Chinese authorities in #Xinjiang are restricting the number of Muslims allowed to observe Ramadan, drawing heavy criticism from rights groups that see the government directive as the latest effort to diminish #Uyghur culture in the region. rfa.org/english/news/u…
Some neighborhood committees in Urumqi (in Chinese, Wulumuqi) and some village officials in Kashgar (Kashi) and Hotan (Hetian) prefectures have received notices that only 10-50 Muslims will be allowed to fast during Ramadan, ...
... which runs from April 1 to May 1, and that those who do so must register with authorities, according local administrators and police in Xinjiang.
“Ramadan measures are being taken,” said a village policeman in Kashgar’s Tokkuzak (Toukezhake) township.
“The purpose is to allay the fears of [Uyghurs] who are afraid to fast, in addition to security, because there should not be any misconception about the [Chinese Communist] Party’s religious policy. The party never said to abolish religion, but to Sinicize it.”
A village administrator who oversees 10 families in Ghulja (Yining) county in Ili Kazakh (Yili Hasake) Autonomous Prefecture, said registration was already under way in his community and that the elderly and adults with no school-age children are allowed to fast.
“This system is designed to avoid religion to have negative effects on children’s minds,” he said. “There is a lot of propaganda about it right now. A cadre from the village is registering people who meet the criteria for fasting.”
Another administrator who oversees 10 families in the city of Atush (Atushi) in Kizilsu Kirghiz Autonomous Prefecture said he received a notice about the fasting restriction from local authorities.
“Of the 10 families that I am in charge, two — Tahir and Ahmet — were identified as ones that can fast,” he said. “Both are elderly and have no children at home.”
“It is pathetic and tragic to see China’s notice that only certain people can fast,” said Turghunjan Alawudun, director of the Committee for Religious Affairs at the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) in Germany.
“The Muslim world would laugh at China’s actions and be astonished by the setting of a quota for those who can fast.”
The Washington-based Uyghur Human Rights Project issued a statement on Thursday showing solidarity with Uyghurs in Xinjiang who cannot hold iftar, the meal eaten by Muslims at sundown to break the daily fast during Ramadan,...
... or pray “without risking being labeled a religious extremist.”
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Russian and Chinese disinformation about Ukraine, which is ideologically linked to ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda on #Taiwan, is breaking through into online discourse on the democratic island, a fact-checking organization said. rfa.org/english/news/c…
According to Taiwan's Information Operations Research Group (IORG) tens of millions of social media posts, articles, videos and comments have deluged the Chinese-language internet since Russian troops began massing on the Ukrainian border in November 2021.
Among the CCP narratives, which are often straight echoes of the Kremlin's own, are the idea that the relationship between Russia and Ukraine is similar to that of an ex-husband and wife, ...
A university in Italy is investigating allegations of bullying by a Chinese lecturer following a classroom dispute about the status of #Taiwan, local media reported. rfa.org/english/news/c…
Complaints were made after Politecnico di Milano architecture lecturer and Chinese national Chen Zhen admonished a student from the democratic island of Taiwan for failing to register as "Chinese."
"I will talk something to Wang, but this is nothing related to the other two Iranian students, so I'm going to speak in Chinese with him, OK?" Chen is seen saying in English at the start of a video clip that he initially posted to his own account on WeChat.
“Photos and video that showed young children isolated from their families and crying at a #Shanghai hospital led to an outburst of anger online on Saturday, as #China’s largest city struggled to contain an outbreak of the highly contagious #Omicron.” nytimes.com/2022/04/02/bus…
In the images, a series of hospital cribs, each holding several young children, appeared to be parked in the hallway of the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center in the city’s Jinshan district. A video showed several of the children crying.
The images and video could not be independently verified, but in a statement, the health center said they were real and did not deny that parents with Covid were being separated from their children.
The Russian forces that stormed toward #Kyiv in the opening days of the war in imposing tanks columns were in retreat from the capital on Saturday, pulling back under fire in dozens of outlying towns and villages. #Ukrainenytimes.com/live/2022/04/0…
Russian attacks elsewhere in Ukraine have not abated, and the Pentagon has cautioned that Russian formations near Kyiv could be repositioning to refit or resupply for renewed assaults.
“The initial Russian operation was a failure, and one of its central goals, the capture of Kyiv, proved unobtainable for Russian forces,” Michael Kofman, the director of Russian studies at C.N.A., a research institute in Arlington, Va., said in a telephone interview.
The security treaty between #China and Solomon Islands has raised concerns among countries in the Pacific. I talked to @MihaiSora and @CainTess about the potential impact of the treaty on the region. Latest for @dw_chinese: dw.com/zh/%E4%B8%AD%E…
In a speech to the parliament on Tuesday, Solomon Island’s Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said warnings against his country’s security negotiation with China were “very insulting” as he denied being pressured by Beijing to sign the deal with China. williamyang-35700.medium.com/how-does-the-s…
“We are not pressured in any way by our new friends and there is no intention whatsoever to ask China to build a military base in the Solomon Islands,” Sogavare said.
A few weeks after the deadly plane crash in #China, more details about some of those on board the flight have come to light. "She said it was only after she had printed out a picture for his funeral that the reality hit her that he wasn’t coming back." wsj.com/articles/a-lov…
"Among the passengers was a 30-year-old former accountant who had recently moved from Beijing to Kunming to start a new job with the e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.—and to marry his sweetheart."
"He had chronicled their love affair in a blog in which he used the pseudonym “Mr. Red Bean,” a symbol that in China can be interpreted as “lovestruck,” while she was “Mrs. Tree.” The Journal verified his blog and death with his wife."