Engnews February 2015

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RFA Breaking News: Myanmar Says Kokang Rebels Getting Help from China’s Side of Border

by Paul Eckert

Myanmar Says Kokang Rebels Getting Help from China’s Side of Border FEB. 26, 2015 - Myanmar has evidence that Kokang rebels fighting government troops in weeks of deadly clashes in northeastern Shan State are getting arms, food and medical care from nearby China, the government spokesman said on Thursday. Minister of Information Ye Htut stopped short, however, of accusing China’s central government of supporting the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) rebel forces under ethnic Chinese commander Peng Jiasheng. The conflict flared up on Feb. 9 and has killed more than 100 people and displaced tens of thousands of people. “We believe the PRC government has policies to follow the Five Basic Principles for Peaceful Co-existence. However, we now have questions on how closely the local government and business circles in the border regions adhere to these policies,” Ye Htut told RFA’s Myanmar Service in an interview. Peng's MNDAA, which is trying to retake the Kokang self-administered zone that it had controlled until 2009, has denied receiving Chinese help and rejected earlier Myanmar government claims that Chinese mercenaries are fighting alongside rebel forces in Kokang. But Ye Htut said “the evidence we had gotten proved that the arms supplies, their food rations, and treatment of their injured are not from Myanmar territory. So we wonder how much the regional-level authorities on their (China’s) side ‘control’ themselves.” 'Arms traders and drug smugglers' Myanmar has been reaching out to China to share information and cooperate on the conflict, he said. “It would be more accurate to say groups on the other side of the border rather than saying Chinese,” said Ye Htut. Shan State shares a long rugged border with China’s Yunnan province and a significant segment of people in Kokang are ethnic Chinese. “We are going to feed them with necessary information and cooperate with them so they can stand correctly in accordance with their policies,” he added. China denies having anything to do with the MNDAA or the current fight in Kokang. Amid confusion and competing claims over casualties, Ye Htut said Myanmar’s army “only announces the statistics depending on the bodies they found and so is closer to reality” while MNDAA “would not admit high casualties to avoid bringing their morale down.” Ye Htut reiterated Myanmar’s stance that it will not negotiate with the MNDAA and Peng, who published an open letter to President Thein Sein this week requesting talks. “We have no reason to hold talks with criminals, murderers, arms traders and drug smugglers,” he told RFA. Reported by Khin Khin Ei for RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Paul Eckert. View this story online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/ye-htut-kokang-02262015162400.html Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA ’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org . To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to engnews-join(a)rfanews.org . ##### All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at mahajanr(a)rfa.org .

10 years, 1 month

RFA Breaking News: Cambodia Deports Spanish Environmental Activist After Visa Row

by Paul Eckert

Cambodia Deports Spanish Environmental Activist After Visa Row FEB. 23, 2015 - Cambodia on Monday deported a Spanish environmentalist who had led a campaign against a controversial dam project, rejecting appeals from opposition politicians and NGOs and putting the activist on black list that may prevent his return to the country. Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson, director of the NGO Mother Nature Cambodia, was put on a plane to Thailand Monday night, three days after his visa had expired, said Ministry of Interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak. “Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson was given a notice for deportation from Cambodia. We ousted him from Cambodia,” Khieu Sopheak told RFA's Khmer service. “At around 9 pm, he was deported from the international airport, and was going to Bangkok,” the spokesman added. The Khmer-speaking Gonzalez-Davidson had long campaigned against the planned Chhay Areng hydropower dam in Koh Kong province. The 108-megawatt dam is backed by ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) lawmaker Lao Meng Khin and his wife, who have evicted thousands of families from land around the country. Gonzalez-Davidson’s supporters in the Cambodia NGO community say the dam would force more than 300 ethnic minority families off of their ancestral land and would destroy the habitat of endangered animals. They said the government wanted Gonzalez-Davidson expelled to prevent him from organizing any further opposition to the U.S. $400 million dam project, which is to be built by China’s Sinohydro Corporation. Abuse of NGO status Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak, however, said Gonzalez-Davidson had abused his NGO’s status last year when he had set up road blocks that prevented local authorities from traveling in the district. “We don’t want to implement legal actions; this is the last option,” he said. “We received complaints from Koh Kong authorities, and demanded that Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson must be deported,” said Khieu Sopheak. Gonzalez-Davidson, who had refused to leave when his visa expired Friday and said he would await forced deportation, is unlikely to be allowed back into Cambodia, said Khieu Sopheak. “When we issued a removal notice, he was registered on a black list,” he said. The deportation came after Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday lashed out against the opposition party for asking the Cambodia’s King to intervene in the deportation. Road block angers officials Hun Sen asked NGOs and politician not to get involved in the case of Gonzalez-Davidson and asked the Spaniard to leave the country. “Regardless of (whether they are) foreigners or Cambodians those who abuse the law will be prosecuted,” he said. Monday’s decision marked the first time a worker with a foreign NGO was prevented from entering the country since Global Witness staff members were denied visas in 2005. On Feb. 17, opposition politicians and a group of 31 local rights groups, unions, communities and associations issued a statement urging the government to reverse course on a decision announced the previous week not to renew Gonzalez-Davidson’s visa. In September, authorities briefly detained 11 local environmental activists, including Gonzalez-Davidson, for blocking a road and preventing Koh Kong provincial governor Phon Lyvirak and Chinese experts from visiting the Chhay Areng dam project site. Gonzalez-Davidson told RFA at the time that villagers set up the road block after receiving information that Chinese experts and officials were traveling to the province to conduct studies on the impact of the dam, adding they did not believe the studies would be conducted fairly. Reported by RFA's Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written by Paul Eckert. View this story online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/spanish-02232015112118.html Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA ’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org . To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to engnews-join(a)rfanews.org . ##### All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at mahajanr(a)rfa.org .

10 years, 1 month

RFA's Tibetan Service Launches Satellite TV Broadcast

by Rohit Mahajan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Feb. 18, 2015 Contact: Rohit Mahajan 202 530 4976 <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org RFA's Tibetan Service Launches Satellite TV Broadcast WASHINGTON - Marking Losar, the Tibetan new year, Radio Free Asia <http://www.rfa.org/english/> 's Tibetan Service <http://www.rfa.org/tibetan/> today launched its first satellite television broadcast <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNgPnreV_cw#t=61> . The half-hour program airs daily at 6 p.m. in China's Tibetan regions and 3:30 p.m. in Dharamsala, India. "With the launch of RFA Tibetan's daily satellite TV broadcast, we begin a new and exciting chapter for both RFA and our Tibetan audiences," said Libby Liu, President of Radio Free Asia (RFA). "Starting today, as we join Tibetans everywhere around the world in celebrating Losar, RFA will provide a great way to access uncensored news and information." Since it began in December 1996, RFA's Tibetan Service - which broadcasts in the Uke, Amdo, and Kham dialects - has covered the Chinese authorities' longstanding crackdown on Tibetan protests, and political, religious, and human rights abuses throughout the Tibetan ethnic regions of China. Press freedom watchdog group Reporters Without Borders <http://index.rsf.org/#!/> considers China among the world's most challenging and restricted media environments for journalists. Despite these challenges, the service has broken the vast majority of stories related to the ongoing wave of self-immolations in China's Tibetan regions since they began in 2009. The service's new half-hour daily satellite TV broadcast opens another channel for RFA Tibetan to focus on these and other issues through news programming, as well as hosted talk shows, and special interviews. The service joins RFA's Myanmar, Mandarin, and Cantonese services, which also offer its audiences satellite television programming. # # # Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA's broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to "seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. Rohit Mahajan | Radio Free Asia | Media Relations Manager <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org | O: 202.530.4976 | M: 202.489.8021

10 years, 1 month

RSF’s Index Paints “Grim Picture” of Press Freedom’s Future in Asia: RFA President

by Rohit Mahajan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Feb. 12, 2015 Contact: Rohit Mahajan 202 530 4976 <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org RSF’s Index Paints “Grim Picture” of Press Freedom’s Future in Asia: RFA President Seven of RFA’s nine target countries and territories in bottom 10 percent WASHINGTON – Threats to journalists and netizens, and censorship issues continued to hurt the media environments of Radio Free Asia <http://www.rfa.org/english/> ’s target countries, according to Reporters Without Borders’ 2015 Press Freedom Index <http://index.rsf.org/#!/> . Radio Free Asia (RFA) President Libby Liu said the report continues to paint “a grim picture of the future of press freedom in Asia,” with seven of RFA’s nine language services now operating in the bottom 10 percent of media environments in the world. Meanwhile, the two RFA countries not in the bottom 10 percent, Myanmar and Cambodia, still continue to struggle with government pressure on journalists and news outlets to self-censor. “In all of RFA’s countries, press freedom continues to be under threat and under attack,” Liu said. “The seriousness of the situation is evidenced in areas once considered the few bright spots of our broadcast regions. “In Hong Kong, for example, authorities used the Umbrella Movement demonstrations as an excuse to escalate their efforts to rein in media freedoms, including attacks on and firings of editors and reporters critical of the city’s and mainland China’s leadership. “Our journalists on the ground in Myanmar and Cambodia continue to experience and witness both countries struggling with free press issues, including the use of civil and criminal courts as a means to intimidate journalists with the threat of prosecution. “With this latest report, Reporters Without Borders continues to paint a grim picture of the future of press freedom in Asia, especially with countries under authoritarian rule – and it reinforces the need for our work there now more than ever.” The survey ranked North Korea second to last at 179 of the 180 countries researched, with China at 176, Vietnam at 175, and Laos at 171. Cambodia was ranked at 139 and Myanmar at 144. Hong Kong, once considered a bastion of free expression in China, saw steep declines. The report cited police misconduct aimed at reporters and photojournalists during the Umbrella Movement <http://www.rfa.org/english/news/special/umbrella/home.html> pro-democracy protests. The report cited China and Vietnam as among its worst press freedom offenders, with both countries arresting bloggers and journalists. In China, these included famous journalist Gao Yu <http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/denies-11212014101216.html> , who was forced to make a televised “confession,” cyber-dissident Xu Zhiyong <http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/zhang-xiangzhong-06122014103936.html> , and leading Uyghur blogger and economics professor Ilham Tohti <http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/separatism-verdict-11212014161952.ht…> , who have joined “the hundred or so other news and information providers already in detention.” In Vietnam, independent journalist Truong Minh Duc <http://www.rfa.org/english/news/vietnam/media-11252014204726.html> was in intensive care for weeks after being attacked by eight policemen on Nov. 2, 2014. RFA <http://www.rfa.org/about/> provides accurate, fact-based news and information via short- and medium-wave radio, satellite transmissions and television, online through the websites of its nine language services, and social media such as Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/pages/Radio-Free-Asia/31744768821> and YouTube <https://www.youtube.com/user/RFAVideo> , among other widely used platforms in its countries of operation. RFA’s language services are Mandarin, Cantonese, Tibetan, and Uyghur, in China; Myanmar; Khmer (Cambodian); Vietnamese; Lao; and Korean. # # # Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. Rohit Mahajan | Radio Free Asia | Media Relations Manager <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org | O: 202.530.4976 | M: 202.489.8021

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Engnews February 2015