Extending from the recent #Mulan controversy, #Uyghur lawyer @RayhanAsat argues in this latest op-ed that the persecuted minority deserves a high-profile public figure who is willing to speak out against the repression against the #Uyghurs. thehill.com/opinion/intern…
"The mass atrocities against Uighurs have largely met with silence. It is hard to tell whether this is due to a lack of understanding or fear of retribution. 2020 marks four continuous years of devastating persecution of millions of Uighur men, women and children."
"Those who value freedom in the world should not ignore what is happening as our families are torn apart and innocent people are persecuted. The walls of internment camps may not look like the Berlin Wall,...
... but with barbed wire and sophisticated Chinese surveillance, families are separated from their loved ones without reason, without hope."
"The coalition of celebrities vowing, “Not on our Watch” garnered global attention to ongoing genocide in Darfur. In 2008, Steven Spielberg resigned his adviser position to the Beijing Olympics to protest the failure of China to distance itself from the genocide in Darfur."
"Now, Beijing is set to host the 2020 Olympics again, while at the same time it has trapped millions of its own people, the Uighurs, behind walls and in prisons."
"The Uighurs desperately need a hero, hopefully many heroes, willing to stand up and speak out on their behalf. So, I search for celebrities and others of influence to join in the rescue...
... not only of my brother, Ekpar, but of millions of other mistreated, detained and imprisoned Uighurs in Xinjiang, China."
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A day after China warned its three military ships would be live weapons testing between New Zealand and Australia, the Cook Islands has today released a controversial agreement indicating #Beijing has secured a maritime presence there.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Deepening Blue Economy Cooperation shows a raft of partnerships including building ports and ships, many of which will be problematic from New Zealand's security perspective.
The MoU, signed in Harbin, northern China on February 14, lays out investment cooperation in port wharves, shipbuilding and ship repair, ocean transportation, and deep-sea fishing bases.
Chinese hackers breached the US government office that reviews foreign investments for national security risks, three US officials familiar with the matter told CNN.
The theft, which has not previously been reported, underscores Beijing’s keen interest in spying on a US government office that has broad powers to block Chinese investment in the US as tensions between the world’s two superpowers remain high.
The breach was part of a broader incursion by the hackers into the Treasury Department’s unclassified system.
China’s United Front influence and outreach operations are recruiting children and young adults in #Taiwan for heavily subsidized tours to the northwestern region of Xinjiang, in a bid to distract them from widespread human rights abuses in the region.
The Xinjiang Provincial Federation of Taiwan Compatriots, a United Front organization based in Urumqi, recently advertised a nine-day tour to Xinjiang on Taiwan’s PTT Bulletin Board discussion forum, calling for participants aged 16-40.
When Radio Free Asia contacted the organizers, they said participants would only need to pay NT$24,800 (US$755) per person, with “tour fees, transportation, accommodation and insurance all covered by the Chinese hosts.”
United States President Joe Biden on Friday (Dec 20) approved US$571.3 million in defence assistance for #Taiwan, the White House said, as the Democrat prepares to leave office ahead of the January inauguration of Donald Trump.
In a brief statement, the White House said Biden had authorised his secretary of state to "direct the drawdown of up to US$571.3 million in defence articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training, to provide assistance to Taiwan".
The statement did not provide details of the military assistance package, which comes less than three months after a similar package worth US$567 million was authorised.
My latest: #China has sent officials to the Russian central bank to study the effects of Western sanctions for a better understanding of how it would be affected if it were to invade Taiwan.
Beijing had already set up a task force months after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, which was tasked with producing reports about the impacts of Western sanctions on the Russian economy.
China is “very interested” in “practically everything” about the sanctions, including potentially positive effects on domestic production, a person with knowledge of the specialist task force told the Wall Street Journal.
A Beijing court sentenced veteran Chinese state media journalist Dong Yuyu on Friday to seven years in prison for espionage, a family member told Reuters.
Former Guangming Daily editor and journalist Dong Yuyu, 62, was detained by police in Beijing in February 2022 while having lunch with a Japanese diplomat, according to a statement from the US National Press Club, and later charged with espionage.
There was a heavy police presence outside Beijing’s No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court, with at least seven police cars parked nearby. Reuters journalists were asked to leave the area.