Fresh out the oven: Chinese authorities have seized and sold tens of millions of dollars in assets owned by jailed Uyghur business owners—from home appliances to 30-story buildings—much of it on Alibaba's Taobao platform. @wsjevaon.wsj.com/2XQ1cOg
@wsjeva In 2015, Abdujelil Helil was praised by Xinjiang's government as an “excellent builder of socialism with Chinese characteristics.” Now, he's in jail and his commercial building, next to a 600-year-old Kashar mosque, has been sold off on Taobao. @wsjeva on.wsj.com/2XQ1cOg
@wsjeva The Hemdul family owned a number of properties in Korla, including these twin towers overlooking a river running through the city. Now, two of the brothers have been arrested and their restaurant and real-estate company expropriated and auctioned off. on.wsj.com/2XQ1cOg
@wsjeva A WSJ analysis of corporate records of companies in Hotan city indicates that orders to freeze Uyghur entrepreneurs’ assets increased sharply in 2018, about a year after Xinjiang authorities began interning local Muslim minorities en masse. @wsjevaon.wsj.com/2XQ1cOg
@wsjeva The article follows on @wsjeva's excellent piece in July on the arrests of Xinjiang's Uyghur businessmen—once prized by the Communist Party for building bridges with the Han majority and helping lift Xinjiang's economy. "In their eyes, we are all guilty." on.wsj.com/3r4vyH8
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Flashback to earlier this month, when China said Meng and the Michaels' cases are "entirely different in nature…What the Canadian side pursues is to confuse right and wrong and shift blames to China…It should immediately rectify its mistakes, release Meng Wanzhou."
China last year: "The Meng Wanzhou case is entirely different from that of the cases of the two Canadians. The Meng case is a serious political incident, while Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were suspected of…endangering China's national security." bit.ly/39BRTnA
China, Sept. 9, 2020: "Chinese judicial organs handle cases independently and the lawful rights of the two Canadians are guaranteed. I'd like to stress that it is precisely what Canada has done on the Meng case that caused the current difficulties." bit.ly/39BRTnA
Two decades in the making, the multibillion-dollar Universal Beijing Resort—one of the highest-profile American entertainment investments in China—is set to debut Monday, amid souring relations between the two countries. @Kubota_Yoko@qianweizhang on.wsj.com/2VQGOvz
@Kubota_Yoko@qianweizhang The opening of NBCUniversal's $6.5 billion theme park in Beijing comes just ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics, for which NBCUniversal has exclusive U.S. broadcast rights—and which are already shaping up to be the most contentious in recent memory. on.wsj.com/2VQGOvz
@Kubota_Yoko@qianweizhang So far, public reception has been encouraging. Tickets for opening day sold out in minutes. China’s new U.S. ambassador compared one Universal park ride to U.S.-China relations. “After all the tumbling and shakes, the rollercoaster came to a soft landing.” on.wsj.com/2VQGOvz
Beijing’s focus on regulating algorithms and its push for redistribution are theoretical wins for Chinese workers, says @chinalabour, though as independent contractors, many gig workers fall outside the new trade unions’ legal remit. @shashamimi on.wsj.com/3zkspFA
@chinalabour@shashamimi In August, Fang Ran, a doctoral student in sociology with strong Marxist convictions, was arrested and charged with subversion of state power. Friends suspect it was because of his interest in organizing workers. @shashamimi on.wsj.com/3zkspFA
@chinalabour@shashamimi In February, Beijing police detained food-delivery worker Chen Guojiang, known as a leader of a “delivery riders’ alliance.” He called out online platforms for violating rules and occasionally suggested fellow drivers protest labor practices. @shashamimi on.wsj.com/3zkspFA
For 80 years, a top Mao aide kept a diary detailing life near the center of the Communist Party. Before he died in 2019, his daughter spirited the volumes out of China—and into the a pitched custody battle over an unofficial history of China. @jamestareddy on.wsj.com/3tUVuGR
@jamestareddy Li was imprisoned for 20 years but kept writing after he was politically rehabilitated. A loyal cadre until his death at age 101, he was the rare insider to publicly criticize the party over Tiananmen Square, the Three Gorges Dam and China's direction. on.wsj.com/3tUVuGR
@jamestareddy The fight between Li's widow and daughter over the diaries is taking place against the backdrop of Xi's call for a “correct outlook on history.” Stanford, which holds the diaries, says if they remained in China, they'd “be suppressed and likely destroyed.” on.wsj.com/3tUVuGR
Behind Jack Ma's fall: A failure to keep pace with a fast-changing business landscape—and to appreciate the risks of falling out of step. He tuned out warnings for years and behaved too much like an American entrepreneur. @QiZHAI@Lingling_Wei@jingyanghk on.wsj.com/3gkbqN7
@QiZHAI@Lingling_Wei@jingyanghk Ma has exchanged a wall-to-wall schedule of business travel for golf and the reading of Taoist texts. He hired a teacher to learn oil painting, starting out with images of birds and flowers and then shifting to an abstract style. on.wsj.com/3gkbqN7
@QiZHAI@Lingling_Wei@jingyanghk Initially, officials hailed Ma's work, including Xi Jinping, then the top leader of Zhejiang province, where Alibaba is based. After Xi became Shanghai’s top official in 2007, he asked: “Can you come to Shanghai and help us develop?” state media reported. on.wsj.com/3gkbqN7
Beijing has shut down a U.S. labor auditor’s local China partner, escalating a campaign to counter forced-labor allegations in Xinjiang and complicating efforts by multinationals to certify supply chains in the country. @Lingling_Wei@wsjeva@Trefor1 on.wsj.com/3z6U9yf
@Lingling_Wei@wsjeva@Trefor1 Though Verite was small, Disney and Apple have hired it to consult on labor issues at Chinese factories. Now, the closing of Verite's Shenzhen-based partner after an April raid on its offices deprives companies of a channel to conduct audits in China. on.wsj.com/3z6U9yf
@Lingling_Wei@wsjeva@Trefor1 For weeks, Chinese law-enforcement regularly interrogated roughly eight Chinese staffers of Verite’s Shenzhen partner, who were required to report to the police at 9 a.m. every day and not allowed to leave until around 5 p.m. on.wsj.com/3z6U9yf