Engnews June 2019

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Radio Free Asia Recognized at New York Festivals

by Rohit Mahajan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 25, 2019 Contact: Rohit Mahajan | 202.530.4976 | mahajanr(a)rfa.org <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> Radio Free Asia Features Recognized at 2019 New York Festivals Radio Awards WASHINGTON - Radio Free Asia <https://www.rfa.org/> (RFA) received honors for two news features at last night's 2019 New York Festivals <https://www.newyorkfestivals.com/radio/> Radio Awards, an annual juried competition recognizing achievements in broadcast media. RFA's Mandarin Service won a Silver Medal in the News Features category for its <https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhpxddL0HGm41Vyx7DhhR2wuRPTwJ_NoB> "Gray Rhino" series, a set of short videos focused on China's financial sector and its risks for ordinary citizens. RFA's Korean Service's "North Korean Refugees in Canada <https://www.rfa.org/korean/in_focus/news_indepth/newsindepth-042020181136 50.html> " was a finalist in the same category. "These Radio Free Asia features both take a hard look at important phenomena and human experiences otherwise ignored in Chinese and North Korean media," said Libby Liu, President of RFA. "RFA Mandarin's Gray Rhino video series brings awareness to our audiences in China of the under-reported risks and landmines in the Chinese economy at a time when state-controlled media is pushing out misleading information. Chinese citizens themselves are experiencing first-hand the impact of economic insecurity, unemployment, corporate closures, and empty new housing stock. "RFA Korean continues to share the powerful stories and sacrifices of those who faced enormous risks and danger to flee North Korea's repressive conditions to make new lives for themselves elsewhere. "RFA welcomes this great recognition at the New York Festivals Radio Awards for these features from our Korean and Mandarin Services." Released in February 2019, when many Chinese households were beginning to feel the negative effects of China's economic instability, RFA Mandarin's "Gray Rhino" series took an in-depth look at major issues plaguing China's financial system, such as bad debt in the financial and government sectors, and the Chinese real estate bubble. With the series, the Mandarin Service's digital team provided clear, easy-to-understand analyses of complex issues that are not only neglected in Chinese domestic media, but also often left difficult to understand. As of June 2019, the series had about 375,000 views on YouTube. The Korean Service's "North Korean Refugees in Canada" series was made up of three special reports, each of which highlighted different aspects of North Korean defectors' experiences seeking refugee status in Canada. The series discussed the denial of refugee status to the North Korean defectors, gave practical advice for refugees from experts, and showed how North Korean refugees have adapted to life and changes in Canada. Other winners <https://www.newyorkfestivals.com/worldsbestradio/2019/> at this year's New York Festivals Radio Awards included CBS, the BBC, Al Jazeera, NPR, and Vox. Documentaries from RFA's Khmer and Mandarin Services also received <https://www.rfa.org/about/releases/new-york-festival-2019-04102019121036. html?searchterm:utf8:ustring=%20new%20york%20festivals> honors at the 2019 New York Festivals TV and Film Awards <https://www.newyorkfestivals.com/tvfilm/main.php?p=2,38> earlier this year. # # # 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 United States Agency for Global Media. Rohit Mahajan | Radio Free Asia | Vice President of Communications & External Relations <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org | O: 202.530.4976 | M: 202.489.8021

6 years, 1 month

Radio Free Asia Wins Murrow Award for '709' Crackdown Video

by Rohit Mahajan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 18, 2019 Contact: Rohit Mahajan | 202.530.4976 | mahajanr(a)rfa.org <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> Radio Free Asia Wins Murrow Award for '709' Crackdown Video WASHINGTON - Radio Free Asia <https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/arrest-06102019112135.htmlhttps:/w ww.rfa.org/english/news/china/arrest-06102019112135.html> (RFA) today was among the National Murrow Award winners named by the Radio <https://rtdna.org/content/edward_r_murrow_awards> & TV Digital News Association (RTDNA). RFA Mandarin's video "The Women Against the State <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sUTBmOY7jU&feature=youtu.be> ," earned the distinction in the juried contest's category of Excellence in Video. The video focuses on the aftermath of China's <https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/china-lawyers-08302016152248.html? searchterm:utf8:ustring=%20709> "709" Crackdown - a nationwide roundup of lawyers and legal activists that began in July 2015 - and the wives of those still held in custody today. "This piece, produced by Radio Free Asia's Mandarin Service, focuses on an important and ongoing issue in China and holds authorities accountable," said RFA President Libby Liu. "It gives a voice to the women who face severe intimidation tactics from their own government and whose stories are otherwise ignored by Chinese state media. "RFA Mandarin's digital team deserves full credit for this prestigious award. Their hard work to spotlight these brave individuals and share their stories speaks to Radio Free Asia's critical journalistic mission." Beginning on July 9, 2015, the "709" Crackdown aimed to repress and intimidate lawyers and activists committed to legal reform and rights defense in China. RFA's winning entry - which originally aired in July 2018 - explains the tactics that officials used in their crackdown, such as television broadcasts of forced confessions and refusing to meet with lawyers appointed by family members. The video also goes into the details of the difficulties and hardships that the women experience in their attempts to free their husbands. The Mandarin Service's digital team interviewed Li Wenzu, wife of lawyer Wang Quanzhang, one of the more prominent individuals detained. RFA has reported on Wang's case since he was arrested in July of 2015. While many of those detained under the "709" Crackdown have been reunited with their families, his whereabouts remain unknown to this day. This marks the first time that RFA has won a National Murrow Award, having previously won at least seven Regional Murrow Awards in years past. The Mandarin Service video was produced by Cherry Cheng, Zhang Li, and Alex Zhang of the service's digital team, which in late 2017 began to create short, social media-friendly videos that showcase in-depth journalism and solid data-based information. Topics addressed in their videos describe life in China, covering the social credit system, surveillance, socio-economics and unemployment, media and technology, civil society and the rule of law, and religion. The Mandarin Service's YouTube channel <https://www.youtube.com/user/RFACHINESE> recently surpassed 100,000 subscribers, notable given the challenge of reporting domestic news to a closed market. The award will be presented at RTDNA's ceremony in New York City on Oct. 14. Previous winners of the National Murrow Award include ABC News, The New York Times, CBS News Radio, The Washington Post, CNN, and NPR. # # # Rohit Mahajan | Radio Free Asia | Vice President of Communications & External Relations <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org | O: 202.530.4976 | M: 202.489.8021

6 years, 1 month

RFA Breaking News: Rights Czar Visit to China Contingent on 'Full Access' to Xinjiang Internment Camps: UN

by Richard Finney

cid:1915c8e0862855975f4b9d7894416fbbd4c5b76a@zimbra Rights Czar Visit to China Contingent on 'Full Access' to Xinjiang Internment Camps: UN June 14, 2019 - The United Nations is demanding unfettered access to internment camps in northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) after Beijing's envoy invited U.N. human rights chief Michele Bachelet to "see for herself" what he called "education training centers" in the region. In an emailed statement on Friday, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) confirmed to RFA's Uyghur Service that Bachelet had received an invitation to visit the XUAR, but suggested she would not accept unless given access to the camps on her own terms. "The High Commissioner has been invited to visit China and we are continuing to discuss with the Government for full access," said OHCHR spokesperson Marta Hurtado. "We can also confirm that she met with China's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva this week." On Thursday, Chen Xu, China's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, told reporters that he hoped to find "a time which is convenient to both sides" for Bachelet to visit the XUAR, where up to 1.5 million Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities accused of harboring "strong religious views" and "politically incorrect" ideas have been held in a vast network of internment camps since April 2017. He denied reports of mass incarcerations in the region, saying that "what is happening in Xinjiang is education training centers to help young people, especially young people, to get skills, to be well-equipped for their reintegration into society," according to a report by Reuters news agency, adding that Bachelet should "see for herself . [that] there are no so-called re-education camps." If Bachelet accepts a trip to the XUAR, she would become the highest level U.N. official to visit the region. Bachelet, the former president of Chile who succeeded Prince Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein of Jordan as the U.N.'s human rights czar in August last year, has repeatedly urged China to allow the United Nations to investigate reports of mass detentions of Muslims in the XUAR. In January, China's foreign ministry welcomed U.N. officials to visit the region, provided they "abide by Chinese law and comply with relevant procedures," and "avoid interfering in domestic matters or undermining [China's] sovereignty." Al-Hussein had previously warned that a government-controlled tour of the XUAR would offer little insight into the true conditions at the camps, particularly if U.N. officials are refused permission to interview detainees. Thursday's invitation comes as Vladimir Voronkov, the U.N.'s under-secretary general for counter-terrorism, is traveling in China on a week-long official visit. Reports suggest that Voronkov plans to visit the XUAR, but a spokesperson for the U.N. would not confirm the details of his itinerary, and a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson refused to comment on the claims. Voronkov's potential trip to XUAR has drawn criticism from international rights groups who say that sending him risks lending credence to China's claims that detentions in the region are related to a counterterrorism issue, rather than a violation of human rights, and that his trip could be used as propaganda by Beijing to undermine a possible visit by Bachelet. 'Insincere at best' Rights groups greeted news of Chen Xu's invitation to Bachelet with skepticism. In a post to Twitter on Thursday, New York-based Human Rights Watch's China director Sophie Richardson suggested that Chen Xu's invitation was part of a bid by China to counter criticism of its rights record in the XUAR in the lead up to the 41st session of the U.N.'s Human Rights Council, planned for June 24 to July 12. "Gosh, what a coincidence-to repeat this hollow offer just ahead of #UN #HRC41," she wrote. Dolkun Isa, president of the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress, called the invitation "insincere at best," adding that if Beijing had nothing to hide in the XUAR, it "would have invited [Bachelet] to visit a long time ago." He echoed Richardson's claim that China's invitation is an attempt to deflect international scrutiny of its camps in the XUAR ahead of the Human Rights Council session next week. "China understands that human rights watchdogs and many governments will criticize its Uyghur concentration camps and urge it to close them down," Isa told RFA. "Therefore, this invitation is a preemptive measure to blunt any U.N. and state criticism of China's crimes against humanity in East Turkestan," he said, using a name preferred by many Uyghurs to refer to their historic homeland. Isa also warned that China's government would try to place "preconditions" on any visit by Bachelet in such a way to "only allow her to visit Potemkin camps on guided tours," and that if she accepts, Beijing will use the trip to claim that the U.N. endorses its policies in the XUAR. "A visit is worth it only if China unconditionally allows an independent U.N. fact-finding mission to visit East Turkestan with unfettered access to all camps, all detainees, and to speak with any detainees and officials they want," he said. "Otherwise, this visit will only be used by China to deceive the international community and to justify its crimes against humanity in East Turkestan committed upon the Uyghur people." Recent visits China recently organized two visits to monitor internment camps in the XUAR-one for a small group of foreign journalists, and another for diplomats from non-Western countries, including Russia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, and Thailand-during which officials dismissed claims about mistreatment and poor conditions in the facilities as "slanderous lies." Reporting by RFA's Uyghur Service and other media organizations, however, has shown that those in the camps are detained against their will and subjected to political indoctrination, routinely face rough treatment at the hands of their overseers, and endure poor diets and unhygienic conditions in the often overcrowded facilities. In May, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in an apparent reference to the policies of Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union, cited "massive human rights violations in Xinjiang where over a million people are being held in a humanitarian crisis that is the scale of what took place in the 1930s." Last week, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback told RFA's Uyghur Service in an interview that countries around the world must speak out on the Uyghur camps, or risk emboldening China and other authoritarian regimes. "The Muslim countries should do that. The Western world, the entire world, should do this and condemn these sort of internment camps, of over a million people interned in the year 2019, and they are interned primarily because of their faith and the practice of their faith," he said. The U.S. Congress has also joined in efforts to halt the incarcerations, debating legislation that seeks accountability for China's harsh crackdown on the Uyghurs. The Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act would appoint a special State Department coordinator on Xinjiang and require regular reports on the camps, the surveillance network and the security threats posed by the crackdown. Reported and translated by Alim Seytoff for RFA's Uyghur Service. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. View this story online at: <https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/access-06142019124359.html> https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/access-06142019124359.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 <mailto:engnews-leave@rfanews.org> engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org. To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to <mailto:engnews-join@rfanews.org> engnews-join(a)rfanews.org . Richard Finney Editorial Radio Free Asia 2025 M.Street NW Ste. 300 Washington, DC 20036 Telephone - (202) 266-4006 CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION This e-mail message is intended only for the use of the addressee and may contain information that is privileged and confidential. Any unauthorized dissemination, distribution, or copying is strictly prohibited. If you receive this transmission in error, please contact <mailto:network@rfa.org> network(a)rfa.org.

6 years, 1 month

RFA Breaking News: Interview: 'Now is The Time For The World Community to Act'

by Paul Eckert

Interview: 'Now is The Time For The World Community to Act' June 6, 2019 - Sam Brownback is a lawyer, former United States Senator and former governor of the state of Kansas who has served as the Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom since February 2018. He spoke with RFA Uyghur Service Director Alim Seytoff on June 5, the Muslim Eid holiday, about U.S. policies in response to the persecution underway in northwestern China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), where authorities have held an estimated 1.5 million Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities accused of harboring “strong religious views” and “politically incorrect” ideas in a network of political “re-education camps” since April 2017. RFA: More than one billion Muslims around the world are celebrating the Eid holiday with their families and friends. At the same time, more than one million Uyghurs are detained in China’s so-called political reeducation camps. The State Department last week called on China to release all the Uyghurs detained in the camps, but the Chinese government has not released them. What’s your message today to the Chinese government? Brownback: This is a terrible mistake that they’ve made. They shouldn’t have done it. Locking up this many people of faith simply because they’re Muslims and the Chinese are trying to control the Muslim population in their country. We continue to call upon them to release these individuals. And the world has taken note, the world will take note, and there will be actions that follow this consequence of what China is doing. If you think about it, we’re in 2019 and we’re talking about internment camps and reeducation camps and these sort of things that sound like they should belong in the 1940s and 1950s, not where the world is today. I think this is a terrible mistake that the Chinese have made and we call upon them to release all the Uyghurs and to allow them to peacefully and freely practice their faith. Particularly in this season, where Ramadan is just over and it’s a celebratory time, the Chinese really should do the right thing. And it also sends a message to the world: If China is willing to do this to their own Muslim population, what do they think of Muslims around the world that peacefully practice their faith? A country the size of China—the biggest population in the world, the second biggest economy—they need to be far more interested in what they’re projecting to the world and what they think of people of faith. Particularly the Muslim faith, but they’re doing this to Christians, they’re doing this to Buddhists, they’re doing this to Falun Gong, across the board. RFA: On this very special day, Uyghurs, especially Uyghurs in exile, cannot be with their family and friends. Most of them do not even know whether their family and friends are alive or in detention camps. They cannot call their parents to say ‘Eid Mubarak.’ They’re living in a very difficult situation. A lot of them are very distraught and they cannot see hope. What’s your message to the Uyghur people – not just those in exile, but the Uyghur people who are inside the camps and those outside the camps who also live in what many scholars describe as a police state? Brownback: My message to them is to pray and have hope, not to give up hope. This situation is coming clearer in focus around the world. You’re seeing protesters now mount up in some Muslim countries. In Indonesia there were protesters. The Turkish government has spoken up. The United States government has spoken up strongly and with clarity. Not to give up on hope and continue to believe that right ultimately does win. We have seen situations in the world over history where initially it looks like the situation is hopeless. There’s a phrase in the bible about ‘God is not mocked.’ There is a clarity of truth that comes through in due season. It doesn’t mean there won’t be pain and difficulty, but God is not mocked. There will be truth. There will be righteous things in the future. Maintain that hope. RFA: The United States government is at the forefront in defending the rights of Uyghurs and other Muslims in the region after the Chinese government has arbitrarily detained anywhere from 800,000 to two million Uyghurs and others. Yet aside from Turkey, the rest of the Muslim majority countries are silent on this issue. Some even support and endorse the Chinese government’s repression of the Uyghurs. What’s your message to the Muslim majority countries? Brownback: My message is to them is that they really should examine the factual situation, what’s happening here, and stand up for the human rights of Uyghurs and everybody else when they are persecuted. I think some governments are concerned that ‘well, we don’t want people to criticize us so we won’t criticize somebody else.’ Is that the sort of standard that we ought to have? The United States we have places that people can criticize and be critical of what’s happened here. We’ve had recently two shootings at Jewish synagogues taking place. But we acknowledged that and we fight and we push back against that. That’s what I would call on these Muslim countries to do: Do the right thing and just stand up and have your voices be heard and stand for religious freedom for everybody. Stand for it in your country and stand for it in China as well, and don’t be afraid of China. So many countries…I’ve met with a number of them, and I’ll raise the issue of the Uyghurs and they are concerned about China using its economic power to bully them to be quiet. Is that how you address somebody that’s doing something wrong? Do you act in fear or you don’t act because of fear? That’s how you push back against somebody. You speak truth clearly, and they should do that. The Muslim countries should do that. The Western world, the entire world, should do this and condemn these sort of internment camps, of over a million people interned in the year 2019, and they are interned primarily because of their faith and the practice of their faith. This is wrong. RFA: Do you support sanctioning the Chinese officials who are responsible for the atrocities that are happening to the Uyghur people under the Global Magnitsky Act? Brownback: There are discussions taking place on that right now, and the United States doesn’t announce its position until it’s taken. That’s the status of where that is now, and I can’t announce a position one way or another what’s happening, but when the United States takes action, the world will know. RFA: What will happen to the Uyghur people if the international community, besides expressing its concerns, fails to take any meaningful action? Brownback: We’ve seen this in the past. When the international community doesn’t take actions to address issues, when they take an appeasement strategy, it just emboldens the people that act. What we will see taking place, if China is not confronted in Xinjiang, we’ll see these tactics used in other places by other authoritarian regimes. We’ll see these other high-tech surveillance systems put in place by authoritarian regimes with artificial intelligence (and) facial recognition systems. We’ll see oppression taking place. In some cases in Xinjiang, people aren’t locked up but you can’t act in the society. You can’t go to a mosque. You’ll get seen going in there, and if you get seen, you’ll get a low social credit score, then you can’t participate in the culture or the society and you get blocked out by these very high-tech systems. I think you’ll see these systems multiply if the world doesn’t confront China with what it’s doing now. That’s the history of this. If you don’t confront them, then it just expands. Now is the time for the world community to act. RFA: In your recent remarks, you stated that China is at war with religion and especially Islam, and the Uyghur people’s cultural, religious, ethnic identity is under severe assault. Do you think China will win its war on Islam against the Uyghur people? Brownback: No. Think how many regimes in the past have tried that and how successful have they been. You can put down a faith community for a while. But by the very nature of faith, you’re trying to put down the soul of man. It is a fight you cannot win and you will not win. Now for a while you can lock people up. Look at the Soviet Union. An officially atheistic county for 70 years, and they were trying to squash faith everywhere. Well, that regime no longer exists and the faith community is back. The Orthodox Church is back. I was in Romania recently, and the headquarters of the Orthodox Christian community is now in the old parliament building that was put forward by the communist regime during the period when Romania was under Soviet domination. It was a fake parliament, they weren’t really doing anything. It was just kind of a show, but now it’s the headquarters for the Orthodox Church. And you’re going: ‘Well, okay. Where’s communism now? Where is the Orthodox Church?’ The Orthodox Church has been around for over 2,000 years. Islam has been around for a long period of time, and it’s going to be around. This is a war that China will not win and regimes have tried and failed in the past and the Chinese will fail, too. View this story online at: [ https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/brownback-intreview-06062019162449.… | https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/brownback-intreview-06062019162449.… ] 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 [ mailto:engnews-leave@rfanews.org | engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org ] . To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to [ mailto:engnews-join@rfanews.org | engnews-join(a)rfanews.org ] . ##### All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at [ mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org | mahajanr(a)rfa.org ] .

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Engnews June 2019