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North Korea on Saturday launched three short-range guided missiles into the sea, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Defense, in defiance of international sanctions and efforts to bring the rogue nation to the table for talks.

The ministry detected two launches in the morning, followed by another in the afternoon, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported, quoting an official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"The missiles launched may be a modified anti-ship missile or the KN-02 surface-to-surface missile derived from the Soviet era SS-21 that has a range of about 120 kilometers (75 miles)," the Seoul official said.

He said that judging by the trajectory and distance traveled, the missiles were neither medium- or long-range, adding that they were fired in a northeasterly direction, away from South Korean waters.

In April, North Korea deployed two intermediate-range missiles along its east coast in what was seen as a response to joint South Korean-U.S. military exercises, but they were recalled earlier this month after the operations ended.

The intermediate-range missiles, known as Musudan, are believed to have a range of up to 4,000 kilometers (2,485 miles) and may be capable of striking the U.S. Pacific island of Guam.

"All missiles launched fell into the sea," the South Korean Defense Ministry official said of Saturday’s firing, adding that it was likely part of a military exercise or a missile test.

The launches could also be a show of force for the U.S., which last week docked the nuclear-powered USS Nimitz aircraft carrier in South Korea’s port city of Busan. The North had referred to the carrier’s port call as “a fresh tinderbox to escalate the tension and ignite a nuclear war.”

Routine launch?

Test launches of short-range missiles by North Korea are fairly routine. The North last launched two such missiles into the sea in March.

But tensions have been high on the Korean Peninsula since Pyongyang launched a long-range rocket in December and conducted its third nuclear test in February.

Both tests were in violation of international sanctions that ban North Korea from developing missile or nuclear technology, prompting the U.N. Security Council to adopt even tougher measures against the country in March.

Pyongyang began issuing vitriolic war rhetoric after the new sanctions were imposed, raising ominous prospects of a nuclear conflict on the Korean peninsula.

North Korea has launched five long-range missiles or rockets over the past seven years and last December placed a satellite in orbit.

Pyongyang claimed the satellite was part of peaceful research, but critics said the launch amounted to a banned ballistic missile test that marked a major advance for the North's illicit nuclear weapons program.

U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy Glyn Davies this week completed a trip to South Korea, China, and Japan, where he discussed plans to deal with the North Korean nuclear threat.

Activity at local markets in North Korea has picked up in recent weeks since Pyongyang toned down threats of war against South Korea and the U.S., according to traders along the Chinese border.

Both black and authorized markets  had quieted down during weeks of rising tensions on the Korean peninsula in March and April, with border restrictions tightened and many North Koreans busy with war drills and other preparations, sources said.

But this month, with Pyongyang’s war rhetoric dying down, the marketplaces have started bustling again, according to traders who bring goods to North Korea from neighboring China—the isolated country’s main trading partner and source of goods.

“Business is going well because North Korea’s markets are recovered, and they hadn’t until May,” an ethnic Chinese North Korean who runs a small trading business between China and Pyongyang told RFA’s Korean Service, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Another North Korean of Chinese descent who conducts trade between China and Chongjin in North Hamgyong province, and who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said some traders and merchants are doing so well they are running out of inventory.

“Since the situation in North Korean markets is good, Chinese products are in short supply,” he told RFA, adding that he would be picking up extra inventory on his next trip because business was booming.

“I planned to buy 50,000 yuan [about U.S. $8,000] worth of products, but actually I’ll be buying another 20,000 to 30,000 yuan [U.S. $3,000 to $5,000] worth of extra products.”

Returning to normal

Pyongyang began issuing vitriolic war rhetoric after the United Nations in March imposed a new regimen of sanctions in response to the North’s third nuclear test on February 12, raising ominous prospects of a nuclear conflict on the Korean peninsula.

North and South Korea are still in a standoff over negotiations about the suspension of the Kaesong industrial park, a key cooperation project.

But daily life is returning to normal for North Koreans, with the markets along with it, while smuggling activities along the Chinese border that fuel the country's thriving black market trade are also picking up, traders said.

“Recently, smuggling has been very active along both sides of the river [border],” a source from Dandong in northeastern China said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“A large amount of herbs and vegetables grown in North Korea are illegally traded for Chinese rice and fertilizer.”

“Vigorous smuggling between China and North Korea shows that the North has regained its stability,” he added.

However, business could slow down again once the rice planting season begins, with local marketplaces open for shorter hours, sources said.

At least three quarters of North Korea’s imports come from China—Pyongyang’s main diplomatic and economic ally—and the U.N. has said the success of the new sanctions depends largely on Beijing.

Annual trade between the two countries is worth some U.S. $6 billion, but in the first quarter of this year it dropped more than 7 percent, with China's exports to North Korea down 13.8 percent to U.S. $720 million, according to the Reuters news agency.

Reported by Joon Ho Kim for RFA’s Korean Service. Translated by Goeun Yu. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.

A project to modernize an historic area of Tibet’s capital Lhasa has ignited a storm of protest online and among international Tibetan support groups, with some calling the move an attempt to destroy Tibetans’ “living connection” to their past.

Tibet’s India-based government in exile, or Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), said in a May 16 statement it was “deeply concerned” about the project’s impact, saying it is transforming Lhasa’s central Jokhang temple and the Barkhor, or Old City, around it into a “superficial tourist spot.”

Meanwhile, an online petition launched on Wednesday and signed by over 200 Tibet scholars in countries around the world voiced “grave concern over the rapidly progressing destruction of much of the traditional architectural heritage of the Old City of Lhasa and its environs.”

“This destruction is not simply a matter of aesthetics,” said the petition, addressed to China’s president Xi Jinping and to UNESCO director-general Irina Bukova.

“It is depriving Tibetans and scholars of Tibet alike of a living connection to the Tibetan past,” the petition said.

“It is bringing in its wake the forced displacement of large numbers of Tibetans from their own homes, effectively diminishing the Tibetan presence in one of the most important Tibetan cultural sites,” the petition added.

UNESCO, which lists as World Heritage Sites Lhasa's Potala Palace, Jokhang temple, and Norbulinkga, has previously raised concerns about a need to protect the the cityscape.

In December, the city government launched a seven-month, 1.2 billion yuan (U.S. $196 million) project begun to revamp the Barkhor area, including upgrading water and electrical infrastructure.

Moved out from the Barkhor

Tibetan shopkeepers and traders have already been moved from the Barkhor, a traditional gathering place for Lhasa residents and Tibetan pilgrims for hundreds of years, a local resident told RFA’s Tibetan Service last week.

“On the pretext of modernizing the Barkhor, Chinese authorities have relocated Tibetan traders to the area of [Lhasa’s] Yuthok bridge, where they can barely survive on what they earn,” the man said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“The Chinese are planning to turn the Barkhor into a tourist attraction for commercial benefit with total disregard for the area’s traditional architectural heritage,” he said.

Speaking to RFA, Columbia University Tibet scholar Robbie Barnett noted “a lack of transparency in the [project’s] decision-making process, a lack of communication, and uninvolvement with the public and with experts on what is truly an issue of great importance in terms of world heritage.”

Some of the protests voiced online and in blogs, including concerns that the Jokhang temple itself may be damaged or destroyed, appear to have been “overstated,” though, Barnett said.

“For example, there seems to be no evidence to suggest that there is any threat to the Jokhang.”

What China should consider now is whether it wants to turn Lhasa into a venue for mass tourism “where large numbers of tourists will come and leave a hugely damaging footprint,” Barnett said.

“Standardization of all the street frontages will look pretty, but after a few years people will stop paying money to go there.”

The Jokhang temple has been a symbolic center of Tibetan protests against Chinese rule in Tibet and the Barkhor was a center of Tibetan unrest in 2008 that left at least a dozen people dead.

Reported by RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Tseten Namygal. Written in English with additional reporting by Richard Finney.

Myanmar on Friday released around 20 political prisoners, including a prominent activist who had recently been thrown back in jail after receiving a pardon, ahead of President Thein Sein’s historic visit to Washington next week.

Social campaigner Nay Myo Zin, who in the first case of its kind in the country had his previous amnesty revoked earlier this month under a controversial provision of the criminal code, left the Maubin prison in Ayeyarwady region where he had been held for 14 days.

Friday’s group amnesty did not require other prisoners to sign a document binding them to the provision, which had raised concerns among the country's thousands of ex-political prisoners over their ability to freely engage in democracy after it was used to re-imprison Nay Myo Zin.

Zaw Htay, director of the president’s office, said on his Twitter page that the amnesty signaled that Myanmar’s efforts at democratic reform would be “all-inclusive” and that the country’s dissidents were not being used as a form of leverage.

Thein Sein has granted several prisoner amnesties since his reformist government took power in 2011 following decades of military misrule in Myanmar, though many of them have occurred either just before or immediately following strategically diplomatic events.

Members of the government’s political prisoner scrutiny committee say that according to their list, around 160 dissidents remain behind bars in Myanmar, though some activists have put the number as high as 200.

Nay Myo Zin told RFA’s Myanmar Service that officials at the prison had read him the president’s order before letting him go.

“I am happy that the president is making a good move for the country by ordering the release of political prisoners without any conditions,” he said.

“I also would like to thank the president. It is obvious that he is willingly helping the country when we need reforms and when the government needs to earn the trust of the people.”

Nay Myo Zin, who had been critical of the nation's police was earlier this month ordered to serve six years of a sentence he got for a conviction in 2011 after he had been freed in January last year.

His return to prison to serve part of a 10-year sentence he was handed under the draconian Electronics Transactions Act in 2011 drew attention to Article 401 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which gives the president powers to free prisoners but also to "remit the whole or part of the punishment to which he has been sentenced" at any time.

Nay Myo Zaw welcomed Thein Sein’s new amnesty and said he had even been invited by the government to participate in Myanmar’s reform process.

“I have been expecting that all political prisoners would be released without any conditions and I think it is finally happening. We have been fighting against the old systems of the old era…. We are ready to collaborate for the betterment of our country,” he said.

“There are some [purged] military intelligence officers still in different prisons. I want them released as well because if we can work together for our country, this would be good. I want the government to allow everybody to collaborate in politics.”

US visit

Thein Sein is expected to meet with President Barack Obama at the White House on Monday as the first leader of Myanmar to visit Washington since 1966. A Myanmar government official told Agence France-Presse on condition of anonymity that Thein Sein was due to leave late on Friday and return next Thursday.

Thein Sein has embarked on substantial democratic reforms in the more than two years since his government took power, and the meeting with Obama is seen as an acknowledgement by Washington of the progress he has made in reversing the oppressive policies of Myanmar’s former junta leadership.

In addition to the release of large numbers of political prisoners, Thein Sein’s government has eased restrictions on assembly and the press, renewed attempts at dialogue with armed ethnic minority groups, and allowed Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to enter parliament.

As a result, the Obama administration has suspended most sanctions against Myanmar in an attempt to encourage further change and extend its influence in the former pariah nation.

But several of the political prisoners released Friday said reforms are not coming fast enough and called for the release of all of Myanmar’s remaining jailed dissidents.

Ye Htut Khaung, who was released after being sentenced in 2011 under Myanmar’s religion act, maintained that he and the country’s other political prisoners were innocent, adding that many others are languishing in the country’s jail for their beliefs.

“We have suffered mental anguish [while imprisoned] and I am very sad for our friends who were not released today,” he told RFA’s Myanmar Service. “We can feel what they feel.”

“We must remember the political prisoners who remain in various prisons around the country. It is not enough for the government to simply establish the political prisoner scrutiny committee.”

Kan Min Tha, a political prisoner who was released from Yangon’s notorious Insein prison—where Reuters News Agency reported 10 prisoners had been released—welcomed the amnesty without conditions.

But he said that the government must answer for the dissidents who remain behind bars.

“We were released today, but I don’t know why other political prisoners were not,” he said.

“They released us without any conditions for the first time—we didn’t need to sign anything. But we demand the release of the other political prisoners.”

Article 401

Ye Aung, a member of the government's political prisoner scrutiny committee, said Thein Sein’s government needs to make assurances that future amnesties will no longer hinge on Article 401.

“As committee members, we have asked for the release of additional political prisoners as soon as possible. The committee also submitted a request to release political prisoners without requiring them to sign Article 401,” he said.

Ye Aung said Thein Sein is responsible for deciding which political prisoners must sign the document on their release and which do not.

“We have called on the president to order the release of all political prisoners without any conditions.”

In April, Burmese authorities released 93 prisoners, including nearly 60 identified by a rights group as political prisoners.

The government freed 452 prisoners in November last year in a gesture of “goodwill” ahead of an historic visit by U.S. President Barack Obama, but the amnesty drew criticism from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners which said that none of those granted freedom had been sentenced for their political views.

More than 80 political detainees were released among more than 500 prisoners in September 2012 ahead of Thein Sein’s trip to the U.S. to attend the United Nations General Assembly. Additional political prisoners were released in amnesties in July last year and in May 2011.

Reported by Kyaw Thu and Ei Ei Khine for RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Two ethnic Khmer monks have escaped into hiding after an attempt by Vietnamese government and religious authorities to strip them of their religious status following accusations of anti-state activity, sources said on Friday.

Thach Thuol and Lieu Ny—both of the Ta Set pagoda in the Vinh Chau district of Soc Trang province—evaded arrest on Thursday when hundreds of local Buddhists blocked police efforts to detain them, the two men told RFA’s Vietnamese Service.

“On May 16, at about 4:45 p.m., about 100 plainclothes police officers entered the pagoda to arrest me and monk Lieu Ny,” Thach Thuol said. “We both escaped arrest, but they came again at 11:00 p.m.”

Hundreds of local followers prevented police from entering the pagoda, and police broke locks and glass windows while trying to gain access, Thuol said.

The state-controlled Patriotic United Buddhist Association of Soc Trang province had announced two days before that they would force the monks to defrock, declaring in a statement by Buddhist leader Duong Nhon that the two men had used phones and the Internet to give interviews and transmit “fabricated information” about state policy toward Vietnam’s ethnic Khmer Krom minority.

“That decision [to defrock us] was not correct,” monk Lieu Ny said, speaking to RFA.

“Monks can be defrocked only when they have violated [one or more] of the Buddhist vows not to kill, steal, rape, or lie in order to harm others,” Ny said.

“Because we are citizens we have to respect the law. But this decision by Venerable Duong Nhon did not specifically state what rule we had broken.”

“I think this was a decision taken by the government of Vietnam,” Ny said, adding, “They did everything. They only put Duong Nhon’s name under it and forced him to sign.”

Third monk

Meanwhile, a third Khmer monk, Ly Chanh Da of Vinh Chau’s Prey Chop temple, was defrocked by local police on May 16 and thrown unconscious into the street, the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation said in a statement Friday.

“He is staying at [a] villager’s house now,” the Federation said. “He is in a very bad health condition. Sometimes he cannot even remember his own name.”

“The Patriotic United Buddhist Association had ordered Ly Chanh Da to defrock, but Ly Chanh Da did not listen,” Hua Si Hung, acting vice chair of the Vinh Chau People’s Committee, told RFA.

“The Association then asked relevant authorities from the village to force Ly Chanh Da to defrock,” he said.

Reached for comment, Duong Sa Kha, head of the Ethnic People’s Office of Soc Trang province, described the case as “an internal affair of the Patriotic United Buddhist Association.”

“If you want to know more, you can come here to talk … The Association did not ask the police to do anything,” he said.

A U.S. bipartisan commission recommended in April that Vietnam be returned to a State Department list of the world’s worst violators of religious freedom.

Vietnam, under one-party communist rule, “continues to expand control over all religious activities [and] severely restricts independent religious practice, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedoms (USCIRF) said in an annual report.

Though religious activity has grown in Vietnam in recent years, the government continues to “repress individuals and religious groups it views as challenging its authority,” USCIRF said.

Reported by Quoc Viet for RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.

Authorities began moving tens of thousands of people, including some displaced by communal violence, back to their homes and temporary camps Friday after a tropical storm from which they had sought shelter left western Myanmar largely unscathed.

Cyclone Mahasen fizzled out and veered west of its expected point of landfall, sparing more than 8 million people along the coast of the Bay of Bengal in Myanmar and Bangladesh that the U.N. had warned could have faced “life-threatening conditions.”

At least 46 people were killed either by the storm or while trying to escape it, including 31 Muslim Rohingyas whose boat capsized after setting sail from Myanmar’s Rakhine state, according to officials. Of the 31 who drowned, 25 were children and six were women.

Fifteen people were confirmed killed in Bangladesh by Mahasen which produced winds up to 100 kilometers (62 miles) per hour before being downgraded to a tropical depression.

In Myanmar, which was spared the brunt of the storm’s force, efforts were under way Friday to return some of the 70,000 people evacuated, including

Rohingyas displaced by communal violence last year, to their homes in 13 townships and to area refugee camps.

Win Myaing, a Rakhine state information official, told reporters that the government was assisting displaced evacuees in returning to camps, while others were returning to their homes on their own.

“We brought back displaced persons from five refugee camps to their places as a preliminary group,” he said of the evacuated Rohingyas.

“Some were sent back to their temporary tents at the camps and others were sent back to new huts that are more secure.”

Win Myaing said that there were no reports of deaths or serious damage from the storm and that the area was “no longer in danger.”

Distrust of government

Authorities had struggled over recent days to evacuate Rohingyas from camps thought to be in the path of the cyclone, where they had been living since two outbreaks of communal violence between Buddhist and Muslims last year.

Many camp residents, distrustful of the government, had refused to leave, prompting officials to issue a stern warning to those failing to comply with evacuation instructions.

Myanmar, which is also known as Burma,  saw its southwest coast devastated in 2008 by Cyclone Nargis, which killed more than 130,000 people.

Local people were left homeless and without food or water in its wake, complaining that the country’s then-ruling military junta had deliberately blocked aid to victims of the catastrophic storm.

They also said officials hindered private attempts to plug the gap, and an unknown number of people were jailed for providing aid.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement earlier this week that Muslims in the camps on the Rakhine state coast were at risk not only from the storm but also from violence at the hands of ethnic Rakhine communities and local security forces.

Rights groups have accused security forces of complicity in last year's violence between Buddhist Rakhines and Rohingya Muslims, which left at least 192 dead and displaced 140,000.

Reported by Min Thein Aung for RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Ailing democracy activist Zhu Yufu has been subjected to abusive treatment at his jail in the eastern province of Zhejiang following an international campaign for his release, relatives and rights groups say.

Prison authorities have handed out "punitive abuses" to Zhu, 60, after his relatives traveled to the United States to garner more support for his release, the China Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) group said in an e-mailed statement on Friday.

"Authorities at Zhejiang Province No. 4 Prison have reportedly canceled nutritious meals for Zhu, who in May has suffered several fainting spells due to weakness," the group said.

Zhu's wife Jiang Hangli said she was extremely concerned for her husband's health following her most recent visit to the Zhejiang No. 4 Prison on Tuesday.

The family has already repeatedly asked that Zhu be released on medical parole, to no avail, and Jiang's most recent application was turned down on Tuesday, she said.

Prison officials told her that the reports of Zhu's ill health were "not factual," and warned her to be careful of what she said in public, Jiang said in an interview on Wednesday.

"They said he didn't qualify for medical parole," she said, adding that she had been accompanied on her visit by a number of police and officials, who had recorded and filmed the entire meeting.

"They said I had been saying too much ... and that this wasn't good for Zhu," she said.

"They said his medical condition was fine, and that they had medical records, but they didn't give them to me; they just put them on the table," Jiang said.

"I took a peek, but they wouldn't let me read them in detail."

Denied phone calls and letters

According to CHRD, Zhu has been denied his monthly phone call to his family, to which prisoners are entitled. He was also being prevented from sending or receiving letters, it said.

The U.S.-based Christian rights group ChinaAid said Zhu had reported fainting spells linked to his angina and high blood pressure, but a prison official said Zhu was faking the symptoms.

"[The prison] has downgraded his meal plan and forbidden him to make calls to his family," it said.

"ChinaAid condemns the prison for its illegal acts in depriving Zhu of his legitimate rights and urges the prison to provide him humanitarian medical treatment and release him as soon as possible on medical parole," the group said.

China Democracy Party

Fellow Zhejiang activist Chen Shuqing said he and other members of the banned opposition China Democracy Party (CDP), of which Zhu was a founding member, accompanied to the jail when she visited on Tuesday.

"I spoke to a [prison official] surnamed Wang, who told me that overseas media reports and what Jiang was saying was not true," Chen said.

"We also recorded and filmed the visit," he said.

Zhu was given a seven-year jail term in January 2012 for "incitement to subvert state power" after he penned a poem calling on the Chinese people to vote with their feet.

At his trial, the prosecution cited as evidence a poem, “It Is Time,” that Zhu wrote and shared during online calls for 'Jasmine' rallies inspired by protests in the Middle East in early 2011.

Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

Li Zhongyan was recruited in 1979 by authorities in Qitaihe city in the northeastern Chinese province of Heilongjiang as a cover teacher, as part of a drive to boost teacher ranks in schools by hiring bright young high school graduates from rural areas. Attracted by official promises of promotion, Li taught for nearly two decades in rural schools, but lost her job amid mass layoffs of teachers in the program. She told RFA's Cantonese service that she and others like her have been petitioning for some sort of social assistance, pension or compensation from the government, for the past 16 years:

It was my parents' influence [that made me take up teaching]. My mother was a teacher, but my family circumstances were tough. I was the eldest of eight children. I was good at schoolwork, though. At that time they were recruiting teachers, and they said that [cover teachers] would be able to formalize their status later, which is why I took the test. I got the highest marks.

I feel it's very unfair that other people were able to become full teachers, but those who worked the hardest and achieved the most weren't able to upgrade their status.

We are all in our fifties and sixties now, which means we are close to retirement age. I am really quite depressed, because we have been seeking out [officials] for so many years now, with no result. We have to take manual labor jobs to survive, which is a heavy burden. Some of the teachers who are also farmers can till some land, but some are so poor that even the roofs on their thatched huts leak.

The government has just dropped us, and won't give us the time of day. They say what we are doing is illegal. Recently they drove us out into some deserted place and beat us up. I was beaten till I was black and blue and my clothes were all torn. They also took our money away. At the time I was so angry that I had a heart attack, and had to be taken to hospital for emergency treatment. But I didn't die. We have been roughed up by them in the past, too.

People like us have absolutely nothing. Petitioning is such a hard way of life. But we are still determined. We're not going to give up now, after we've been petitioning all these years.

Reported by Wen Yuqing for RFA's Cantonese service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

Censors in Beijing have blocked information about a protest movement against government plans to produce paraxylene (PX) at a petrochemical plant in the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan, as a top city official took to social media on Friday, drawing further ire.

The Central Propaganda Department of the ruling Chinese Communist Party has banned news organizations from covering Thursday's demonstrations, which saw hundreds of people take to the streets of the provincial capital Kunming in protest at the plan.

"Without exception, do not republish, report, or comment on the assembly of the masses in Kunming to protest against the planned construction of a PetroChina oil refinery," the department said in a directive published by the China Digital Times (CDT), which monitors censorship instructions to Chinese media.

Similar bans were in place for websites and social media platforms, CDT said.

"All websites are asked to remove text, images, and video related to the protest of over 1,000 people in Kunming city center against the Anning PX construction plan," it quoted the State Internet Information Office as saying in a directive.

"Interactive platforms must strictly monitor activity," it said.

Comments still visible

In spite of the ban, some comments about the petrochemical plant and the protests were still visible on the popular microblogging service Sina Weibo on Friday, many of them linked to the opening of a new microblog account by Kunming mayor Li Wenrong.

China National Petroleum Corp (PetroChina), the country's largest oil and gas producer and supplier, announced in February that the refinery project at Anning, just outside Kunming, was approved by the top state planning body in Beijing.

Li has already promised that the refinery won't go ahead, if "most of our citizens say no to it," the official Xinhua news agency said.

But popular feeling was still apparently strong on China's Twitter-like services, the day after the protest.

"Protect the environment, resist the PX plant!" wrote user @meng_zhao. "Please be prudent, on behalf of our children and grandchildren."

And user @moshangzidai commented on Li's tweet: "First, tell us clearly what is going on with the PX project."

Stepped-up security

According to a tweet from Weibo user @ZHy03-Cross, the authorities in Kunming have stepped up security measures at the city's universities and colleges in the wake of the protests.

"No one is allowed to take a day off for the next three days, and every day they have to sign in, subject to spot checks by the municipal education committee," the user wrote.

"Anyone who doesn't show up will be immediately disciplined, and a black mark will remain on their record for life," said the post, which also forwarded the inaugural tweet from the account @kunminshizhang (Kunming mayor).

While no violence was reported, online photos of the protests showed a heavy police presence in downtown Kunming, with police struggling to control the crowd in some places.

However, a comment on the mayor's first post by user @aiguodexiaomao on Friday accused the government of dealing violently with protesters, some of whom had begun a second day of protest in the Wuhuashan district of the city.

"The government is sending armed police in full military gear with iron batons to surround the crowds," the user wrote. "Anyone who opens their mouth or raises a banner is immediately pulled onto a waiting bus."

It said protesters had been unable to send tweets or photos from the area.

"Please, Mr. Mayor, could you give us your thoughts and an explanation?" the comment said.

'Bridge for communication'

Li's initial post, which was retweeted more than 18,000 times and garnered more than 17,000 comments by Friday evening local time, said he had opened a Weibo account in order to build "a bridge for communication" with local people.

Comments came thick and fast within seconds of each other; some congratulatory, others concerned about environmental protection, including concerns about the PX plant and the state of nearby beauty spot Dianchi Lake.

An official surnamed Wang at the Yunnan provincial environmental protection department said the planned plant would have a refining capacity of 10 million tons a year, of which 650,000 tons would be PX, a carcinogenic petrochemical used in the textiles industry.

"Right now the government is entering into a process of consultation and explanation with local citizens," Wang said.

"It will be for the provincial government to make the final decision about whether this project goes ahead or not," he told RFA's Mandarin service on Thursday.

Wang said he could understand the strength of resistance to the project.

"I'm a native of Yunnan myself," he said. "The PX project encountered strong popular resistance in Dalian, Xiamen, and other places, and now they want to bring it to Kunming, a region of beautiful mountains and lakes."

"We find this disturbing, and we don't like them moving polluting industry out here just because the more developed coastal regions want to enjoy cleaner air and water," Wang said.

Lack of information

A Kunming resident surnamed Shi said he was "fairly opposed" to the plant, largely because of a lack of clear information.

"The government here communicates very little with the general public, and people don't trust the government to regulate the plant properly after it is built," Shi said.

"If they don't regulate it properly, then that will harm everybody."

The Anning refinery would produce gasoline, diesel, other various chemicals and fertilisers as well as PX, according to PetroChina's planning submission to the State Development and Reform Commission (SDRC) in Beijing.

State media last week quoted company officials as saying that the refinery would not produce PX, however.

More than three decades of rapid economic growth have sent China’s environment into crisis, officials say,

Worsening levels of air and water pollution, as well as disputes over the effects of heavy metals from mining and industry, have forced ordinary Chinese to become increasingly involved in environmental protection and protest.

China has a comprehensive set of environmental protection legislation, but close ties between business and officials mean that it is rarely enforced at a local level, activists and experts say.

Reported by Gao Shan and Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Hai Nan for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

Cyclone Mahasen slammed into the coast of Bangladesh on Thursday, mostly skipping Myanmar’s western coast where tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees are living in low-lying areas.

The cyclone weakened to a tropical storm before it made landfall on Bangladesh’s southern coast early Thursday afternoon, bringing tidal surges, heavy rainfall, and strong winds to the region.

At least 14 people have been killed in Bangladesh from drowning and fallen trees, but fears of massive devastation both there and in neighboring Myanmar—which suffered a devastating cyclone in 2008—eased as the storm abated.

The fading tempest spared tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims living in flood-prone camps and temporary shelters in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state, where rights groups had warned of a looming humanitarian disaster.

Waves in northern Rakhine’s Maungdaw township reached heights of 2 meters (6 feet), while those in the state capital Sittwe hit 1.5 meters (5 feet), according to the local Irrawaddy online journal.

Kyaw Moe Oo, the deputy director-general of Myanmar’s Department of Meteorology, warned that even though the storm had bypassed the coast, the threat of flooding and landslides remained.

“People should be still careful of the heavy rain, flood, and landslides it will cause,” he told RFA’s Myanmar Service.

Evacauations

Authorities had struggled over recent days to evacuate Rohingyas from the camps, where they had been living since two outbreaks of communal violence between Buddhist and Muslims last year.

Many camp residents, distrustful of the government, had refused to leave, prompting officials to issue a stern warning to those failing to comply with evacuation instructions.

Myanmar state media said that by Wednesday 70,000 people had been evacuated from the camps and vulnerable villages.

Bodies found

On Thursday, Bangladesh authorities found the bodies of 22 Rohingyas who had been missing since their boat capsized Monday as they fled the oncoming storm, according to Agence France-Presse. Authorities said the remaining 31 missing would likely wash ashore.

Myanmar’s southwest was devastated in 2008 by Cyclone Nargis, which killed more than 130,000 people.

Local people were left homeless and without food or water in its wake, complaining that the country’s then-ruling military junta had deliberately blocked aid to victims of the catastrophic storm.

They also said officials hindered private attempts to plug the gap, and an unknown number of people were jailed for providing aid.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement earlier this week that Muslims in the camps on the Rakhine State coast were at risk not only from the storm but also from violence at the hands of ethnic Rakhine communities and local security forces.

Rights groups have accused security forces of complicity in last year's violence between Buddhist Rakhines and Rohingya Muslims, which left at least 192 dead.

Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.

A building at a factory complex in Cambodia contracted by Japanese footwear retailer Asics collapsed Thursday killing at least three workers and injuring ten, according to officials who vowed to investigate working conditions in the country’s garment plants.

Employees were working underneath a concrete-reinforced storeroom used to house equipment when the ceiling gave way at the Taiwan-owned Wing Star Shoes factory in Kompong Speu province, Minister of Social Affairs Ith Samheng told reporters.

“Three workers were killed and ten injured in the collapse,” the minister said, adding that the ceiling which crushed the employees included a section of concrete measuring around nine meters (30 feet) wide and 14 meters (46 feet) in length.

“Two were killed instantly and another died at a nearby hospital. The injured are being treated for their wounds,” he said.

Two of those killed at the scene included a male and female worker, both aged 22, though their names were not immediately available.

Workers at the scene of the accident said the building had collapsed just 10 minutes after workers began their morning shift at 7 a.m. They said at least 20 of the building’s 200 workers were working underneath the concrete ledge when it gave way.

A worker named Kuy Sokleap who witnessed the accident said employees had heard what sounded like crumbling foundations before the ceiling fell in, but were not told to vacate the premises by factory management.

“The workers had just begun their shifts. I heard a cracking sound, but the factory didn't sound any emergency alarm,” she said.

“Some workers ran outside, but others continued to work and then the building’s ceiling fell down.”

Rescuers assisted by soldiers sorted through debris for hours in the aftermath of the disaster, freeing those trapped in the rubble before announcing that the search operation had ended later that afternoon.

Ith Samheng said that the accident occurred due to poor-quality construction of the Taiwan-owned factory building, located in Angsokun village about 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the capital Phnom Penh.

“The building didn't comply with construction standards," Ith Sam Heng said, adding that unstable layers built on top of the existing factory structure were unable to support the weight of stored equipment.

Ith Samheng said the Wing Star factory owners, who employ more than 7,000 workers, would be “held responsible according to law” for the accident, adding that the tragedy marked the first time “in recent history” that a factory had collapsed in Cambodia.

Agence-France Presse quoted Ith Samheng as saying that authorities would “investigate the incident and take measures against those involved.” He said the government would “examine all factories to prevent this kind of incident from happening again.”

But Wing Star’s chief administration director Mao Chhivsong told RFA’s Khmer Service that construction at the factory had been licensed and that the collapse was “an accident.”

“I don't know much about the building—only that there was an inspection,” he said.

Mao Chhivsong said Wing Star didn't have a plan in place to compensate the victims.

Officials have promised that the government would pay restitution to the families of the victims and assist those who were injured in the catastrophe with their medical bills through state social funds.

Inspections welcomed

AFP quoted Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions, as welcoming the government’s plan to inspect garment plants across the country.

“I applaud any measures to investigate the buildings of all factories to ensure safety for workers, but officials have to do it thoroughly and not accept bribes,” he said.

“Garment factories in Cambodia do not meet international safety standards because the quality of the buildings [is] not ensured and people have been working with a high risk of danger.”

Reuters quoted a spokeswoman for Asics Corp. as confirming that the factory makes running shoes for the company.

“Our prayers go out to the families of those who have died,” she said.

The Wing Star factory has remained closed since the accident.

Worker conditions

Around a half million people work in Cambodia’s garment industry, which earns some U.S. $4.6 billion a year producing goods for Western clothing firms.

The garment industry is Cambodia’s third-largest currency earner, but workers often work long shifts for little pay, trade unions complain.

In March the Cambodian government announced a higher minimum wage of U.S. $80 per month from U.S. $61 for garment and footwear workers, but unions had originally demanded U.S. $120.

Reported by Sek Bandit for RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

A Chinese court in Qinghai province has handed a five-year prison term to a popular Tibetan writer after holding him in secret following his detention in January, according to Tibetan sources.

“On May 14, Gartse Jigme was secretly sentenced to five years in jail by the Tsekhog [in Chinese, Zeku] county court,” a local source told RFA’s Tibetan Service on Wednesday.

“The distribution of his book Courage of the King was cited as a reason for his detention,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Separately, the India-based Tibetan government in exile or Central Tibetan Administration confirmed the sentence, citing unnamed “media sources.”

Jigme, 36, had been taken by police from his room at the Rebgong Gartse monastery in the Malho (in Chinese, Huangnan) prefecture on Jan. 1, sources told RFA in April.

“A team of security officials suddenly raided his room, searched his personal computer and other things, and escorted him away,” sources said.

Family members were not informed of his whereabouts or condition in custody, and no further word of him was heard until news of his sentence was received.

'Sufferings of Tibet'

“Gartse Jigme began writing in 1999, and his writings have won awards and wide recognition from his readers,” one source said, adding, “The first edition of Courage of the King, published in 2008, described very clearly the past and present sufferings of Tibet.”

In the book’s second edition, a copy of which was obtained by RFA, Jigme wrote extensively on topics considered politically sensitive by China.

Topics covered in the book included self-immolation protests by Tibetans, Tibet’s exile government, the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s environment, and China’s policies in the region.

In a preface, Jigme dedicated his book to “the resolution of the Tibet issue, while remembering the many heroes and heroines who have sacrificed everything for Tibet.”

China has jailed scores of Tibetan writers, artists, singers, and educators for asserting Tibetan national identity and civil rights since widespread protests swept the region in 2008.

Meanwhile, a total of 118 Tibetans have set themselves ablaze to challenge Beijing’s rule in Tibetan areas and to call for the return of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama since the wave of fiery protests began in February 2009.

Reported by Lumbum Tashi for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney.

A court in southern Vietnam on Thursday sentenced two young activists to several years in prison for distributing “anti-government” leaflets, in a trial relatives and rights groups condemned as unfair and aimed at silencing dissent in the one-party state.

University student Nguyen Phuong Uyen, 21, was sentenced to six years in prison, while computer repairman Dinh Nguyen Kha, 25, was given eight years in prison that will be added to a previous two-year sentence from a separate case.

The Long An provincial court found them guilty of spreading “propaganda against the state” over leaflets they had handed out in Ho Chi Minh City last year while protesting against China’s claims to islands in the South China Sea.

They were convicted under Article 88 of the penal code, a provision rights groups say the government has used to muzzle dissent, and both will serve three years of house arrest following their prison terms.

'Not a crime'

The defendants’ family members and lawyers said Uyen and Kha had not acted against the state and that the punishments against them were too harsh.

“My son did not do anything against the communist party, only against corruption,” Kha’s mother Nguyen Thi Kim Lien told RFA’s Vietnamese Service after the trial.

“I don’t see how he was opposed to the government, or the people. I see no article in our constitution or our laws saying that he committed a crime.”

Kha, who was sentenced by a Tan An city court in September to two years in prison for “intention to cause injury,” has also been investigated by police in connection with “terrorist” activities.

Uyen’s father, whose first name is Linh, said her punishment was a violation of human rights.

“She exercised her right to free expression, but was charged with propaganda against the state,” said Linh, who was barred from attending the trial.

Patriotic Youth League

According to their indictment, Uyen and Kha distributed leaflets signed by overseas opposition group the Patriotic Youth League which accused the communist party of allowing China to take over the country by occupying its islands and exploiting its natural resources.

The Patriotic Youth League—a group of students, artists, and young professionals who promote social justice and human rights in Vietnam and which is banned in the country—had in the leaflets urged people “to take to the streets” against the communists.

Plagued by errors

Uyen’s lawyer Ha Huy Son said that proceedings in the case had been plagued by “a lot of errors,” including the court’s omission of evidence and that its verdict failed to take into account the defense lawyers’ arguments.

“All three of us lawyers said our clients did not commit crimes according to Article 88 of the penal code, but [the court] did not listen,” he told RFA.

The case has drawn online support from Vietnamese activists, with university students writing petitions for Uyen’s release since her official arrest in October after she had been missing for two weeks.

Barred from attending

Supporters gathered outside the court on Thursday were barred from attending the trial, as were some of the defendants’ relatives.

“According to law, people are allowed to attend the trial and everybody has that freedom,” Uyen’s father said.

“But in this trial, even the defendants’ closest family members were not allowed to attend the trial, let alone Uyen’s supporters.”

The Rev. Dinh Huu Thoai, who had gathered with other activists outside the court, said supporters had been met by a large number of security personnel.

“They said this is a public trial, but the security forces and police intimidated people who tried to attend,” he said.

'Ridiculous' trial

Ahead of the trial, New York-based Human Rights Watch had appealed for the immediate release of the two defendants, saying Vietnam should stop using “politically controlled” courts to convict government critics.

“Putting people on trial for distributing leaflets critical of the government is ridiculous and shows the insecurity of the Vietnamese government,” the group’s Asia director Brad Adams said in a statement Wednesday.

Human Rights Watch also noted that it was unclear why Kha, given his previous conviction in late September, would have been free —according to the indictment—to distribute leaflets in October.

Reported by An Nhien and An Nguyen for RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.

A court in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang has sentenced to death a woman convicted of "illegal fundraising" on the city's unofficial money markets, official media reported on Thursday.

Lin Haiyan, 39, was handed the death penalty by the Intermediate People's Court in Wenzhou city on Wednesday, after being found guilty of illegally raising 640 million yuan (U.S.$104.1 million) and misappropriating 428 million yuan (U.S.$69.6 million) of that amount.

China's leaders have vowed to crack down on unauthorized lending networks, which economists say are a direct result of a state monopoly on formal lending.

"In China, this sort of thing is pretty common, because there is a very tightly controlled state monopoly on the financial sector," independent economist Chen Yuebo said in an interview on Thursday.

"There is also a huge spread between interest rates earned on savings and those charged on loans, so there's plenty of room to make a profit."

He said China's state-run banks tend not to excel at the marketing side of their business, leaving a gap which has been readily filled by informal lending networks of largely individual savers looking for better returns.

He said entrepreneurs can often find plenty of funds available via their existing social networks, and have no need to try to satisfy tough conditions attached to loans from state-run banks.

"Whenever this free-floating cash sees an opportunity for profit, it will flow in huge amounts in that direction," Chen said.

Death penalty questioned

Shanghai-based lawyer Li Honghua said there is some uncertainty over whether Lin had indeed satisfied the definition of "illegal fundraising," however.

He called for a review of the use of the death penalty for economic crimes in China.

"In the West, they don't use the death penalty for economic crimes, and I think we in China need to change this," Li said.

He said "more serious" crimes like large-scale bribe-taking and embezzlement by high-ranking officials are likely to attract a suspended death sentence, commutable to a jail term after two years of good behavior.

"The proportion of corrupt officials and state-owned enterprise executives who get the death penalty is extremely low, while the rate among private entrepreneurs is extremely high," Li said.

"This is a sort of attack on private enterprise in China," he said.

Calls to legalize private markets

Last year, an appeals court in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang suspended a death sentence handed down to former billionaire businesswoman Wu Ying for fraud, putting the spotlight firmly on unofficial credit networks.

Wu's case sparked widespread calls for the legalization and regulation of the shadowy private money markets, which have sprung up as a way around China's state monopoly on bank loans.

Lin set up Wenzhou Xinfu Investment Consulting Co. in May 2008, raising money from more than 20 investors between 2007 and 2011 by promising to offer high returns, the court said in its judgment.

She then used all the money to buy stocks and futures, which resulted in huge losses, it said.

The court verdict also said Lin had been found guilty of acting as a trading agent for Hong Kong-based online broker Quam Securities without "authorization from the appropriate government departments," the official English-language China Daily reported.

It said Lin had opened stock and future accounts under 20 different names and use the raised funds for futures trading, falsifying her losses and claiming huge profits to secure further investments from colleagues, friends, and relatives.

Lin's case is closely linked to a government crackdown on informal lending that sparked a credit crisis in Wenzhou beginning in September 2011, it said.

As with all death penalty cases, Lin's case will now be submitted to the Supreme People's Court in Beijing for review.

Reported by Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

A lawyer representing two Vietnamese activists set to face trial for crimes against the state urged authorities Wednesday to re-examine the charges against them, as a human rights group called for their release and an investigation into reports they had been abused in prison.

Nguyen Phuong Uyen, 21, and Dinh Nguyen Kha, 25, were arrested in October last year for handing out anti-government leaflets during a protest against China’s claims to islands in the South China Sea and are scheduled to be tried in the People’s Court of Long An province on Thursday.

Both Uyen and Kha have been charged with “conducting propaganda against the state” under Article 88 of the penal code, while Kha faces an additional charge of “terrorism” under Article 84 in a separate case.

On Wednesday, lawyer Nguyen Thanh Luong, who represents Uyen, sent a petition to the Long An provincial prosecutor’s office and people’s court requesting that the authorities reconsider the indictment against the defendants.

“According to Article 4 of the constitution, the Vietnamese Communist Party is the ruling party, but the party itself is not the state… Article 88 of the penal code has nothing to do with the communist party,” Luong told RFA’s Vietnamese Service.

“The party is only a political party and each member is a citizen of the socialist republic of Vietnam. Therefore, blaspheming the party does not mean blaspheming the state.”

He said that using Article 88 to charge those for speaking out against the communist party was not only unfair to the defendants, but also “sends the wrong message to the public.”

The lawyer also asked the authorities to consider that Uyen had taken part in a protest against China as a means to “express her love for her country.”

“The relevant offices of justice should consider this instead of prosecuting her on criminal charges.”

According to state media, Uyen and Kha distributed leaflets signed by overseas opposition group the Patriotic Youth League which accused Vietnam’s communist party of allowing China to take over the country by occupying its islands and exploiting its natural resources.

The Patriotic Youth League—a group of students, artists, and young professionals who promote social justice and human rights in Vietnam and which is banned in the country—had in the leaflets urged people “to take to the streets” against the communist party, which it said was controlled by the Chinese.

Authorities have accused Uyen and Kha of contacting Nguyen Thien Thanh—a Patriotic Youth League member based in Thailand—via Facebook in April or May last year.

They say Thanh convinced the two to join the “anti-state reactionary group” and sent files containing the wording used in the leaflets, instructing them to paste the leaflets in public areas.

Two defendants

Uyen, a student at the Ho Chi Minh University of Food Industry from Ham Thuan Bac district in Binh Thuan province, was taken into custody by authorities on Oct. 14, 2012 in Ho Chi Minh City, and held at a local police station after distributing the leaflets.

Uyen’s relatives were notified of her arrest eight days later—after police had already transferred her to authorities in Long An.

On Oct. 23, Long An police acknowledged that Uyen had been charged with “conducting propaganda against the state.” They said she had been officially arrested on Oct. 19, leaving five days unaccounted for.

Uyen’s mother Nguyen Thi Nhung told RFA’s Vietnamese Service last month that during a 20-minute prison visit on April 26 she learned that her daughter had suffered a seizure and other health problems, and had also been subjected to a brutal beating by a fellow inmate.

“I could see many bruises on my daughter’s body—on her neck, chest, and arms,” Nhung said at the time.

“She said she was beaten, attacked and kicked until she fainted,” adding that an older female inmate with a criminal record who Uyen did not know had assaulted her and that authorities had only intervened and taken her to the emergency room after she passed out from the beating.

Dinh Nguyen Kha, a student at the Long An University of Economics and Industry from Tan An city, was accused by police of dropping 2,000 anti-government leaflets at the An Suong overpass in Ho Chi Minh City on Oct. 10, 2012 with the help of Uyen.

Police told state media that he had also previously conducted experiments with making explosives, without providing further details.

Kha was arrested on Oct. 11 but, according to a copy of his indictment, he had already been convicted and sentenced on Sept. 29 by the People’s Court of Tan An city to two years in prison for “intentionally causing injuries [to others].”

Kha’s mother, Nguyen Thi Kim Lien, in April called on authorities to re-examine her son’s case, saying that an initial indictment sent from the prosecutor’s office to the court had said there was not enough evidence to charge him with terrorism.

Kha’s brother, Dinh Nhat Uy, said that when police had come to the family home to search for evidence, they couldn’t find anything, so they took his computer, camera, and printer instead. Uy said he was subjected to 10 days in a row of interrogation before police decided not to charge him, but said he is still harassed on a weekly basis.

Call for release

The case of Uyen and Kha drew international condemnation ahead of Thursday’s trial, with New York-based Human Rights Watch calling on Vietnamese authorities to drop charges against the two for their non-violent protest.

“Putting people on trial for distributing leaflets critical of the government is ridiculous and shows the insecurity of the Vietnamese government,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

“Writing things that do not please the government is only a crime in a dictatorship.”

Human Rights Watch also noted that given Kha’s conviction in late September, it was unclear why he would have still been free to drop leaflets on Oct. 10.

The group said it had no information about the explosives or terrorism charges against Kha, but said it opposes criminal charges for dropping leaflets, which it termed “an act of peaceful expression.”

Adams called on Vietnamese authorities to allow lawyers and doctors “unrestricted and confidential access” to Uyen and Kha to discuss charges against them and to investigate claims of mistreatment.

He also condemned Vietnam for “using politically controlled courts to convict critics of the government.”

Reported by An Nguyen for RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Burmese authorities on Wednesday urged tens of thousands of Muslims living in flood-prone camps in Rakhine state to comply with evacuation instructions ahead of a looming cyclone, after some wary of their safety in the wake of ethnic violence refused to move.

Around 140,000 people, mostly ethnic Rohingyas, have been living in tents and makeshift shelters in the coastal state since communal violence forced them from their homes last year, nearly half of them in areas vulnerable to storm surges and flooding from Cyclone Mahasen expected to make landfall late Thursday or early Friday.

Authorities have arranged to relocate tens of thousands in the camps to higher ground, but many have refused to go, saying they fear for their safety in the new locations or that they will not be able to return.

Aung Min, a minister in President Thein Sein’s office, warned Wednesday that authorities will take serious action against those who do not comply with government arrangements to move them to higher ground.

"Some people don't want to move from their homes, but we don't want to see them dead,” he told a press briefing on the cyclone in Rangoon on Wednesday.

“According to the natural disaster management law, entering disaster areas managed by the government and refusing instructions to move to safer areas is also forbidden. The government will punish those who don't follow these instructions to evacuate,” he said.

Deputy Information Minister Ye Htut said those encouraging others to refuse to move “may have action taken against them.”

'Life-threatening conditions'

Officials promised that the government would provide disaster relief to members of all religious communities equally, and urged ethnic communities in Rakhine to put aside their differences to weather the storm.

The U.N. has warned of “life-threatening conditions” for 8.2 million people at risk from the storm along the coasts of India, Bangladesh, and Burma.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement earlier this week that Muslims in the camps on Burma's coast were also at risk from violence at the hands of ethnic Rakhine communities and local security forces.

Rights groups have accused security forces of complicity in last year's violence between Buddhist Rakhines and Rohingya Muslims, which left at least 192 dead.

Fear and distrust

Tun Wai, a Kaman Muslim leader at a camp in Ramree township had agreed with plans to move into a government hall in the township on Thursday, but others at the camp said they were afraid they would not be safe in the new location.

“I think they have refused because they think that the new location is not safer than where they are,” he told RFA’s Burmese Service.

Others fear that once evacuated they would not be allowed to return, or that the new locations they are assigned to will not have as many provisions.

“I don't want to move.  I don't know if there will be food rations in the new place,” one Rohingya man living in a camp in Sittwe told RFA.

Khin Maung Win, a local Rohingya leader in Sittwe, said that members of his community had refused instructions to leave.

“We asked them to evacuate, and yesterday they said they would. But now they don’t want to move,” he told RFA.

The U.N.’s Office of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement late Tuesday that the storm had weakened to a Category 1 storm, but that it posed “life-threatening conditions.”

In 2008, Burma’s southern delta region was devastated by Cyclone Nargis, which killed more than 130,000 people.
Two days before hitting Burma, Nargis weakened to a Category 1 cyclone before strengthening to a Category 4 storm.

Reported by Zin Mar Win, Khin Khin Ei, and Min Thein Aung for RFA’s Burmese Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.

Burmese authorities on Wednesday urged tens of thousands of Muslims living in flood-prone camps in Rakhine state to comply with evacuation instructions ahead of a looming cyclone, after some wary of their safety in the wake of ethnic violence refused to move.

Around 140,000 people, mostly ethnic Rohingyas, have been living in tents and makeshift shelters in the coastal state since communal violence forced them from their homes last year, nearly half of them in areas vulnerable to storm surges and flooding from Cyclone Mahasen expected to make landfall late Thursday or early Friday.

Authorities have arranged to relocate tens of thousands in the camps to higher ground, but many have refused to go, saying they fear for their safety in the new locations or that they will not be able to return.

Aung Min, a minister in President Thein Sein’s office, warned Wednesday that authorities will take serious action against those who do not comply with government arrangements to move them to higher ground.

"Some people don't want to move from their homes, but we don't want to see them dead,” he told a press briefing on the cyclone in Rangoon on Wednesday.

“According to the natural disaster management law, entering disaster areas managed by the government and refusing instructions to move to safer areas is also forbidden. The government will punish those who don't follow these instructions to evacuate,” he said.

Deputy Information Minister Ye Htut said those encouraging others to refuse to move “may have action taken against them.”

'Life-threatening conditions'

Officials promised that the government would provide disaster relief to members of all religious communities equally, and urged ethnic communities in Rakhine to put aside their differences to weather the storm.

The U.N. has warned of “life-threatening conditions” for 8.2 million people at risk from the storm along the coasts of India, Bangladesh, and Burma.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement earlier this week that Muslims in the camps on Burma's coast were also at risk from violence at the hands of ethnic Rakhine communities and local security forces.

Rights groups have accused security forces of complicity in last year's violence between Buddhist Rakhines and Rohingya Muslims, which left at least 192 dead.

Fear and distrust

Tun Wai, a Kaman Muslim leader at a camp in Ramree township had agreed with plans to move into a government hall in the township on Thursday, but others at the camp said they were afraid they would not be safe in the new location.

“I think they have refused because they think that the new location is not safer than where they are,” he told RFA’s Burmese Service.

Others fear that once evacuated they will not be allowed to return, or that the new locations they are assigned to will not have as many provisions.

“I don't want to move.  I don't know if there will be food rations in the new place,” one Rohingya man living in a camp in Sittwe told RFA.

Khin Maung Win, a local Rohingya leader in Sittwe, said that members of his community have refused instructions to leave.

“We asked them to evacuate, and yesterday they said they would. But now they don’t want to move,” he told RFA.

The U.N.’s Office of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement late Tuesday that the storm had weakened to a Category 1 storm, but that it posed “life-threatening conditions.”

In 2008, Burma’s southern delta region was devastated by Cyclone Nargis, which killed more than 130,000 people.

Two days before hitting Burma, Nargis weakened to a Category 1 cyclone before strengthening to a Category 4 storm.

Reported by Zin Mar Win, Khin Khin Ei, and Min Thein Aung for RFA’s Burmese Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.

Burmese President Thein Sein is set to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama next week, marking the first official visit to Washington by a leader of the former pariah nation in nearly five decades, the White House confirmed Wednesday.

“President Obama will welcome His Excellency President Thein Sein to the White House on Monday, May 20, 2013,” said a statement from the White House press secretary’s office.

Thein Sein has embarked on substantial democratic reforms since his government took power in March of 2011, and the meeting with Obama, set for May 20, is seen as an acknowledgement by Washington of the progress he has made in reversing decades of military misrule in Burma.

The meeting also follows a visit to Burma last year by Obama, who became the first sitting U.S. leader to tour the country and who pushed Thein Sein to speed up and strengthen the reform process.

“Since President Obama’s historic trip to Rangoon last November, the United States has continued to advocate for continued progress on reform by President Thein Sein’s government, in close cooperation with [opposition leader] Aung San Suu Kyi, civil society leaders, and the international community,” the White House said.

“The President looks forward to discussing with President Thein Sein the many remaining challenges to efforts to develop democracy, address communal and ethnic tensions, and bring economic opportunity to the people of his country, and to exploring how the United States can help,” it said.

Reforms already undertaken by Burma’s new and nominally civilian government include the release of large numbers of political prisoners, the easing of restrictions on assembly and the press, and renewed attempts at dialogue with armed ethnic minority groups.

But the White House held out on meeting Thein Sein during his first visit as president to the U.S. in September last year, when he addressed the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

Then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the easing of an import ban on Burmese goods at a meeting with Thein Sein on the sidelines of the U.N. meeting, but Washington made clear that it remained cautious about the pace of reforms under the new government.

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi  was also traveling in the U.S. at the time and was afforded red carpet treatment in Washington, visiting the capital to receive the Congressional Gold Medal.

The National League for Democracy leader, who was held under years of house arrest under the former military regime, also held meetings with Clinton and Obama on the status of economic sanctions against her country.

Possible delay

Agence France-Presse said in a report that Thein Sein's landmark state visit to the United States could be delayed because of a cyclone threatening to strike his country's northwest coast, quoting Aung Min, a minister of the president’s office.

"We have arranged the trip. But it's not certain yet. We will announce [the departure date] depending on the outcome of the cyclone," Aung Min said.

The U.N. has warned of potential “life-threatening conditions” for 8.2 million people owing to Cyclone Mahasen, which is heading across the Bay of Bengal towards the Burmese-Bangladesh border and expected to make landfall late Thursday or early Friday.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has warned that around half of approximately 140,000 Muslims who fled communal violence in western Burma’s Rakhine state last year are situated in low-lying areas at risk of flooding and storm surges.

Reported by RFA's Burmese Service. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Burmese President Thein Sein is set to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama next week, marking the first official visit to Washington by a leader of the former pariah nation in nearly five decades, the White House confirmed Wednesday.

“President Obama will welcome His Excellency President Thein Sein to the White House on Monday, May 20, 2013,” said a statement from the White House press secretary’s office.

Thein Sein has embarked on substantial democratic reforms since his government took power in March of 2011, and the meeting with Obama, set for May 20, is seen as an acknowledgement by Washington of the progress he has made in reversing decades of military misrule in Burma.

The meeting also follows a visit to Burma last year by Obama, who became the first sitting U.S. leader to tour the country and who pushed Thein Sein to speed up and strengthen the reform process.

“Since President Obama’s historic trip to Rangoon last November, the United States has continued to advocate for continued progress on reform by President Thein Sein’s government, in close cooperation with [opposition leader] Aung San Suu Kyi, civil society leaders, and the international community,” the White House said.

“The President looks forward to discussing with President Thein Sein the many remaining challenges to efforts to develop democracy, address communal and ethnic tensions, and bring economic opportunity to the people of his country, and to exploring how the United States can help,” it said.

Reforms already undertaken by Burma’s new and nominally civilian government include the release of large numbers of political prisoners, the easing of restrictions on assembly and the press, and renewed attempts at dialogue with armed ethnic minority groups.

But the White House held out on meeting Thein Sein during his first visit as president to the U.S. in September last year, when he addressed the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

Then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the easing of an import ban on Burmese goods at a meeting with Thein Sein on the sidelines of the U.N. meeting, but Washington made clear that it remained cautious about the pace of reforms under the new government.

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi  was also traveling in the U.S. at the time and was afforded red carpet treatment in Washington, visiting the capital to receive the Congressional Gold Medal. The National League for Democracy leader, who was held under years of house arrest under the former military regime, also held meetings with Clinton and Obama on the status of economic sanctions against her country.

Possible delay

Agence France-Presse said in a report that Thein Sein's landmark state visit to the United States could be delayed because of a cyclone threatening to strike his country's northwest coast, quoting Aung Min, a minister of the president’s office.

"We have arranged the trip. But it's not certain yet. We will announce [the departure date] depending on the outcome of the cyclone," Aung Min said.

The U.N. has warned of potential “life-threatening conditions” for 8.2 million people owing to Cyclone Mahasen, which is heading across the Bay of Bengal towards the Burmese-Bangladesh border and expected to make landfall late Thursday or early Friday.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has warned that around half of approximately 140,000 Muslims who fled communal violence in western Burma’s Rakhine state last year are situated in low-lying areas at risk of flooding and storm surges.

Reported by RFA's Burmese Service. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Chinese security forces in Gansu province forced a group of Tibetans last week off of land they said they had bought, beating some and detaining 15 as local authorities asserted government control of the property, Tibetan sources said.

The police action in Gansu’s Luchu (in Chinese, Luqu) came on May 12, as around 200 police officers “both armed and unarmed” arrived suddenly at the site located just outside the county’s main town, an area resident told RFA’s Tibetan Service on Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“Security officials threatened the Tibetan [property] owners, saying that the land belonged to the government, and that no one had the right to purchase, own, or use the land,” RFA’s source said.

Police put up a sign saying the land had been sold illegally and that the county government had authorized its confiscation.

The Tibetans replied that they had spent large sums to purchase the land, sat down in protest, and refused to leave, and police then attacked the group and removed some from the site by force, the source said.

“Barbed wire was then put up,” she said.

The sign reads: 'This land was sold in an illegal manner. The Luchu County People’s Government has approved its confiscation.' Photo courtesy of an RFA listener. Sit-in protests continued, and 15 Tibetan protesters were finally detained, including a man named Gonpo Kyab and a man named Dargyal.

“One was seriously injured and was taken to a hospital for treatment,” RFA’s source said.

Calls seeking comment from area officials rang unanswered, and details on when the Tibetan claimants to the land had bought their parcels, and from whom, were not immediately available.

Luchu county was the scene in March of a self-immolation protest by a Tibetan monk who burned himself to death near his monastery to challenge Chinese rule.

Konchog Tenzin, 28, set himself ablaze on March 26 at a major intersection near Mori monastery, Tibetan exile sources said, citing contacts in the region.

Meanwhile, Tibetan monks Lobsang Dawa and Konchog Woeser burned themselves to death on April 24 in Sichuan province’s Ngaba (in Chinese, Aba) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, bringing to 118 the number of Tibetan self-immolations since the wave of fiery protests began in February 2009.

Chinese authorities have tightened controls in Tibetan-populated areas to check the self-immolation protests, arresting and jailing more than a dozen Tibetans deemed by security officials to have been linked to the burnings.

Reported by RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney.