spots

    Thursday’s match was the start of the third round of China and Japan’s world cup qualifying campaign, and they are competing with 16 other Asian teams for spots in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be hosted jointly by Canada, Mexico and the United States.

    Wataru Endo opened up the scoring for Japan in the 12th minute, and China managed to keep the Japanese out of the goal for the rest of the first half until the second minute past regulation, when Kaoru Mitoma found the back of the net. 

    Goals rained down on China in the second half, with Takumi Minamoto scoring in the 52nd and 58th minutes, followed by Junya Ito at 77, Daizen Maeda at 87, and Takefusa Kubo at 5 minutes past regulation.

    04-China-Japan-Soccer-World-Cup-AFC-Branko-Ivankovic .jpg
    China’s head coach Branko Ivankovic on the sidelines during the World Cup qualifying round football match between Japan and China in Saitama, Sept. 5, 2024. (Yuichi Yamazaki/AFP)

    Many fans on social media blamed the loss on China’s new manager, Croatian Branko Ivankovic, who was handed the reins in February, but others clapped back.

    “Stop blaming the head coach and demanding for his resignation after the game,” netizens said. “It doesn’t matter who the coach is. … (we should) just withdraw from the competition. … We can’t afford the embarrassment.” 

    Others suggested that China withdraw from international soccer altogether.

    With the defeat, China sits at the bottom of the Group C standings, and will look to regain its footing on Tuesday vs Saudi Arabia in Dalian.

    Also in Group C, Bahrain upset Australia 1-0 and Saudi Arabia and Indonesia played to a 1-1 draw.

    Meanwhile, in Group B, Palestine turned heads earning a scoreless draw against heavily favored South Korea, and in Group A, North Korea lost to Uzbekistan 0-1.

    Translated by Li Yaqian. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Huang Chun-mei for RFA Mandarin.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • If you’re watching the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games and wondering what or where “Chinese Taipei” is, you’re not alone.

    More than 10 athletes from Taiwan are competing in the games, but they aren’t being introduced as coming from Taiwan.

    Instead, they are represented as being from “Chinese Taipei.”

    This isn’t just the case at the Paralympics or Olympics – it happens at all major international sporting events. Taiwan’s athletes are not allowed to compete under the Taiwanese flag. Here is why.

    What is ‘Chinese Taipei’?

    “Chinese Taipei” is the name Taiwan agreed upon with the International Olympic Committee, or IOC, in 1981 to participate in the Olympic Games.

    Instead of Taiwan’s red and blue flag, Taiwanese athletes compete under the “Plum Blossom Banner,” a white flag that carries the Olympic rings.

    A traditional flag-raising song, not Taiwan’s national anthem, is played when its athletes are on the podium.

    This allows Taiwan to compete without presenting itself as a sovereign nation.

    ENG_CHN_CHINESE TAIPEI_09052024_2.JPG
    The Badminton Men’s Doubles Gold Medal Match at the Paris 2024 Olympics, Paris, France, Aug. 04, 2024. Supporters can be seen holding Chinese and Chinese Taipei Olympic flags during the gold medal match. (Ann Wang/Reuters)

    Why not ‘Taiwan’?

    Taiwan, or the Republic of China, is not diplomatically recognized by most countries despite being a self-ruled democracy of 23 million people with its own borders, currency and government.

    This dates back to 1949, when Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China disagreed over which government was the rightful “China.”

    After the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949, the Nationalist government fled to Taiwan, while Mao Zedong’s communist forces established the People’s Republic of China on the mainland.

    According to Beijing’s communist leadership, there is only “One China,” meaning Taiwan is considered part of it and must eventually be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.

    In Beijing’s view, as a breakaway province, Taiwan does not have the right to state-to-state relations or to be treated as a state on the international stage.

    As part of its efforts to isolate Taiwan, Beijing prevents the island from using the name “Taiwan” in international events.

    Why ‘Chinese Taipei’?

    The dispute over Taiwan’s name at international sports events began in 1952 when both Taiwan and China were invited to the Olympics.

    At that time, both governments claimed to represent China, leading Taiwan to withdraw from the Games.

    In 1956, Taiwan participated under the name “Formosa-China,” but Beijing  boycotted those Games and withdrew from the IOC two years later.

    During the 1960s, Taiwan competed under the name “Taiwan” at the request of the IOC. However, Taiwan’s government at the time objected, insisting on being called the Republic of China, or ROC.

    By the 1970s, more countries were diplomatically recognizing Beijing instead of Taiwan.

    In 1972, Taiwan participated in the Olympics as the ROC for the last time. Taiwan then boycotted the 1976 Games after host country Canada insisted it compete under the name Taiwan rather than ROC.

    In 1979, Taiwan was suspended from the Olympics after the IOC recognized Beijing as the representative for China.

    Two years later, Taiwan was allowed back into the Games after agreeing to compete under the name “Chinese Taipei,” which it has used ever since.

    ENG_CHN_CHINESE TAIPEI_09052024_3.jpg
    A flag bearer holding the flag to represent Taiwan enters the stadium for the closing ceremony of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, Sunday, Oct. 8, 2023. (AP/Eugene Hoshiko)

    Back to Taiwan?

    There are now growing calls to use the name Taiwan at the Games once again as relations between Taiwan and China are at a low point.

    The Formosan Association for Public Affairs, U.S.-based nonprofit organization that seeks to build worldwide support for Taiwan independence, urged the IOC in early August to allow Taiwan’s team to compete under the name “Taiwan” rather than “Chinese Taipei”.

    “Taiwan is an independent, sovereign country, and this is a long-established ‘status quo’,” the association’s president said in a statement, adding that Taiwan’s Olympic team was “fully entitled to compete proudly under the name ‘Taiwan’.”

    A referendum on whether “Chinese Taipei” should be changed was held in Taiwan in 2018, although “Taiwan” lost, partly because top athletes opposed the change, fearful of being banned from major sports events. 

    China has dialed up diplomatic and economic pressure on the island since former president Tsai Ing-wen’s administration came to power in 2016, as Tsai and her party refused to acknowledge that Taiwan and the mainland belonged to “One China.”

    President of Taiwan, Lai Ching-te, who came to power after winning a January election despite Beijing’s fierce opposition to his bid, ran on a platform of promoting peace in the Taiwan Strait while not compromising on claims of Taiwanese sovereignty.

    Edited by Mike Firn.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Taejun Kang for RFA.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • A senior-level official at the Chinese consulate in New York, Consul General Huang Ping, has apparently left his position. But a suggestion by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier Wednesday that he was removed from the post was later refuted by the State Department, which said that Huang’s term had ended last month.

    The confusion started when Hochul told reporters that she had “conveyed” to the State Department her desire to have the consul general expelled because of his connection to her former aide, Linda Sun. Sun was charged on Tuesday with secretly acting as an agent of the Chinese government. 

    Hochul said she was told that Huang was gone, which led to reports that he had been expelled, a step that could have triggered a diplomatic dispute with China.

    20240904-HUANG-PING-CHINA-CONSUL-002.jpg
    Huang Ping, China’s consul general in New York, throws a ceremonial first pitch during a baseball game between the New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves, Aug. 24, 2019, in New York. (Mary Altaffer/AP)

    “I have been informed that the consul general is no longer in the New York mission,” Hochul said.

    Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesman, later said that Huang had left his post but had not been expelled.

    Still, the issue of the Chinese government’s activities in this country and their efforts to sway the views of people in the United States is one “that we take very seriously,” Miller said. 

    According to the Chinese Consulate General in New York’s website, Huang began his tenure in New York on Nov. 15, 2018. His most recent public engagement was a visit to Boston from August 20-22.

    RFA reached out to the consulate but hadn’t received a response by press time. The Chinese Embassy in Washington also had not responded to a request for comment.


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    The conflicting accounts about Huang’s exit show the sensitivity of U.S.-China relations at the moment. The United States has charged several naturalized citizens originally from China of secretly working at the direction of the Communist Party to undermine pro-democracy dissident groups in the United States.

    Sun’s case is different. She is accused of accepting cash and other benefits for cutting out references to Taiwan from official documents and other favors. On Tuesday, prosecutors charged her with failing to register as a foreign agent, money laundering, conspiracy and other crimes. 

    Sun had worked as a top aide to Hochul and to Gov. Andrew Cuomo before that. 

    Sun’s husband, Christopher Hu, 41, was also arrested. According to the indictment, he helped with kickbacks, facilitating the transfer of millions of dollars. He has been charged with money laundering, conspiracy and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

    Alex Willemyns for RFA contributed to this story. Edited by Jim Snyder.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Tara McKelvey and Jane Tang for RFA.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • In nations where secrecy shrouds the lives of leaders, like China, North Korea and Russia, rumors can quickly take root in the absence of information. This is particularly true when it comes to the health of those leaders, an issue often treated as a state secret. 

    Recently, the internet buzzed with speculation about Chinese President Xi Jinping’s health, as a noticeable lack of public appearances from July to August fueled rumors that he might be seriously ill.

    Despite recent media appearances, rumors about Xi’s health show no sign of waning online. Below is what AFCL found.

    Stroke rumor

    A rumor that Xi suffered a stroke appeared in mid-July following the Communist Party’s Third Plenary Session.

    At the time, the phrase “stroke” was banned from one of China’s main search engines, Baidu, lending credibility to the rumors swirling around Xi’s health.

    On top of that, a photo of Xi frowning in apparent discomfort at the session emerged online, with many claiming that it was evidence of a health problem. 

    However, it was later revealed that the photo had been taken two months before the session and captured a fleeting expression on Xi’s face.

    1 (21).png
    Rumors on X claimed that Xi had suffered a stroke. (Screenshot/X)

    Xi’s body double?

    On July 20, China’s state-run broadcaster CCTV released footage of Xi paying tribute to the late Vietnamese General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong at the country’s embassy in Beijing. 

    Soon after, several Chinese-speaking online users claimed that the man at the ceremony was actually a body double of Xi, adding that Xi could not make it to the event due to health issues. 

    2 (13).png
    Some users claimed that a body double of Xi appeared at a commemoration for the recently deceased Vietnamese general secretary. (Screenshots/X and Ministry of Foreign Affairs website)

    The users cited blue patches on the carpet seen in the video, along with Xi’s stance and the folds of his ears, as evidence that the CCTV footage was likely fake and had been heavily edited in post-production.

    3 (6).png
    A comparison of the rumors on X (left) with photos taken by Vietnamese and Chinese outlets (right) shows that the crease on Xi’s ear changes depending on the angle and lighting of a given shot. (Screenshots/X, VNA and CCTV)

    However, using an image verification tool InVID, AFCL found no sign of the video being edited by AI. 

    Missing tripod?

    A claim about Xi using a body double due to health issues emerged again in late July when a X user shared a CCTV report on Xi’s meeting East Timor’s head of state, claiming that there were visual inconsistencies. 

    The users pointed out a tripod positioned behind the side of a table where the Chinese delegation was sitting. While the tripod was visible in some shots, it seemed to be missing in others taken from different angles in the same general direction.

    5 (2).png
    Rumors cite a variety of circumstantial evidence as proof  of the rumors of Xi’s ill health. (Screenshots/X)

    But the claim lacks evidence. 

    The meeting was held in the east wing of the Great Hall of the People, the same venue where Xi had met with former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou in April 2024.

    AFCL compared CCTV footage of the two meetings and found that three similar doors were positioned on the side (circled in red in the pictures below). They show that the tripod was placed in a spot where it could have been out of view depending on the camera angle.

    6 (1).png
    Comparing footage of Xi’s recent meeting with East Timor’s leader (left) with that of his earlier meeting with Ma Ying-jeou (right) a number of similarly shaped doors at the meeting venue. (Screenshots /Jennifer Zeng X account and CCTV)

    Regular reappearances 

    In the Chinese dissident community in the United States, rumors about Xi’s health have been around for years, appearing regularly since at least 2017.

    They include a claim that Xi had severe health conditions such as a brain tumor, a brain aneurysm and a hearing issue. 

    But Yaita Akio, a former special China correspondent in Beijing for the Japanese news daily Sankei Shimbun, says such rumors are illogical and often easy to spot.  

    Due to officials’ control over media, breaking news in China is often vague and piecemeal when first being reported, Akio said on X, noting that details of an event are more likely to trickle out to the media rather than to be all known at once, which can lead to misunderstandings.

    Translated by Shen Ke. Edited by Shen Ke and Taejun Kang.

    Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) was established to counter disinformation in today’s complex media environment. We publish fact-checks, media-watches and in-depth reports that aim to sharpen and deepen our readers’ understanding of current affairs and public issues. If you like our content, you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Rita Cheng for Asia Fact Check Lab.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.


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  • This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

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  • Read this story in Korean

    North Korea has added more movies and TV shows to its banned list. 

    But this time, they’re from China, traditionally considered an ally – not from capitalist enemies South Korea or the United States, as is usually the case.

    “This is the first time I’ve seen a list of banned Chinese videos,” a resident of the eastern province of South Hamgyong told Radio Free Asia.

    The movies or drama series, produced in Hong Kong or mainland China, included titles such as ‘Butterfly Lovers’ and ‘Shanghai Bund,’ he said. These shows have been popular among North Koreans for so long that it is difficult to find someone who has not seen them, he said. 

    “I was surprised that Chinese movies and TV shows, which I thought were okay to watch, were designated as ‘impure recordings’ and It’s absurd to suddenly label them as such,” he said.

    The resident wondered if the ban reflected souring ties with China. He pointed out that the border has not fully reopened to trade between the two countries after it was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The updated list was circulated in late May and early June and included a performance in North Korea by South Korean singer Kim Yeon-ja.

    Some videos from Russia and India were also on the banned list, he said.

    The decision to ban Chinese films shows that North Korea is taking its “obsession” with preventing foreign influence to a new level, said Bruce Klingner of the Washington-based Heritage Foundation think tank.

    “Some experts predicted when Kim Jong-un assumed power that he would implement political and economic reforms,” said Klingner. “Instead, Kim maintained his predecessors’ system and imposed even more stringent measures to prevent outside information from leaking in and harsher penalties for violations.”

    Chinese influence is less important now that Pyongyang is getting closer to Moscow, Harry Kazianis, the senior director for national security affairs at the Washington-based Center for the National Interest, told RFA.

    “North Korea understands that now, having much more economic aid from Russia, at least while the Ukraine war is going, the Kim family can cut off as much Chinese influence as possible and feel no repercussions,” he said. 

    “Anything Pyongyang can do to isolate its population from the outside world and cement its rule is vital.”

    Hush-hush on disputed history

    Also on the banned list were some lectures recorded by authorities that suggest China is trying to distort Korean history, residents said. 

    The reason appears to be that officials want to keep the information confidential and for use only among officials, and not for public consumption.

    “The order was to take measures to prevent the public from listening to the lectures and to prevent them from being distributed further,” the South Hamgyong resident said, adding that he learned this through conversations among the county party committee officials. 

    “This is the first time I’ve heard that China distorted Korean history,” he said.

    The disputed historical content is related to Goguryeo, one of the ancient states that along with Baekjae and Silla fought for control over the Korean peninsula during the Three Kingdoms Period (57 BC to AD 668). Much of Goguryeo’s territory was located north of the present-day border between North Korea and China, in the area which China calls its northeast.

    Both North and South Korea, and most academic discussion of Goguryeo describe it as a Korean kingdom, but the Chinese government in recent years has conducted studies that were perceived by critics to lay historical claims on the ancient kingdom. 

    Though China in 2004 agreed not to claim Goguryeo in history textbooks, discussion of the topic by nationalists is widespread on South Korean and Chinese websites.

    Additionally, the lectures criticized China for what North Korean authorities saw as Beijing laying claim to cultural elements that are widely considered to be indisputably Korean.

    This included the assertion that kimchi and Korean traditional clothes, known as hanbok in the South but chosonbok in the North, originated in China, and attempts to downplay North Korean national founder Kim Il Sung’s guerrilla activities against colonial Japan before and during WWII. 

    The order to ban the lectures will only cause more confusion, an administrative official at a small company in the northwestern city of Rason told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity to speak freely.

    “With this directive, (people) will come to the perception that China is distorting the history of the Korean Peninsula even though they do not know the details,” he said.

    “Since Goguryeo is treated as much more important than Baekje or Silla in history, even ordinary citizens know that the Three Northeastern Provinces of China were once Goguryeo territories,” he said. “This directive could spread negative perceptions of China.” 

    The growing banned list makes it seem as if North Koreans “live on a distant planet,” Greg Scarlatoiu of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea told RFA.

    The information isolation the Kim family regime is trying to impose is reaching new extremes,” he said. “By banning even Chinese content, the regime is trying to isolate its subjects from any type of foreign content. … Fortunately, information from the outside world will continue to be smuggled in.”

    Translated by Claire S. Lee and Leejin J. Chung. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Ahn Chang Gyu and Kim Soyoung for RFA Korean.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.


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  • Read the story in Mandarin: 人权律师余文生案开庭 王宇前往旁听被带走

     

    Prominent Chinese rights lawyer Yu Wensheng and his wife Xu Yan stood trial on Wednesday in the eastern city of Suzhou for “subversion” amid tight security that saw another prominent attorney taken away by police ahead of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing.

    Yu and Xu were initially detained in April 2023 on suspicion of “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble” – a charge frequently used to target peaceful critics of the Communist Party – en route to a meeting with European Union officials in Beijing. Brussels has lodging a formal complaint over the incident.

    But the pair are now being put on trial for the more serious charge of “incitement to subvert state power” at the Suzhou Intermediate People’s Court. Court proceedings were observed by diplomats from 10 countries, the rights website Weiquanwang reported, without giving details.

    The trial comes amid tight security across China ahead of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation which runs Sept. 4-6 in Beijing. A prominent rights attorney, Wang Yu, was detained by police in Suzhou shortly after arriving in the city on the first day of Yu’s trial, her husband Bao Longjun told RFA Mandarin.

    “Wang Yu called me around 7 o’clock this morning,” Bao said. “She said she had just left Suzhou station [to meet with a client who is a rights activist], but police blocked him from leaving home.”

    “I called her again at 10 a.m. but nobody picked up, and I haven’t been able to get in touch with her since,” he said.

    In a later phone call with RFA Mandarin, Bao said police had escorted Wang to meet up with him in the northern city of Handan, where she was released from custody.

    ‘Key personnel’

    President Xi Jinping will deliver a keynote address at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation next week, setting out proposals for “building a high-level community with a shared future for China and Africa,” Vice Foreign Minister Chen Xiaodong told a news conference last week.

    The security measures target critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party known as “key personnel,” according to a Beijing resident who gave only the surname Guo for fear of reprisals.

    20240828-WANG-YU-HUMAN-RIGHTS-TRIAL-002.jpg
    Xu Yan (left), wife of rights attorney Yu Wensheng, and rights attorney Wang Yu (right) hold up messages in 2020 calling on the authorities to expedite Yu’s trial. (@xuyan709 via X)

    “Security has been very strict in our residential community lately, and they’re saying they have to guard against key personnel,” Guo said. “I know something big is happening in Beijing.”

    According to state media and official websites, the term “key personnel” applies to anyone posing a potential threat to public order, national security or disease control and prevention policies, and means an individual is targeted for “monitoring, prevention measures and management by police.”

    Represented Falun Gong

    Yu is a prominent rights attorney who has represented members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, as well as many fellow rights attorneys in the wake of a July 2015 crackdown on public interest law firms and associated rights activists. 

    He served an earlier four-year sentence for “subversion” that ended in 2021.

    Xu has repeatedly spoken out on her husband’s behalf, and was threatened with prosecution after meeting with French officials in 2018 about her husband’s case.

    Rights groups have warned that both were at risk of torture to elicit a “confession” during detention.

    Yu and Xu are being represented by defense attorneys Ge Wenxiu and He Wei at the two-day trial, Weiquanwang reported.

    24-hour surveillance

    Meanwhile, authorities in Beijing are holding Zhou Shifeng, the former director of the Beijing Fengrui law firm that was shuttered following the July 2015 crackdown, under close surveillance, prompting him to flee the capital for his hometown in Henan province.

    “They’re about to hold the China-Africa Forum in Beijing, and security guards were put on duty downstairs from Zhou Shifeng’s home,” his friend Zhang Ning told RFA Mandarin on Wednesday.

    “There were private security guards, state security police, and officers from the local police station, five people on each eight-hour shift,” Zhang said. “Shifeng had to tell them where he was going, and the state security police would drive him there and escort him.”

    Zhang said Zhou had eventually chosen to leave the capital and return to his hometown in Anyang city, Henan, in the hope of evading further official attention.

    Police have also been closely watching independent political commentator Wu Qiang since late July, according to a friend of his who gave only the surname Li for fear of reprisals.

    “There are two police vehicles stationed in the residential community where Wu Qiang lives, 24 hours a day,” Li said. “They follow him whenever he goes out.”

    Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Qian Lang for RFA Mandarin.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • A video and photograph of a cargo vessel have been shared in Chinese-language social media posts that claim they show vessels from  the Evergreen Group – Taiwan’s shipping and transportation conglomerate – flying a Chinese flag while passing through the Red Sea in July.

    But the claim is false. Evergreen vessels have not passed through the Red Sea since December 2023.

    A video of a cargo ship was posted on Chinese social media Bilibili on Aug. 17.

    “A cargo ship belonging to China’s Taiwan-based Evergreen Group passed through the Red Sea flying the five-star red flag without incident. Previously, the Houthis have repeatedly attacked passing ships in the Red Sea, but ships flying the Chinese and Russian flags have usually been able to pass through safely,” the video’s caption reads. 

    The 12-second video shows multiple scenes, including China’s national flag, the Five-star Red Flag, and a cargo ship with an “EVERGREEN” sign on it. 

    Separately, a photo of what appears to be Evergeen’s cargo vessel was shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Aug. 18, alongside a caption that reads: “The Evergreen Hotel refused to fly the Chinese flag, but Evergreen Marine flew the Chinese flag when it passed through the waters under the jurisdiction of the Houthis in the Red Sea.”

    1 (20).png
    A number of influencers posted photos of Evergreen ships purportedly flying China’s flag (Screenshots/X, Weibo and Bilibili)

    The claim began to circulate online after Chinese social media users criticized a decision by a branch of the Taiwanese Evergreen Laurel Hotel in Paris to refuse to fly China’s national flag during the Olympics.

    Some users further criticized the Evergreen Group, the hotel’s parent company, for what they said was double standards after several of its ships passed through the Red Sea in July while flying the Chinese flag for protection. 

    Evergreen Group is a Taiwan conglomerate with businesses in shipping, transport and associated services such as energy development, air transport, hotels and resorts.

    Taiwan has been self-governing since it effectively separated from mainland China in 1949 after the Chinese civil war, but China regards Taiwan as a renegade province that should be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary.

    However, the claim about the Evergreen vessels flying the flag is false. 

    Vessels in question

    Reverse image searches found the two vessels seen in the Bilibili video and the photo on X are Evergeen’s EVER ALP and EVER BUILD. 

    2 (12).png
    A comparison of the EVER ALP and the EVER BUILD with the respective Chinese influencers’ content. (Photo/AFCL)

    According to the ship tracking service Marine Traffic, both vessels are under the jurisdiction of Panama. 

    Since the internationally recognized United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea stipulates that a ship must sail under the flag of the state to which it is registered, those ships should fly Panama’s flag. 

    3 (4).png
    Information on the EVER ALP and EVER BUILD. (Screenshot/Marine Traffic) 

    According to a contingency plan issued by Evergreen in December 2023, all of its cargo vessels originally scheduled to pass through the Red Sea  between Asia, Europe and the eastern United States would be rerouted around the Cape of Good Hope due to the threat of attacks on merchant ships.

    Since the release of the contingency plan by Evergreen, the EVER ALP has not passed through the Red Sea, while the EVER BUILD has only sailed between northeast China and Thailand, nowhere near the Red Sea.

    Records from the ship tracking service Marine Traffic also show that neither the EVER ALP nor the EVER BUILD has sailed through the Red Sea since the group issued its contingency plan. 

    4 (1).png
    The respective routes of both vessels recorded on Marine Traffic show that they have not entered through the Red Sea in the last 9 months.  (Screenshots/Marine Traffic)

    A representative of Evergreen told AFCL that it had not changed its company-wide shipping reroute around the Cape of Good Hope, and the company required its vessels to follow the international and industry practice of flying the flags of the country under whose jurisdiction they sail. 

    Hoisting a different country’s flags

    A former Taiwanese Coast Guard official told AFCL that, in practice, there are cases when a ship might fly a different country’s flags. 

    It is common for ships to fly another country’s flag alongside their own registered state flag to show goodwill when passing through that country’s territorial waters, the official said. 

    In disputed waters, ships from one country involved in the dispute might fly the flag of the other country to reduce the risk of interference from the rival state’s authorities or militias.

    Lastly, ships from smaller or less powerful nations often fly the flag of a more powerful country when passing through pirate-infested waters to create a deterrent, the official explained, adding that Taiwan did not legally permit ships under its jurisdiction to engage in the second or third scenarios.

    Translated by Shen Ke. Edited by Shen Ke and Taejun Kang.

    Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) was established to counter disinformation in today’s complex media environment. We publish fact-checks, media-watches and in-depth reports that aim to sharpen and deepen our readers’ understanding of current affairs and public issues. If you like our content, you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Dong Zhe Asia Fact Check Lab.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Two years after the U.N.’s human rights chief said China’s repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang may constitute “crimes against humanity,” her successor on Tuesday called for a full investigation into the charges, while rights groups called for more pressure on Beijing.

    On Aug. 31,  2022, in a long-awaited report issued on her last day on the job,  then U.N. High Commissioner of Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said that “serious human rights violations” were committed in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in the context of the Chinese government’s application of counter-terrorism and counter-extremism strategies. 

    Her successor, Volker Türk, has repeatedly called on China to address concerns documented in the damning, 46-page Bachelet report, including China’s arbitrary detention of Uyghurs and the separation of children from their families. UN efforts, however, have met angry denunciations and stonewalling by Chinese diplomats.

    Workers are seen on the production line at a cotton textile factory in Korla, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China April 1, 2021. (cnsphoto via Reuters)
    Workers are seen on the production line at a cotton textile factory in Korla, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China April 1, 2021. (cnsphoto via Reuters)

    On Tuesday, Türk’s office in Geneva repeated its call for action.

    “On Xinjiang, we understand that many problematic laws and policies remain in place, and we have called again on the authorities to undertake a full review, from the human rights perspective, of the legal framework governing national security and counter-terrorism and to strengthen the protection of minorities against discrimination,” the office of UN rights chief said in a statement Tuesday.

    “Allegations of human rights violations, including torture, need to be fully investigated,” said Ravina Shamdasan, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland.

    “We are also continuing to follow closely the current human rights situation in China, despite the difficulties posed by limited access to information and the fear of reprisals against individuals who engage with the United Nations,” added Shamdasan.

    The statement also urged Beijing to “take prompt steps to release all individuals arbitrarily deprived of their liberty, and to clarify the status and whereabouts of those whose families have been seeking information about them.”


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    The new statement was welcomed by human rights groups and experts, but they also urged more pressure to overcome Chinese resistance that had prevented progress on the issue since the August 2022 report.

    “Two years ago, we welcomed OHCHR’s report on the human rights situation facing the Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in China. Since then, sadly, we have seen little else to raise awareness of, or improve, their plight,” said Kat Cosgrove of the U.S. watchdog group Freedom House.

    “The United Nations has a responsibility to continue to use all the tools at their disposal to push the CCP to end their persecution and repression, including allowing independent investigators full access to Xinjiang,” Cosgrove, Freedom House’s deputy director of policy and advocacy, told RFA Uyghur.

    The International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), a human rights advocacy group, also gave a guarded welcome to the High Commission’s statement, but urged concrete actions from the UN agency, including setting up a monitoring and reporting outfit to “put an end to China’s exceptionalism.”

    Former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet attends the II National Assembly of Women Mayors in Tegucigalpa, Aug. 22, 2024. (Orlando Sierra/AFP)
    Former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet attends the II National Assembly of Women Mayors in Tegucigalpa, Aug. 22, 2024. (Orlando Sierra/AFP)

    The ISHR, based in Geneva and New York, quoted Uyghur human rights lawyer Rayhan Asat, as saying the new statement that Türk’s office was “committed to tangible change in China is heartening.”

    “Yet, China has not implemented any OHCHR recommendations, and independent investigations are still limited or blocked,” she added.

    The U.S. government has since 2021 accused Beijing of carrying out a campaign of “genocide” against Uyghurs and other Muslims in far-west Xinjiang, including by sterilizing women, banning the exercise of culture and imprisoning many Uyghurs in high-security internment camps.

    The UN and Western governments have remained steadfast in their condemnation of China over its harsh policies affecting Uyghurs, Tibetans and Hongkongers, though Beijing has angrily denied accusations of abuses and continued maintaining an iron grip on them.

    Uyghur exile and advocacy groups believe that the United Nations and individual states have failed to take concrete measures to punish China for severe rights violations in Xinjiang, including mass detentions, torture, cultural genocide, forced labor and the forced sterilization of Uyghur women.

    China denies it has committed rights abuses against the 11 million Uyghurs, a mostly Muslim, Turkic-speaking group that refers to Xinjiang — the vast mountainous and desert region traversed by the Silk Road — as East Turkestan.

    Reporting by Gulchehra Hoja for RFA Uyghur. Translated by Alim Seytoff. Editing by Paul Eckert.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • The FBI came to Jen Salen’s door on Wednesday afternoon. Shocked would not even come close to describing her astonishment.

    “I cried a lot on Wednesday, and I’ve been crying a lot [since],” she told RFA.

    Earlier that day, Yuanjun Tang, a well-known Chinese dissident in New York who had been married to Salen until June of this year, had been arrested on charges of secretly spying for Beijing.

    Salen, 55, is not named in the filings against him and is not accused of any wrongdoing.

    But there was a complication: throughout their marriage, she has worked for the Congressional Executive Committee on China, or CECC. 

    The commission organizes hearings and publishes annual reports advising Congress and the White House on human rights and rule of law issues in China. 

    The FBI had questions. 

    INV_CHN_Dissidentwife_08272024.2.jpg
    The U.S. Capitol is seen Jan. 06, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

    Salen said that she had spoken to the FBI for the first time on Wednesday, and that she had been placed on a paid leave by the CECC two days after Tang’s arrest. By Monday, the laptop she used to do her work sat inert on her desk, switched off and awaiting to be sent back to the U.S. government.

    Despite the dizzying turn of events, Salen told RFA: “You can certainly say that I still care very deeply about him,” adding that an accused person is innocent until proven guilty.

    Indeed, in speaking to over a dozen sources close to the case, what emerges is a deeply paradoxical and tragic story of murky allegiances and personal betrayals.

    But the revelation of Tang’s family ties to the U.S. government, as well as allegations that he was directed by Chinese agents to keep close tabs on specific U.S. political goings-on, raises uncomfortable questions about how deeply Chinese intelligence can penetrate American democracy. 

    When first contacted by RFA last week and asked if she was concerned that her work for the government could have been compromised by Tang, Salen gave a long pause before declining to answer.

    A shock arrest

    On Aug. 21, Tang was arrested at his office in Flushing, New York, after being charged with acting as an unregistered foreign agent, conspiracy and making false statements.

    According to prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, Tang – who had been an active participant in the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protests – had been passing sensitive information on U.S.-based dissidents as well as a U.S. congressional candidate to a handler at the Chinese Ministry of State Security, or MSS, from 2018 until 2023. He was questioned by the FBI last July.

    Tang and Salen were married from March 2012 to June 2024, though they only lived together during parts of that time, according to Salen and public records of their registered addresses.

    INV_CHN_Dissidentwife_08272024.3.jpg
    Student protesters gather in Tiananmen Square in Beijing on May 13, 1989. (Vitaly Armand/AFP)

    Repeated calls to Tang’s lawyer were not answered. Tang declined to be interviewed but clarified to RFA through an intermediary that he never informed his then-wife of his alleged contacts with the MSS.

    Although work done by the CECC does not involve classified information, and Salen would not have had access to government papers deemed classified or confidential, access to contacts and knowledge of its working would still be of value to Beijing.

    Staffers often interact with members of the Chinese diaspora, and the commission organizes hearings and meetings that put government officials, Chinese dissidents and civil society members together, sometimes behind closed doors.

    RFA gave CECC a detailed list of questions, including when it became aware of the situation regarding Tang, how this could affect the work Salen was doing for the commission, what security protocols were in place, and what was being done to fairly protect staff and sources for the CECC, as well as Salen.

    A spokesperson for the commission said in an email: “While this is a confidential personnel matter, and law enforcement has given us no indication that our staffer was involved in, or had knowledge of, Mr. Tang’s alleged activity, the extraordinary circumstances, and nature of the allegations regarding Mr. Tang lead us, out of an abundance of caution, to take appropriate measures to ensure the safety of the Commission’s data and the privacy of its staff. We continue to work with the appropriate entities in their investigations and for the protection of the CECC’s mission.”

    They said the commission only became aware of the situation after Tang’s arrest. 

    INV_CHN_Dissidentwife_08272024.4.jpg
    The Congressional Executive Committee on China holds a hearing in 2024. (CECC via YouTube)

    That “abundance of caution” appears to be warranted.

    In an earlier interview discussing the verdict of another recent Chinese spy case, Peter Mattis, who was staff director at the CECC from 2019 to 2021, told RFA: “We need to think about intelligence not as being the collection of classified information. Intelligence is information to inform decision making, and not all decisions are about national defense and national security, right?”

    “Some of them are, at least in the CCP. They’re about political control. They’re about controlling thought. They’re about controlling overseas diaspora communities or being able to mobilize them effectively in support of national objectives.” (The case he was referring to also involved a dissident secretly spying for Beijing)

    Mattis, who is now head of the non-profit Jamestown Foundation and no longer works in U.S. government, said he also only learned of Tang’s alleged activities after his arrest. 

    Political interests 

    Among the other allegations made by U.S. prosecutors is that Tang had transmitted photographs of a congressional candidate, information about a campaign strategy meeting for the candidate, and photos of members of Congress to the MSS through one of six phones seized by the FBI. 

    One of these phones appeared to have surveillance software installed onto it, the complaint said. 

    Although he is not named in the complaint against Tang, the congressional candidate he allegedly surveilled is Yan Xiong, a dissident who ran in the Democratic primary for New York’s 10th congressional district in 2022. 

    Xiong told RFA: “That’s me in the complaint — the ‘congressional candidate’ Tang allegedly passed information [about] to the MSS.” He said that although the FBI never contacted him, he recognized himself from the details and descriptions in the complaint.

    Xiong faced significant harassment during his 2022 campaign, including fake claims of child pornography and tax evasion. He noted that he faced harassment during the  campaign and that it placed a significant strain on his family. “I am still suffering from the consequences,” he said. He has no plans to return to politics.

    He said he had no suspicions about Tang at the time. “Campaigns require a lot of help, so I asked him to assist. I was never suspicious of him.”

    INV_CHN_Dissidentwife_08272024.5.jpg
    Yan Xiong, a dissident who ran for office in New York in 2022, was apparently surveilled by Yuanjun Tang. (Xiong Yan for Congress via Facebook)

    Xiong learned of Tang’s arrest from the news and was surprised by the details. “I trust the U.S. Department of Justice, but I also believe Tang’s story is a tragedy. He broke the law, but he is also a victim of the CCP,” he said, adding: “I’ll still pray for him.”

    Betrayals and understandings

    The arrest has sent shockwaves through the U.S.-based Chinese pro-democracy community – a tight-knit group of dissidents, many of whom were participants or leaders in the 1989 protest that triggered a global outcry and an exodus of young intellectuals and liberals from China. 

    The protest likewise shaped the views of a generation of young people in the West. “You know, in some ways, I’m also of the 1989 generation,” Salen (who is not of Asian descent herself) told RFA. 

    “I was a sophomore in college. I had just started taking Chinese history classes, and what happened in China in 1989 was part of my motivation to eventually study Chinese language and clearly feel that people have the right to freedom of expression, to publish with what they think … have their own right to religious belief, all those things that we take for granted here.”

    Sources who spoke to RFA universally said they admired Salen’s commitment to promoting Chinese democracy and the dissident community, through which she met Tang at a dumpling-making party in the mid-2000s. 

    Tang, now 67, was a young factory worker at the time of the Tiananmen protests. He later defected by swimming to Taiwan from a Chinese fishing boat. He eventually came to the U.S. and was granted asylum.

    Another dissident, who asked for anonymity to speak openly about a sensitive issue, recalled meeting him some 20 years ago when he first arrived. “He was a spirited young man, full of ideals. You know, he had been imprisoned in China, then fled to Taiwan, and later came to the U.S.,” they said. 

    Despite meeting his wife and settling in the U.S., Tang had a difficult time and exile had been “a very, very painful experience” for him, the person said. 

    “He was very filial, and he cared deeply about his mother. We all knew he wanted to return to China in 2018 (when she fell ill). His brother is disabled. Later, his mother and brother both passed away.

    “I later saw him a few times in Flushing, sometimes on the street. He looked very down and out,” the person told RFA.

    Prosecutors allege that Tang began working for the MSS in 2018 in exchange for being allowed to go back to China to visit his family. His orders included taking pictures and videos of people of interest to the intelligence service and passing information about their whereabouts to a handler. The MSS paid Tang’s family in mainland China, prosecutors said.

    He is also alleged to have invited an MSS agent to a chat group he set up for dissidents – including some seeking asylum in the U.S. –  and to have passed information about asylum-seeking to a handler. 

    INV_CHN_Dissidentwife_08272024.6.jpeg
    Yuanjun Tang sings karaoke at a 2017 Spring Festival tea party. (Yuanjun Tang via Youtube)

    Younger dissidents close to Tang – some of whom were recently arrived from China – told RFA they had looked up to him as almost a mentor figure who regaled them with tales of being jailed by the Chinese government and promised to help them navigate the U.S. asylum process.

    His arrest has left them worried, said Chao Xu, 32, who came to the United States in the summer of 2023. 

    “I’m really worried now because every time we went to protests or demonstrations against the CCP, Tang would take photos and videos of us up close. China could use facial recognition to quickly identify us and our families back home. Of course, I’m scared,” he said. 

    Another dissident, Kuijun Wu, 30, who also arrived in the U.S. last year, told RFA that there is widespread panic among a group of over 50 newcomers. They had provided Tang with their personal information, including their addresses in China, when they joined the party he led. 

    “We risked our lives to come to the U.S., and now our leader is a spy. What are we supposed to do?” he said.

    Tang has been under house arrest since being released on an unsecured $100,000 bond. Since then, he has privately expressed remorse to friends, telling close associates that he was sorry for letting America down and particularly regretted affecting his former partner, several sources told RFA.


    SEE RELATED STORIES

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    Salen referred most of RFA’s questions about Tang to his lawyer, but did offer a thought on one matter.

    “I noticed that a lot of reports on him are saying he was ‘a former democracy activist.’ I think ‘former’ is incorrect. He still is a democracy activist,” she said. “I think the [Chinese] exile community is very complex. Everyone knows the exile community is very complex, and also there’s a lot of debate and dissension.”

    Nick Eftimiades, a former CIA analyst who has worked extensively on Chinese intelligence cases, told RFA that while it remains to be seen whether there is wider cause for concern given Tang’s family tie to U.S. government work, the extent of China’s reach could be likened to the Stasi in East Germany, where a third of the population was pressed into this kind of service. 

    “It destroyed families and relationships as people were recruited to spy on each other and other targets of the regime. I think we’re seeing the same thing here,” he said.  “The question now is, can the United States and so many European countries keep their populations safe from the CCP, which strikes at the very heart of their sovereignty?”

    The Department of Justice declined to comment on the case. 

    Edited by Boer Deng 


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Jane Tang for RFA Investigative.

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  • Lao and Chinese security forces detained 771 people in the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone during a joint operation conducted ahead of a deadline for illegal call centers in the notorious zone to close.

    Authorities in northern Laos have notified call centers in the Chinese-run special economic zone, or SEZ,  that they have until Sunday to shut down their operations.

    Scamming operations run by Chinese nationals who try to trick people into fake investments are rife in the zone. Many of the workers are mistreated and prevented from leaving the premises.

    The Golden Triangle SEZ along the Mekong River in Bokeo province in northern Laos has been a gambling and tourism hub catering to Chinese visitors, as well as a haven for online fraud, human trafficking, prostitution and illegal drug activities.

    ENG_LAO_GOLDEN TRIANGLE SCAMMERS_08212024_003.jpg
    The Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone Command dismantles a gang of telecommunication fraudsters in a video posted to their Facebook page in Bokeo Province, Laos, Aug. 20, 2024. (Mass Media of Public Security via Facebook)

    The Lao government’s closure order came after an Aug. 9 meeting between the Bokeo provincial governor, high-ranking officials from the Lao Ministry of Public Security, and Zhao Wei, the chairman of the Golden Triangle SEZ.

    The joint raids with Chinese authorities began on Aug. 12, according to the Lao Ministry of Public Security website.

    Among the 771 people detained were 275 Laotians, 231 Burmese and 108 Chinese, the ministry said. Other nationalities included people from the Philippines, India, Indonesia, Ethiopia and Vietnam.

    “Most of them are just workers who were hired to work at the centers,” a ministry official told Radio Free Asia. “It’s a form of human trafficking because they were lured to come to the SEZ to work at stores or restaurants, but later they were forced to work as scammers.”

    Computers and cellphones

    A Bokeo provincial official, who like other sources in this report requested anonymity for security reasons, said many of the Chinese citizens who were arrested were in leadership roles at the call centers. 

    “We handed over all the Chinese to Chinese authorities at the border gate in Luang Namtha province several days ago,” she said. “Other foreigners, such as Indians and Filipinos, are waiting for their respective embassies to pick them up.”

    Most of the arrested Lao nationals were booked, reeducated and handed over to family members, she said.

    Authorities have also seized more than 2,000 pieces of electronic equipment, including 709 computers and 1,896 mobile phones, according to the ministry.

    “All Chinese people and equipment seized from the raid have been sent back to China to comply with the agreement between the Lao Ministry of Public Security and the Chinese counterparts,” a Luang Namtha province official told RFA.


    RELATED STORIES

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    In the first half of 2024, as many as 400 call centers were operating in the Golden Triangle SEZ. The centers mostly targeted Chinese, which eventually prompted authorities in China to team up with their counterparts in Laos.

    The owner of a Vientiane employment agency that hires workers for Chinese companies in the SEZ said they have paused recruitment activities and are waiting to see what happens after Sunday’s deadline.

    “If the police stop raiding the places, we’ll be back in business,” he said.

    Translated by Max Avary. Edited by Matt Reed.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Lao.

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  • A fire broke out Monday at a sculpture park in California’s Mojave desert that’s run by Chinese-American dissident artist Chen Weiming, destroying studios, documents and residential structures – the second time in three years that a fire has engulfed the park.

    The Liberty Sculpture Park, which opened in 2017, displays a host of outdoor pieces of art that are generally critical of the Chinese government, including a life-size sculpture of the “tank man” facing off against a tank, commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

    Chen said he raced to the park on Monday night after receiving a call from volunteers and arrived to find thick clouds of smoke and fire. The local fire department dispatched as many as eight fire trucks to extinguish the blaze.

    The county sheriff and fire department told RFA they are investigating the fire. Authorities have yet to comment on the cause of the blaze.

    Chinese-American sculptor Chen Weiming (first from L), founder of the Liberty Sculpture Park, and volunteers at the scene of the fire in Yermo, California, Aug. 19, 2024. (Chen Weiming)
    Chinese-American sculptor Chen Weiming (first from L), founder of the Liberty Sculpture Park, and volunteers at the scene of the fire in Yermo, California, Aug. 19, 2024. (Chen Weiming)

    Chen and other park volunteers say they have reason to believe it was a case of arson perpetrated by agents of China’s Communist Party.

    The first fire, which occurred in July that year, destroyed a sculpture critical of China’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, titled “CCP Virus Statue,” and the U.S. Justice Department later accused three men with ties to Beijing of starting it.

    Yan Na, one of the artists and volunteers at the park, told RFA she believes that agents of the Chinese government are responsible for the fire.

    “It was very targeted this time, burning documentation, computers, and photography equipment,” said the former art teacher from southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. “The fire involved the kind of black smoke that is produced by using gasoline … and based on this assumption, I think it was man-made.”

    Yan said that the sculpture park was likely targeted because it uses art to highlight rights abuses by China’s government.

    “They may [want to] achieve a kind of deterrence because … they burned our work area, so if someone was inside, their life would have been at risk,” she said.

    A spokesman from the Chinese Embassy said he wasn’t aware of the case and had no comment.

    ‘Afraid of the truth’

    Chen agreed that Beijing was likely to blame, noting the arrests pertaining to the earlier fire and that the park has been subjected to several acts of vandalism.

    “What the Communist Party is afraid of is the truth, because the sculpture park uses artistic expression to inform the general public in the United States about the party’s evils,” he said. “Because of our perseverance and the support of our volunteers, we are becoming better known … so they carry out all kinds of despicable actions.”

    The aftermath of a fire that destroyed 'CCP Virus Statue,' a sculpture critical of China’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, at the Liberty Sculpture Park in Yermo, California, on July 23, 2021. (Chen Weiming)
    The aftermath of a fire that destroyed ‘CCP Virus Statue,’ a sculpture critical of China’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, at the Liberty Sculpture Park in Yermo, California, on July 23, 2021. (Chen Weiming)

    Chen said that he knows his work is having the desired effect because of the frequent attacks, and said he hopes incidents like Monday’s fire cause U.S. authorities to pay more attention to cases of Chinese state-sponsored espionage.

    Chen launched the park in 2017 along Interstate 15 in Yermo, California, located 230 km (145 miles) southwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. It also includes a huge sculpture of “64” to remember victims of the June 4, 1989, massacre in Tiananmen – a number that is still censored by China.

    Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Wu Yitong.

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  • U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ choice of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate for November’s presidential election has elicited an exuberant response in an unlikely place: Chinese social media.

    Amid hopes of warmer ties with Washington, the news has attracted millions of views on the Sina Weibo platform, with the phrase “Harris’ VP pick once taught in China” trending on the service on Friday and search statistics revealing an overwhelmingly positive reaction.

    Walz, who taught in China in 1989 and later became a critic of its government, has extensive ties to China, and organized an annual summer school trip to the country as a teacher in the 1990s.

    But while social media comments tended to approve of his view that China’s 1.4 billion people are hampered by the authoritarian rule of the Chinese Communist Party, political analysts said Walz’s selection didn’t necessarily mean Democrats would soften their view of China.

    According to a query submitted by RFA Mandarin to the Weibo Intelligent Search service on the day his selection was announced last week, 62% of Weibo posts about the news showed positive attitudes to Walz, while only 4% showed negative emotions like anger or fear.

    ‘Clear-headed about China’

    Overall, Weibo users expressed their hope that if the Democratic Party’s ticket wins in three months’ time, Walz’s influence as vice president could augur warmer U.S.-China ties, even if the Minnesota governor has a long history of outspoken criticism of Beijing.

    ENG_CHN_WALZ ON WEIBO_08122024.2.jpg
    US Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz greet supporters as they arrive to a campaign rally in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Aug. 7, 2024. (Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP)

    “Perhaps a moderate liberal and progressive tone is appropriate for governing the U.S. right now,” a user with the name Old_Comrade commented on an article from Caixin about Walz on Monday.

    Another Weibo user, sunvssun, applauded Walz’s comments to a local newspaper in Nebraska in 1990 that the Chinese people are “such kind, generous, capable people” and that his decision to teach in China for a year was “one of the best things I have ever done.”

    “If they had the proper leadership, there are no limits on what they could accomplish,” Walz told the Scottsbluff Sun-Herald at the time.

    “Actually foreigners are quite clear-headed about China!” the user wrote.

    Another user, Season5, said Walz appeared to be a “friendly and rational person” and that they looked forward to seeing him show off “his abilities in future speeches and debates.” Equality3000 said Walz came across as a “kind, pragmatic and humorous old man.”

    Others spoke approvingly of Walz’s humble origins and remarked on his rise to the national stage through the democratic process.

    “Finally, a normal person,” said Dream_sky_blue_earth_green. 

    God_given_power added: “Any leader who emerges victorious under the microscope of hundreds of millions of citizens is ultimately better than one who inherits their position from an elite family.”

    ENG_CHN_WALZ ON WEIBO_08122024.3.jpg
    A plaque showing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz sits in Mankato West High School’s Hall of Fame Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Mankato, Minn. (Nicole Neri/AP)

    There was even praise on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

    “A foreigner came to China from afar, without any selfish motive, and took the cause of the liberation of the Chinese people as his own,” wrote a user named cYMgdrYmZbqg0Z1. “This is the spirit of internationalism … and a person who will benefit the people.”

    Reality bites

    Yet despite the hope expressed by Chinese social media users that a Walz vice presidency could turn things around for U.S.-China ties, experts have queried Walz’s desire to change things up.

    Ye Yaoyuan, professor of international studies at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas, said it was unlikely that Walz’s inclusion on the ticket would lead Democrats to change their stance on China.

    “Right now, it’s pretty clear that both the Democrats and the Republicans view China as a competitor,” Ye said.

    Others noted that Walz, if elected vice president, would in any case have to defer on China policy to Harris, who has so far been in lockstep with U.S. President Joe Biden’s hawkish approach to China.

    Tom Kuster, a Democratic candidate for Minnesota’s state House, told CNN that Walz appeared to tread carefully on China as Minnesota’s governor, but would be in a different position in the White House.

    “Minnesota is an agricultural state and the trading market with our farmers who grow soybeans and corn and other crops is very important,” Kuster said, predicting continuity in the White House and in the U.S. Congress if Harris wins the presidency in November.

    “Governor Walz is a Democrat as well, and he is also going to be the vice presidential candidate under Kamala Harris, who is part of the Biden administration,” he said. “I think I would be surprised if there were a big change in U.S. China policy because of him.”

    Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Alex Willemyns.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Sun Cheng for RFA Mandarin.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Chinese censors are cracking down on social media posts referring to allegations of a grisly trade in dead bodies by a medical supplies company that is being investigated by authorities in several provinces.

    Investigators from the Ministry of Public Security are investigating reports that Shanxi Aurui Biomaterials had been involved in trading thousands of dead bodies or body parts, on suspicion that the company engaged in “theft of, insult to, or intentional destruction of human remains,” according to multiple news reports that followed up on a whistleblowing Aug. 7 social media post by lawyer Yi Shenghua.

    Yi, who is president of the Beijing Yongzhe Law Firm, alleged that bodies were being sent to the company from funeral homes across Shanxi, Sichuan and Guangxi provinces, with thousands of bodies in Sichuan alone, and more than 70 families seeking redress. 

    Their bones were being used to create dental bone implants, according to media reports.

    “After the remains are sent to the funeral homes, the ashes the relatives receive may not be those of their relatives, or their remains may be incomplete,” Yi cited an unnamed fellow lawyer working on the case as saying.

    ENG_CHN_BODY SNATCHERS_08122024_002.jpg
    Mourners stand outside crematorium as white smoke pours out of chimneys used for cremation in Beijing, Dec. 31, 2022. (Ng Han Guan/AP)

    Yi later posted additional reports that came in after other lawyers contacted him with similar stories from different parts of the country. None of the posts is now available.

    But his posts, and the subsequent media reports following up on them, have sparked a storm of horrified reaction on Chinese social media, prompting government censors to intervene, according to Yi Shenghua.

    “I can still see my Weibo post but nobody else can,” Yi posted on Aug. 9. “It seems that moves are afoot from higher up.”

    Grilled by officials

    Yi later reported that the topic had disappeared from the Weibo list of “hot searches,” and that he had been hauled in for a grilling by his local bureau of judicial affairs, which regulates lawyers and their activities.

    In another post, he said he wouldn’t be giving interviews to foreign media organizations.

    None of Yi’s posts are visible any more on Weibo, although some users thanked him, while others said they had archived his original posts.

    ENG_CHN_BODY SNATCHERS_08122024_003.jpg
    A woman walks past empty coffins stacked up outside a funeral services shop in the Kowloon district of Hong Kong, March 17, 2022. (Issac Lawrence/AFP)

    While media reports about the allegations were still visible, keywords and hashtags relating to the story returned an error message when clicked on: “Sorry, but content related to this topic cannot be displayed.”

    Links to a Caixin.com article on the case posted to Weibo resulted in a 404 deletion notice on Aug. 9.

    Official media outlet The Paper quoted an announcement from the Taiyuan Public Security Bureau in the northern province of Shanxi from May 23, saying that cases in that province had been sent to the state prosecutor for review and prosecution.

    “The case hasn’t yet been concluded, and police are still investigating the suspects,” the bureau was quoted as saying. However, a link to the article returned a 404 error message when clicked by RFA on Monday.

    Dismembered bodies

    Shanxi Aorui stands accused of “illegally purchasing human remains and body parts from Sichuan, Guangxi, Shandong and other places for processing into bone grafts worth 380 million yuan (US$53 million) between January 2015 and July 2023, The Paper said.

    It said police had seized “more than 18 tonnes of human bones” and more than 34,000 articles of finished product from the company, and that one suspect identified only by his surname Su had arranged for more than 4,000 human remains to be stolen from four funeral homes in Yunnan, Chongqing, Guizhou and Sichuan between 2017 and 2019.

    ENG_CHN_BODY SNATCHERS_08122024_004.jpg
    An elderly woman places flowers on a tomb during Qingming festival also known as Tomb Sweeping Day when family members visit their ancestral graves to clean up and burn offerings in Beijing, April 5, 2023. (Andy Wong/AP)

    Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post reported that crematorium staff in Shuifu in Yunnan province, Banan district in Chongqing, Shiqian county in Guizhou and Daying county in Sichuan, had “roughly dismembered the bodies so they could be transported to Su’s company for further processing,” citing case documents and Chinese media reports.

    The documents also said a further 75 suspects had been detained during the investigation, which is also looking into claims that the Liver Center at Qingdao University Hospital in Shandong illegally sold corpses to the company, the paper said.

    Qingdao liver center director Li Baoxing was named in the documents as a suspect, it said.

    Li has previously been repeatedly praised by the state for his contribution to medical science, and in 2005 was listed among hundreds of China’s “Model Workers” that year as determined by the State Council, it quoted The Paper as saying.

    Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Chen Zifei and Huang Chun-mei for RFA Mandarin.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • By Lice Movono and Stephen Dziedzic of ABC Pacific Beat

    Fiji’s Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, says he will “apologise” to fellow Melanesian leaders later this month after failing to secure agreement from Indonesia to visit its restive West Papua province.

    At last year’s Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders meeting in Cook Islands, the Melanesian Spearhead Group appointed Rabuka and PNG Prime Minister James Marape as the region’s “special envoys” on West Papua.

    Several Pacific officials and advocacy groups have expressed anguish over alleged human rights abuses committed by Indonesian forces in West Papua, where an indigenous pro-independence struggle has simmered for decades.

    Rabuka and Marape have been trying to organise a visit to West Papua for more than nine months now.

    But in an exclusive interview with the ABC’s Pacific Beat, Rabuka said conversations on the trip were still “ongoing” and blamed Indonesia’s presidential elections in February for the delay.

    “Unfortunately, we couldn’t go . . .  Indonesia was going through elections. In two months’ time, they will have a new substantive president in place in the palace. Hopefully we can still move forward with that,” he said.

    “But in the meantime, James Marape and I will have to apologise to our Melanesian counterparts on the side of the Forum Island leaders meeting in Tonga, and say we have not been able to go on that mission.”

    Pacific pressing for independent visit
    Pacific nations have been pressing Indonesia to allow representatives from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to conduct an independent visit to Papua.

    A UN Human Rights committee report released in May found there were “systematic reports” of both torture and extrajudicial killings of indigenous Papuans in the province.

    But Indonesia usually rejects any criticism of its human rights record in West Papua, saying events in the province are a purely internal affair.

    Rabuka said he was “still committed” to the visit and would like to make the trip after incoming Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto takes power in October.

    The Fiji prime minister made the comments ahead of a 10-day trip to China, with Rabuka saying he would travel to a number of Chinese provinces to see how the emerging great power had pulled millions of people out of poverty.

    He praised Beijing’s development record, but also indicated Fiji would not turn to China for loans or budget support.

    “As we take our governments and peoples forward, the people themselves must understand that we cannot borrow to become embroiled in debt servicing later on,” he said.

    “People must understand that we can only live within our means, and our means are determined by our own productivity, our own GDP.”

    Rabuka is expected to meet Chinese president Xi Jinping in Beijing towards the end of his trip, at the beginning of next week.

    Delegation to visit New Caledonia
    After his trip to China, the prime minister will take part in a high level Pacific delegation to Kanaky New Caledonia, which was rocked by widespread rioting and violence earlier this year.

    While several Pacific nations have been pressing France to make fresh commitments towards decolonisation in the wake of a contentious final vote on independence back in 2021, Rabuka said the Pacific wanted to help different political groups within the territory to find common ground.

    “We will just have to convince the leaders, the local group leaders that rebuilding is very difficult after a spate of violent activities and events,” he said.

    Rabuka gave strong backing to a plan to overhaul Pacific policing which Australia has been pushing hard ahead of the PIF leaders meeting in Tonga at the end of this month.

    Senior Solomon Islands official Collin Beck took to social media last week to publicly criticise the initiative, suggesting that its backers were trying to “steamroll” any opposition at Pacific regional meetings.

    Rabuka said the social media post was “unfortunate” and suggested that Solomon Islands or other Pacific nations could simply opt out of the initiative if they didn’t approve of it.

    “When it comes to sovereignty, it is a sovereign state that makes the decision,” he said.

    Republished with permission from ABC Pacific Beat.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.


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  • Shujun Wang, a dapper 76-year-old Chinese American author, has been found guilty of espionage after a 7-day trial that exposed a widespread and elaborate effort by the Chinese government to infiltrate the United States and to influence the public’s views of the Chinese Communist Party.

    Wang became a figure of intrigue in the Chinese pro-democracy movement of Flushing, Queens, when he was charged with working secretly for China’s Ministry of State Security, or MSS, a powerful agency that serves as Beijing’s equivalent of the CIA and the FBI.

    A jury of six men and six women, including three who speak Mandarin Chinese, deliberated for about six hours before finding him guilty of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, making false statements to federal authorities, and using personal contact information of others in a way that assisted in a crime.

    He faces up to 25 years in prison. A date for his sentencing has not been set.

    Wang, who was dressed in a dark gray suit with a red and blue tie, closed his eyes as he listened to the verdict through a translating device held to his ear.

    INV_CHN_Chinese Spy Verdict 02.JPG
    Pages from Shujun Wang’s case file. (RFA)

    Wang’s case is part of a larger drama that has pitted U.S. authorities against China’s spy masters. The U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn has filed charges against dozens of people over the past several years, accusing them of espionage or similar crimes.

    In 2023, a former police detective, Michael McMahon, and two other individuals were found guilty of working secretly for the Chinese government and harassing someone in the United States, trying to illegally extradite them to China, where they’d likely be put on trial.

    Another criminal case centers on a police outpost for the Chinese government in New York, which U.S. authorities say was used to intimidate and harass Chinese nationals on American soil. Chinese officials say the office provided administrative services for Chinese nationals and helped them take care of paperwork and fill out forms.


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    Wang’s case part of a growing trend

    Critics of the Chinese government welcomed the trial against Wang. They said it proved that U.S. authorities were now embarking on a serious effort to fight against China’s spy agencies. 

    Previously, Justice Department officials “were still kind of coming to grips” with the Chinese government’s spying, said David Laufman, a former chief of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence and export control section.

    “Those days are past,” said Laufman, who is now with the law firm Wiggin and Dana. “Now, we’re seeing case after case being brought.”

    Chinese government officials have vigorously denied accusations of espionage. “In recent years, the U.S. government and media have frequently hyped up the topic of ‘Chinese spies,’ many of which later proved to be unfounded,” Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy, told RFA. 

    Prosecutors presented jurors with a staggering amount of evidence, an archive of material that encompassed email, messages, calendars and notebooks showing Wang’s years-long relationship with MSS officers. 

    INV_CHN_Chinese Spy Verdict 03.JPG
    The U.S. District Court on July 17, 2024, in Brooklyn, N.Y. (Jane Tang/RFA)

    The evidence also helped to shed light on the day-to-day operations of China’s secretive agency.

    From the beginning of the trial, Wang’s lawyers had their work cut out for them. Wang had initially told FBI agents that he’d had no contact with MSS. Then, he admitted to an undercover agent that he had met with Chinese security officials regularly.

    MSS officials Feng He, or Boss He; Jie Ji, Ming Li, or Elder Tang; and Little Li, or Keqing Lu, were also charged with espionage-related crimes. They are presumably in China.

    A sometimes faltering defense

    Wang’s defense team included Kevin Tung, a Mandarin-speaking lawyer, and Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma, a public defender who the court assigned to help with the case on July 2. 

    Somewhat mysteriously, a man who claimed to be a paralegal was added to Wang’s defense team in the trial. Though he gave RFA a pseudonym, court documents identified him as Wentworth Huang Wang, a Florida realtor. The man, who is not related to the defendant, has turned up at several pro-China-related events. Separately, he had just been acquitted of a triple rape in Florida earlier in July.

    Shujun Wang’s lawyers told the jury that he had wanted to promote democracy and that he’d spoken to the MSS officers so they would know about the advocacy work done in the U.S. He had not meant to do anything wrong, they said.

    INV_CHN_Chinese Spy Verdict 04.JPG
    Shujun Wang, sitting outside federal court in Brooklyn, on July 17, 2024, said the prosecutors had confused the name of an MSS officer with that of a cat. (Jane Tang/RFA)

    “He’s devoted his life to promoting a free and democratic China through peaceful means,” Margulis-Ohnuma said of Wang. “It was for democracy. It was not as an agent of the Chinese government.

    “Professor Wang believes in democracy. This is not the story of a double life or betrayal … or of deception,” he added. “In fact, there was nothing secret. This was not the CIA. This is not a James Bond movie.”

    Margulis-Ohnuma juxtaposed for the jury a movie still of the famous fictional spy wearing a black tuxedo and holding a brandy snifter with a picture of Wang dressed in a loose-fitting, button-up sweater over a yellow T-shirt, waving his arm awkwardly in the air.

    Wang, he said, was “a lonely old man who’s keeping diaries and writing books.”

    INV_CHN_Chinese Spy Verdict 05.JPG
    Wang’s lawyer, Kevin Tung, left, speaks with co-counsel Zachary Marguli-Ohnuma, right, and Wentworth Wang outside federal court in Brooklyn, July 17, 2024. (Jane Tang/RFA)

    At various times during the trial, the defense lawyers floundered. Margulis-Ohnuma lost his place during one of his courtroom speeches. Seconds passed, and the room remained silent until he regained his footing. 

    Another time, Judge Denny Chin, who oversaw the trial, admonished Tung, telling him during the cross-examination of a witness that he had to ask questions rather than present testimony himself. 

    Wang expressed his own frustration with his attorney in a scene that took place outside the courthouse. The defendant yelled at Tung to talk more forcefully in court about his background as a writer. Wang also attempted to submit 80 pages of additional evidence and to bring in new lawyers, but the judge refused both requests.

    “This is an unfair trial,” he wrote in a statement he gave to RFA while waiting for the verdict. “I urge the jury to clear the name of Professor Wang, the famous writer.” 

    Wang had been an academic in China in the 1990s and tried to make a name for himself in the United States. He wrote books and established himself as a member of the pro-democracy movement in New York, volunteering for the Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang Memorial Foundation, an organization named after Chinese officials who pushed for government reforms.

    INV_CHN_Chinese Spy Verdict 06.JPG
    Shujun Wang, left, stands with his lawyer, Kevin Tung, after the second day of his trial, July 30, 2024. (Jane Tang/RFA)

    Accusations of betrayal

    But, the prosecutors argued, Wang began meeting with the MSS officers and giving them information, betraying his friends in the pro-democracy movement. He traveled frequently to China. From 2015 to 2017, he made at least three times a year. At least one of his trips was paid for by the MSS agents.

    Then the FBI agents got in touch with him. They met with him on several different occasions, including once at a restaurant in Flushing, and asked him about his contacts with the Chinese security agency. They secretly recorded one of their meetings. Finally, Wang was arrested at his apartment in Flushing.

    At the trial, the prosecutors played a tape that showed him trying to delete incriminating messages he had sent to the Chinese agents. The prosecutors said that starting in 2005 and up until his arrest in March 2022, Wang had been leading a double life.

    “He portrayed himself as an academic, an activist, a pro-democracy advocate against the Chinese government,” said Ellen Sise, one of the prosecutors, during the trial. “In reality, the defendant Wang Shujun acted as an illegal agent of the Chinese government, spying on New Yorkers for years.”

    Government lawyers called a dozen witnesses, including Anna Yeung-Cheung, the founder of New York for Hong Kong, a pro-democracy group. Her name was included in a notebook Wang had taken to China for his meetings with the MSS officers.

    INV_CHN_Chinese Spy Verdict 07.JPG
    Shujun Wang smokes a cigarette and speaks on the phone on a park bench across from federal court, July 17, 2024. (Jane Tang/RFA)

    Another of the government witnesses was an undercover agent whose testimony was given without any spectators present to protect their identity. Journalists and others listened from a separate room, straining to hear their voice, piped in through an audio system.

    The undercover agent described how they had pretended that they were working for Wang’s MSS handler.

    “My objective was to gain the truth,” the agent said. They spoke about the way that Wang had deleted files on his computer in order to cover his tracks, so that the FBI would not find out about his relationship with the MSS.

    Edited by Boer Deng.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Jane Tang and Tara McKelvey for RFA Investigative.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.


  • This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

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