An exchange of fire at the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan What is the reason?

The Kyrgyz and Tajik border guards exchanged fire in the disputed border area between the two countries. The two countries share a border line of 970 km.

The Kyrgyz border guards announced that their elements exchanged fire with Tajik forces on Tuesday in the disputed border area between the two countries, in a new incident that resulted in a wounded man on both sides.

There are usually confrontations between the people of the border region in the two countries over the exploitation of land and water, which calls for the intervention of the border guards.

And on Tuesday, an exchange of fire was recorded after the Tajik border guards forces incurred in a disputed area, according to the Kyrgyz border guards confirmed in a statement.

The statement said that in response to the Tajik forces' refusal to stop their aggression, the Kyrgyz border guards fired "warning shots in the air, and the Tajik border guards fired at the Kyrgyz border guards."

The statement stated that "the shooting stopped after negotiations between representatives of the two countries," stressing that a member of the Tajik border guards was shot.

Later, a new exchange of fire was recorded in which a member of the Kyrgyz border guards was "seriously" wounded, according to the same source.

According to the source, the Tajik forces shelled the border village of Dostok with mortars.

As a result, the Kyrgyz border guards announced that an agreement had been reached with Tajikistan aimed at calming the situation, and stipulated the withdrawal of the additional forces that were deployed at the border during the confrontations.

The source explained that "the two sides began withdrawing their forces and equipment," adding that "the situation is witnessing a relative calm with some tension."

In a sign of the prevailing concern, the local authorities announced the evacuation of residents of five villages on the Kyrgyz side of the border.

Tajikistan did not immediately issue any comment on the incident.

A 970-kilometre border line separates the two countries, which dispute about half of it. In recent years, the demarcation process has been slow.

And last month, an exchange of fire was recorded, in an indication of the instability of the situation.

In 2021, an unprecedented number of confrontations was recorded between the two sides, killing more than 50 people and raising fears of a widening conflict.

Will the Great Firewall of China enter Hong Kong after the chief executive election?

Hong Kong will hold the chief executive election next month. What impact will the new chief executive have on Hong Kong’s cybersecurity? Will China’s Great Firewall be replicated in Hong Kong? On April 12, at the Center for Democratic Cyber ​​Policy at Stanford University Mo Naiguang, a former Hong Kong Legislative Council member, shared his observations during a webinar at .

After the chief executive election, the Hong Kong version of the "firewall" is imminent?

Hong Kong will elect a new chief executive on May 8. The current chief executive, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, has announced that she will not be re-elected. Li Jiachao, Lam Cheng’s deputy and a former police officer, announced her candidacy on April 9. His background has made the outside world worry about the Hong Kong government. The crackdown on democrats and free speech will intensify.

On April 12, Stanford University's Cyber ​​Policy Center Program on Democracy hosted a webinar on "How Internet Freedom in Taiwan, Hong Kong is Threatened." Charles Mok, a visiting scholar at Stanford University's Global Digital Policy Incubator and a former member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council, said bluntly that Li Jiachao's coming to power with a police background is not good news for the prospect of Hong Kong's Internet freedom. "The Chinese government will use more dynamic and targeted methods to suppress Hong Kong civil society and voices that disagree with the government's opinions, and call information they (the government) does not like as false information."

As for whether the Chinese-style network firewall Will it be replicated in Hong Kong? Mok Naiguang believes that given Hong Kong's existing regulations and potential impact on businesses, it is difficult for China to replicate the firewall, but there are other tools to control internet freedom.

“I don’t think China currently wants or needs to implement a Chinese-style firewall in Hong Kong. But they will implement a more dynamic firewall as they do now. Use laws to enforce more censorship, conduct more Surveillance... This will inevitably lead to a decrease in investment in Hong Kong and a decrease in the freedom and protection of Hong Kong citizens." Mo Naiguang said.

How does the National Security Law threaten Hong Kong's internet freedom?

Mo Naiguang recalled that before the implementation of the Hong Kong version of the National Security Law in 2020, the Chinese government had tried many times to bring online censorship into Hong Kong in various forms, such as the 2012 legislation on Internet control, or the 2016 amendment to the Copyright Ordinance. The debates were ultimately blocked by the opposition of Hong Kong civil society or the Legislative Council respectively.

“The Chinese government has tried to gain more control over the internet (in Hong Kong), but they have failed due to the actions of an active civil society and the legislature. Today, these tools (that can check the government’s power) no longer exist in Hong Kong. Mo Naiguang said that the implementation of the Hong Kong version of the National Security Law is an important watershed in the disappearance of Hong Kong's Internet freedom.

According to Article 43 of the Hong Kong version of the National Security Law, when the Hong Kong police handle cases that "endanger national security", they can ask "information publishers or relevant service providers to remove information", and according to the relevant implementation rules announced by the Hong Kong government later, the police can With the approval of the Hong Kong Secretary for Security, "restricting or suspending any person's access to the platform or related parts" also applies to news organizations.

Mo Naiguang said that this "ambiguous" regulation allows the government to interpret the definition of "endangering national security" as it wants; more seriously, the self-censorship of Hong Kong people, the media and civil groups under fear has gradually led to the freedom of the Internet in Hong Kong The disappearance of space.

How is the threat to Internet freedom in Taiwan different?

Visiting scholar at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School, Taiwan AI Labs, who attended the same seminar Initiative director Jason Hsu mentioned that, unlike Hong Kong's laws and institutions that are directly threatened, a large part of the threat to Taiwan's Internet freedom comes from the CCP's information warfare. He admitted frankly that the Taiwanese government and civic groups should do more to promote cognitive warfare against the CCP. However, he was also a former Taiwan legislator who felt powerless about the role of large social media in the CCP’s information warfare.

"We feel very powerless when negotiating with big social media platforms like Facebook because most misinformation is spread through mediums like social media and I think the US government should take this seriously if they think Taiwan is democratic and free Our value system partners and allies, we are being attacked, seriously attacked.”

Xu Yuren said that when tracing the source of the information war, social media companies were reluctant to share data in order to protect customers who provided advertising funds, which became an effective means of infiltration by the CCP way, he called for more attention from American politics.

Source : RFA