By @bequelin: "The international community, working through the U.N., must respond with meaningful steps to end the abuses, free prisoners and hold #Beijing to account." nytimes.com/2022/09/30/opi…
"Strong action is essential to draw a line in the sand against an orchestrated campaign waged for years by China to gut the U.N.’s ability to protect human rights.
Chinese efforts include a behind-the-scenes war of attrition to undermine mechanisms like the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the 47-nation Human Rights Council, which is tasked with addressing violations."
"The Chinese Communist Party’s ultimate goal is to cripple the international community’s ability to censure countries for human rights violations.
China’s leverage is growing. The rise of authoritarianism around the world provides a widening base of support from like-minded regimes."
"Global dependence on Chinese trade, investment and financial assistance allows China to strong-arm other countries into silence. Chinese nationals lead or occupy high positions in several U.N. agencies, ...
... and Beijing exercises growing control over other appointments and financial affairs."
"Denying abuses, China sought to prevent global action. The U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet repeatedly postponed publishing the investigation and during a visit to Xinjiang in May recited Chinese talking points."
"Her office released its report just minutes before her four-year term ended at midnight on Aug. 31, allowing her to avoid addressing its findings, and broke with precedent by refraining from recommending further international action."
"The foot dragging hasn’t stopped there.
Despite condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and human rights abuses in Myanmar, Iran and elsewhere, the U.N. secretary general, Antonio Guterres, has been largely silent on the Xinjiang report, ...
... omitting it from a Sept. 20 address to the General Assembly in which he lamented other rights abuses around the world."
"It is up to the Human Rights Council, in session until Oct. 7, to decide on any follow-up. Potential options include a mandate to conduct further investigation, which has been done for Russian aggression in Ukraine and many other crises, and to press for accountability."
"China, a member of the council, will fight tooth and nail. It has already denounced the U.N. investigation as “illegal,” calling the human rights office a “thug and accomplice of the U.S.”
"Beijing has garnered less support than expected at the council in defending its policies in Xinjiang, possibly reflecting discomfort with the enormity of the abuses.
But meaningful action will require vigorous engagement by member states and courageous leadership from Mr. Guterres and Mr. Türk."
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North Korea on Tuesday fired a ballistic missile over Japan, its neighbors said, escalating tests of weapons designed to strike key targets in regional U.S. allies amid stalled nuclear diplomacy. apnews.com/article/seoul-…
The Japanese prime minister’s office said at least one missile fired from North Korea flew over Japan and was believed to have landed into the Pacific Ocean.
It said authorities have issued an alert to residents in northeastern regions to evacuate buildings nearby in what was reportedly the first such alert in five years.
“At least 13 #Uyghurs have died as a result of poisoning from disinfectants sprayed in their homes last week used to fight a wave of coronavirus infections in a county in northwestern #China’s #Xinjiang region, local residents and officials said.”rfa.org/english/news/u…
The Uyghurs who died were all residents of Guma county (in Chinese, Pishan), Hotan (Hetian) prefecture. They are said to be among thousands of people in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) reported to have been poisoned by disinfectants used to fight the COVID-19 virus.
Many videos shared online show authorities spraying inner walls, furniture, bedding as well as inside refrigerators in homes in the region. Residents said planes with sprayers have flown over the area frequently since the lockdown.
“As world leaders congratulated #China on its Oct. 1 National Day, protesters gathered in cities around the world to protest against the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s ongoing persecution of ethnic minorities and dissidents.” rfa.org/english/news/c…
Hong Kongers, Tibetans and Uyghurs organized around 15 protests in U.K. cities to mark the 73rd National Day and "say no to the CCP," ...
... as Russian president Vladimir Putin, Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel and Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni added their congratulations, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Paraguay is 1 of 14 countries that still officially recognize #Taiwan. However, concerns are growing after Paraguay's president urged Taipei to invest $1 billion in his country to help resist pressure to switch diplomatic recognition to #China. My latest:dw.com/en/will-taiwan…
In an interview with the Financial Times newspaper last week, Abdo said agricultural producers in the South American nation have been urging the government to gain access to the Chinese market amid falling meat prices.
"We are working with the president of Taiwan so that the Paraguayan people feel the real benefits of the strategic alliance," he told the FT during a trip to the US.
"#Taiwan's military is facing a recruitment problem, as the over-18 population is forecast to decline significantly in the coming years, due to the country's low birth rate, according to a recent government report." focustaiwan.tw/politics/20221…
The number of registered births in Taiwan has dropped over the past decade, from 196,627 in 2011 to a record low of 153,820 in 2021, the report said, citing data from the Ministry of the Interior (MOI).
The decline is expected to continue over the next few years, which poses a problem for the recruitment of military service men and women, according to the assessment report released last Friday by the Legislative Yuan's Budget Center.
"#Taiwan should be proud of its democratic development, a visiting German lawmaker told President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at the Presidential Office on Monday." focustaiwan.tw/politics/20221…
During the meeting, Klaus-Peter Willsch, chair of the German-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group, recalled that he and Tsai first met in Berlin in 2011, when the latter was chair of the then opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ...
... while his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) was the ruling party of Germany.