RFA in the News (April 2021)
CAMBODIA DAILY
April 30 “Cambodia Opposition Leader Charged Over COVID-19 Lockdown Comments”
… The charge refers to comments that the exiled politician made in an interview with Radio Free Asia’s Khmer-language service on Tuesday, in which he lashed out at the government’s recently implemented lockdown, criticized its lack of aid to residents, and said its COVID-19 relief efforts were riddled with corruption.
APPLE DAILY
April 29 “Reshuffle of Shenzhen officials linked to property speculation: report”
… Along with Chen, 17 other officials have also been replaced, Radio Free Asia reported.
CAMBODIA DAILY
April 29 “Autistic son of jailed Cambodian opposition member attacked”
… Radio Free Asia (RFA) said the attack on Kak Sovannachey, the 16-year-old son of former senior CNRP member Kak Komphear, was the 30th on CNRP members and their families over the past year.
APPLE DAILY
April 29 “China’s tertiary schools face tighter control from Communist Party”
… The new rule, announced in mid-April, required party cadres attached to universities and tertiary institutes to establish new commissions in individual faculties to oversee their disciplinary conduct, Radio Free Asia reported.
NATIONAL REVIEW (Also in RICOCHET)
April 29 “A Uyghur-American journalist, working for Radio Free Asia”
… She is a Uyghur-American journalist, working for Radio Free Asia.
NEW YORK POST
April 27 “Another dissident died in China’s hellish prisons — will we remember him?”
… “We are not convinced,” his father told Radio Free Asia.
TELEGRAPH
April 27 “Guerillas capture Myanmar army outpost on Thai border in fiercest clashes since coup”
… Fighting was also reported on Tuesday in the western Chin state, near the border with India and Bangladesh, where as many as 15 government soldiers were said to have been killed by a newly formed militia that vowed to “inflict damage” on the junta, said Radio Free Asia.
HILL
April 27 “China's people need the truth — America should help them get it”
… Voice of America and Radio Free Asia should start the information campaign by getting “Grandpa” Wen’s remarks to the vast Chinese population so they can see their own aspirations reflected in the words of a Chinese leader, rather than the devious Western plots the regime portrays.
CHRISTIANITY DAILY
April 27 “Hong Kong Police Block Taiwan-Based Church’s Website, Hack It To Get Donor Info”
… According to church member Hwang Chun-sheng, the platform has been blocked for a week and its database has been compromised, Radio Free Asia reported on Monday.
TELEGRAPH
April 27 “Guerillas capture Myanmar army outpost on Thai border in fiercest clashes since coup”
… Fighting was also reported on Tuesday in western Chin state near the border with India and Bangladesh where as many as 15 government soldiers were said to have been killed by a newly formed militia that vowed to “inflict damage” on the junta, said Radio Free Asia.
ASIA NEWS INTERNATIONAL
April 25 “Chinese authorities sentence Uyghur author to 20 years in prison”
… Ahtam Omer, who wrote a short story collection titled Child of the Eagle, had been missing since early 2017, Washington-based Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported.
APPLE DAILY
April 24 “Brother-in-law of wife to missing rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng found dead”
… “There have been no phone calls, no information. Nobody knows anything about him. It’s as if he has evaporated,” Radio Free Asia on Monday quoted Geng as saying.
REUTERS
April 24 “China, North Korea poised to resume freight rail links as trade revives”
... U.S. government-funded Radio Free Asia on Tuesday cited unnamed sources saying a train carrying food aid left Dandong for North Korea on Saturday.
APPLE DAILY
April 24 “Thugs attack and beat Beijing residents protesting the forced demolition of their homes”
… More than 10 attackers, dressed in plain clothes, were led by village official Wu Longli on Wednesday evening during the attack on residents in Xiaotangshan Village, in Beijing’s Changping district, Radio Free Asia reported.
JURIST
April 23 “Myanmar dispatches: updates and analysis from JURIST correspondents in Myanmar”
Many in Myanmar and abroad were shaken Thursday by an interview conducted by US-funded Radio Free Asia that described conditions for detainees held at the Shwe Yamin Htet interrogation center in Yangon in the third month of the country’s military coup
CNN
April 23 “Chinese vessels present at Julian Felipe Reef since February 2020— US think tank”
… Satellite imagery from Planet Labs shows that significant numbers of vessels have been at Whitsun since at least February 2020—a fact earlier reported by Radio Free Asia,” Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative said in a report.
POLYGRAPH
April 22 “Beijing Denies Expansionism Despite South China Sea Militarization, Sweeping Claims”
… In March, the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs intensified demands that China withdraw dozens of so-called “Maritime Militia” ships “moored, anchored and stationary at Julian Felipe Reef,” in the Spratly Islands and the Philippines’ EEZ, Radio Free Asia reported.
ASIA NEWS INTERNATIONAL
April 22 “Fearing 'extremist' tag, Xinjiang's Uyghurs not fasting in Ramzan”
… Shohret Hoshur, in an article in Radio Free Asia (RFA), wrote that Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in the XUAR for years have been prohibited from fully observing Ramadan due to religious persecution and restrictions imposed by the Chinese government, which has in many cases banned civil servants, students and teachers from fasting during the holy month.
NIKKEI ASIA (Also in TIBET SUN)
April 22 “China bill boosts US diplomatic, military presence in Indo-Pacific”
… Separately, the U.S. Agency for Global Media would receive $100 million yearly including to expand coverage by Radio Free Asia, a U.S.-government-funded news service highly critical of China.
GLOBAL MEDIA ARTS NEWS
… The think tank said the Chinese vessels have been present at the Reef since at least February 2020, which was reported by Radio Free Asia.
BLASTING NEWS
April 22 “Former Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao runs afoul of his country's internet censors”
… Radio Free Asia (RFA) published the following translation of the eyebrow-raising conclusion of the four-part article: "In my mind, china should be a country full of fairness and justice, always with respect for the will of the people, humanity, and human nature."
APPLE DAILY
April 21 “China falsely accused young journalist of subversion, says legal scholar”
… Tian also visited news broadcaster Radio Free Asia and U.S.-based scholar and activist Han Lianchao.
KHMER TIMES
April 20 “CPP urges more former CNRP to seek political rehabilitation”
… However, former CNRP vice president Eng Chhay Eng, who is living in exile to avoid a number of prison sentences from the court, told Radio Free Asia (RFA) that the departure of some individuals will not affect the popularity of the ex-CNRP, saying the supporters still value Rainsy and former opposition leader Kem Sokha who is on trial for “treason”.
HILL
April 20 “The unappreciated power of Radio Free Asia: Telling the truth to China's people”
… Mr. Biden would do well — at the minimum — to shift priorities and provide the resources to expand the activities of Asian-directed media outlets, most notably Radio Free Asia.
COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS
April 19 “Imprisoned Uyghur journalist Erkin Tursun appears in Chinese propaganda video”
... Prior to his arrest in March 2018, Tursun won multiple awards for his work with the state broadcaster Ili Television, including for “The World is Beautiful and Filled with Love and Care,” a documentary on the financial struggles of three Uyghur Students, according to Radio Free Asia and CPJ research.
DIPLOMAT
April 19 “Myanmar’s Civil War Has Already Begun”
… Those who remain in the cities will continue their fight by guerrilla protests,” he told Radio Free Asia.
BUDDHIST DOOR
April 19 “Pro-democracy Protesters Hold Silent Strikes During Myanmar’s Buddhist New Year Holiday”
... “We’re not celebrating Thingyan as we traditionally do. We’re holding various campaigns to defy them.” (Radio Free Asia)
KOREA HERALD
April 19 “NK imports from China spike in March”
… Radio Free Asia said Chinese officials have been inspecting and repairing railroad tracks so trains between China and North Korea can start running from April.
WASHINGTON POST (Also in HILL)
April 18 “China is intensifying the third phase of its genocide denial”
… At first, when a few brave journalists at Radio Free Asia began alerting the world to the terrible events unfolding in western China, China’s Communist rulers denied that anything at all was taking place.
CHRISTIANITY DAILY (Also in FEDERALIST)
April 17 “Chinese Communist Party, Under Xi Jinping, Revises CCP History To Remove Its Atrocities”
… According to Radio Free Asia, the Cyberspace Administration is looking to revise history to remove its atrocities through a newly published guide titled "A Brief History of the Communist Party of China."
BLITZ
April 17 “Vietnam detains journalist Nguyen Hoai Nam”
… On his personal Facebook page, which has about 7,800 followers, Nam recently wrote about alleged government corruption, and frequently posted criticism of Communist Party officials, according to the U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Radio Free Asia and CPJ’s review of his page.
APPLE DAILY
April 17 “Taiwan slams mainland China for spreading fake news about Fukushima wastewater intake”
… The same Twitter account has also distributed false messages saying that foreign media outlets, such as Radio Free Asia and Radio France Internationale, had cited the forged document in their reports, RFA reported.
APPLE DAILY
… Lee’s name appears on the records at Jinan Intermediate People’s Court in Shandong province for Bo Xilai’s bribery and corruption case in 2013, according to a Radio Free Asia (RFA) report.
REUTERS (Also in STRAITS TIMES)
April 16 “Opponents of Myanmar military rule hold ‘silent strike’”
… There were no immediate reports of violence but overnight, two people were shot and killed in the central town of Myingyan, Radio Free Asia reported.
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
… The United States should invest more in the North Korean people’s access to information through robust support for Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, funding for civil society efforts, and initiatives by other relevant government agencies.
DIPLOMAT
April 15 “What’s in the New Russian Military Facility Chatter in Laos?“
… According to the report by Radio Free Asia, Lao provincial officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that a Russian demining team had been working with Lao counterparts to clear an area of around 500 hectares (1,240 acres) of unexploded ordnance (UXO) in Laos’s Xieng Khouang province since December last year to make way for an upgraded airport, with two
zones, one for civilian use and the other for Lao and Russian military use.
RT
… Radio Free Asia claimed two more were injured in the attack at the religious site.
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
April 14 “Risk of China-Turkey tension as Beijing protests against refusal to extradite Xinjiang accused”
… According to Radio Free Asia, a court in Turkey rejected a request by Beijing to extradite Abudukadir to China to face “terrorism” charges, citing a lack of credible evidence, his lawyer said, adding that Abudukadir had been banned from travelling abroad in a previous trial, and that he was free now the decision had been reversed.
AUSTRALIAN
April 14 “Clear echoes of Syria at start of civil war in Myanmar: UN”
… Radio Free Asia reported that Tamu’s armed resistance was led by insurgent Naga forces from northeast India, and that 20 civilians and 18 troops were killed in clashes.
EXCHANGE 99
… After the 1990 cold democratic revolution, which ended Mongolia’s seven many years as a Soviet proxy, he served two phrases as prime minister, on both facet of stints learning public coverage at Harvard Kennedy College and dealing on the Mongolian language service of Radio Free Asia in Washington D.C.
CHRISTIANITY DAILY
… A trusted source by Radio Free Asia (RFA) revealed that Guo had been tortured behind bars.
COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS
April 14 “Vietnam detains journalist Nguyen Hoai Nam for alleged anti-state crimes”
… On his personal Facebook page, which has about 7,800 followers, Nam recently wrote about alleged government corruption, and frequently posted criticism of Communist Party officials, according to the U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Radio Free Asia and CPJ’s review of his page.
JAMESTOWN FOUNDATION
… Western European countries including France, Germany and the U.K. are due to join America on FON trips in the SCS, and the U.S. has boosted the dispatch of naval vessels through the Taiwan Strait (Radio Free Asia, March 12; Sina.com.cn, March 11).
KOREA TIMES
April 13 “US hearing on North Korea's human rights expected to anger Pyongyang”
… In December, when the law was passed in the DPK-dominated National Assembly, Scholte told Radio Free Asia that she found it "extremely disturbing that lawmakers in South Korea are taking directions from the sister of a dictator," referring to a statement from Kim Jong-un's powerful sister, Kim Yo-jong, in June 2020, demanding that Seoul ban the balloon campaign.
TRT WORLD
April 13 “Is Myanmar's army selling the bodies of protesters to their relatives?”
… The United States government-funded Radio Free Asia also reported that the army is selling the bodies of dead protesters.
KHMER TIMES
April 13 “Chinese Embassy rebukes Radio Free Asia’s ‘pure slander’”
… The Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh has strongly hit back against Radio Free Asia (RFA) Khmer service, over an article claiming that China is drawing Cambodia into a “debt trap” and is seeking military influence in the Kingdom, saying it is “pure slander”.
EURASIA REVIEW
April 13 “Orchestrated Conflicts In The South China Sea – Analysis”
… Other sources include Radio Free Asia, center-right NewsCorp media in Australia, BBC News and other media based mainly in the US and Australia, and Vietnam.
EURASIA REVIEW
April 12 “Jimmy Lai ‘Guilty,’ Faces Five Years In Prison For Democratic Assembly – OpEd”
… Radio Free Asia reports that the Chinese Communist Party operates a series of “transformation” facilities that torture and attempt to brainwash detained Christians across China, particularly in Sichuan province.
PERSECUTION
“Lao Christian Pastor Detained since 2020 Finally Released”
… According to Radio Free Asia, an official of the provincial prosecutor’s office told RFA that Pastor Sithon Thippavong, 35, was released on April 9 after being convicted by the Provincial People’s Court on April 6 on charges of “disrupting unity” and “creating disorder.”
CASINO
April 12 “US-Sanctioned Casino Baron Zhao Wei Mulls Expansion to Laos World Heritage Site”
… According to Radio Free Asia (RFA), Zhao’s company recently inspected a plot of land in Xiangkhouang province in central Laos, with a view to building a tourist development there, including a hotel and golf course.
VOICE OF AMERICA
April 12 “Chinese Embassy Denies Debt Trap for Cambodia”
… The embassy issued a statement, released Sunday on Facebook, refuting opinions expressed in a piece aired on U.S. broadcaster Radio Free Asia’s Khmer Service on April 8 claiming “China’s credit activities are entrapping Cambodia into colonization.”
TELEGRAPH
April 12 “Thousands flee Myanmar town after crackdown leaves 100 protesters dead”
… Residents told Radio Free Asia that many people were seeking refuge from the junta’s violence in villages in the surrounding countryside.
TIMES OF LONDON
April 12 “Myanmar defector says most soldiers willing to oppose regime”
… “I think 75 per cent or more military people know what they are doing is wrong, but they cannot break free,” Lin Htet Aung told Radio Free Asia.
CNN (Also in THAIGER, TRT WORLD)
April 12 “Myanmar's military is charging families $85 to retrieve bodies of relatives killed in crackdown”
… Radio Free Asia's Burmese service matched the reporting from the Bago University Students' Union. CNN has not independently verified the report and has reached out to the military for comment.
DEUTSCHE WELLE
April 12 “Coronavirus: How the pandemic is hitting North Korea hard”
… There are some unconfirmed reports of the spread of COVID-19 in North Korea. Unnamed "official" sources inside North Korea's North Hamgyong Province, told US government-funded Radio Free Asia (RFA) that about 5,400 people have been diagnosed as suspected COVID-19 patients and more than 10 people have died after showing the symptoms.
TIMES OF LONDON
April 11 “Bodies are ‘piled high’ in Buddhist pagoda after Myanmar troops shoot protesters”
… A Bago resident told Radio Free Asia that the only source of news for many was now the radio.
AL JAZEERA
April 10 “Myanmar UN envoy urges no-fly zone as over 80 killed”
… According to Radio Free Asia, civilians were reportedly shot at using live ammunition as security forces started dismantling a barricade set up by the protesters.
CHRISTIANITY DAILY
April 10 “Hong Kong Government Threatens ‘Consequences’ To Countries Providing Asylum To Refugees”
… According to Radio Free Asia, Law took to Twitter to share the good news that his status as a political asylum-seeker has been approved following several interviews in the last four months.
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
April 10 “Fraud, force and genocide: An extraordinary day in the annals of Australia’s national life”
… I reported her remarks but the number of 1 million detainees out of a total Uighur population of some 10 million seemed so outlandish that I made a point of including other estimates, all of which were lower, such as Radio Free Asia’s report of 120,000 Uighurs in detention.
AL JAZEERA
April 9 “Britain slams ‘bullying’ Myanmar over London embassy ‘coup’”
… Radio Free Asia reported on Friday that at least 11 more protesters were killed by security forces on Thursday.
JAMESTOWN FOUNDATION
April 9 “The Arakan Dream: The Search for Peace in Myanmar’s Rakhine State”
… In preparation for the realization of its “Arakan Dream 2020,” in December 2019 the AA announced the formation of the Rakhine People’s Authority—a proto-state which would be used to levy taxes on businesses to fund the rebel army’s operations and that of its political wing, the United League of Arakan (Radio Free Asia, July 20, 2020).
ASEAN TODAY
April 9 “Lao government, ethnic communities clash over development projects”
According to a Radio Free Asia report on April 1, Lao military forces have repeatedly attacked Hmong living around Phou Bia mountain in Xaysomboun province, north of Vientiane.
CHRISTIANITY DAILY
April 8 “Chinese Communist Party Advances Agenda Through Economic Coercion, Report Says”
… Taiwanese doctors would also risk rejection in the publication of their academic papers under Spring Nature's "Eye and Vision" - a medical journal allegedly working in partnership with and sponsored by Wenzhou Medical University in China - if they refuse to abide to the editorial conditions. Radio Free Asia reported about such a case.
REPUBLIC WORLD
April 8 “Chinese Dams Unleash Water On Mekong River, Threaten Aquatic Life And People In Laos”
… China has unleashed water during the river’s normal dry season by opening dams on the Mekong Rivers that further threaten the aquatic life in Laos along with several other people living alongside the river in Southeast Asian country, stated a report by Radio Free Asia (RFA).
APPLE DAILY
April 8 “Concerns over freedom of speech as Chinese cinemas told to screen two propaganda movies a week”
… An online commentator surnamed Zhou, who lived through the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, told Radio Free Asia that he found the party’s infringements on speech and thought becoming increasingly frequent.
DIPLOMAT
April 8 “Chinese Casino Magnate’s Empire Set to Expand in Laos”
… According to a report by Radio Free Asia (RFA)’s Lao service, an indispensable portal to news from the communist-ruled nation, the businessman Zhao Wei toured Saravan province in southern Laos and met with the provincial governor “to discuss the possibility of developing an airport and investing in several agricultural and tourism development projects.”
ASIA NEWS NETWORK
April 7 “Chinese satirist jailed over critical comments against Communist Party”
… Chen Shaotian was sentenced 14-month prison term by a local court that found him guilty of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble", a charge frequently used to target critics of the regime, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported.
NATIONAL INTEREST
April 7 “Is Trade Between China and North Korea Back On?”
… Another report at the same time, from Radio Free Asia, also indicated that the resumption of trade between China and North Korea was imminent.
DAILY WIRE (Also in FOX NEWS, NEW YORK POST, CHRISTIAN POST, ASIAN HERALD, PERSECUTION, LATESTLY, ASIA NEWS INTERNATIONAL, CHRISTIANITY DAILY, POST MILLENIAL)
… “A member of a Christian ‘house church’ in the southwestern province of Sichuan who asked to be identified by a pseudonym Li Yuese said he was held in a facility run by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s United Front Work Department, working in tandem with the state security police, for 10 months after a raid on his church in 2018,” Radio Free Asia reported.
CHRISTIANITY DAILY
… "This shutdown is mainly because they don't want the news from citizen journalists on the ground to reach the media and then go from the media to the public," J. Paing of the Myanmar Press Photo Agency told Radio Free Asia.
NEW YORKER
April 5 “Surviving the Crackdown in Xinjiang”
… Reporters with Radio Free Asia called up local Chinese officials, who, accustomed to speaking with Party propagandists, were strikingly candid.
WASHINGTON POST
April 3 “Fearful of political criticism, China won’t show the Oscars live”
… Reports from Bloomberg News and Radio Free Asia said that the Communist Party had told all media outlets to play down the Oscars generally and the Zhao and “Do Not Split” awards in particular.
NEWS.COM.AU
April 3 “GPS plots reveal secret game of ‘chicken’ in South China Sea”
… The US government-funded Radio Free Asia collated satellite and automatic identification (AIS) tracking data to observe coast guard cutters stalking the fishing boat between February 22 and March 16.
WASHINGTON POST
April 3 “Fearful of political criticism, China won’t show the Oscars live”
… Reports from Bloomberg News and Radio Free Asia said that the Communist Party had told all media outlets to play down the Oscars generally and the Zhao and “Do Not Split” awards in particular.
PERSECUTION
April 2 “Human Rights Watch Urges Release of Lao Pastor”
… “Lao authorities should release Pastor Sithon and apologize for arresting and detaining him,” Robertson told Radio Free Asia’s Lao Service earlier this week. “In general, the authorities should not violate the rights and freedom of those who believe in religion,” he added.
NEPAL 24 HOURS
April 2 “Uyghur, Who Appealed Imprisonment, Charged With Additional Crimes”
… Abdujelil Hajim, formerly the vice chairman of the Kashgar (in Chinese Kashi) Prefectural Trade Association and head of goods transport firm Xinjiang Helil International Business LLC., was detained on March 13, 2017 and charged with “aiding terrorism” on May 28 of the same year, according to Radio Free Asia (RFA).
AUSTRALIAN JEWISH NEWS
April 1 “A moral imperative to speak out for the Uyghurs”
… Radio Free Asia has reported in detail of the conversion of a hospital into a detention facility in Aksu in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
NATIONAL INTEREST
April 1“North Korea-China Trade Starting this Month? One Report Says Yes.”
Radio Free Asia also reported Thursday that the reopening of trade between the countries was imminent.
NATIONAL INTEREST
April 1 “North Korean Official Purged Over Flouting of Coronavirus Quarantine”
… According to a Radio Free Asia report Wednesday, the Kim regime has purged an official in North Pyongan province, for “allowing a coronavirus quarantine center to operate at reduced capacity.”