China puts a lot of work into covering up repression in Xinjiang, wheeling out party-approved imams and diplomats from Iran, Russia and other allies to declare that Islam is flourishing. Here’s some on the ground reporting from Xinjiang this week 1/ economist.com/china/2024/04/… I went to Urumqi and Turpan this week for the final days of Ramadan and the Eid al-Fitr holiday. Independent reporting from Xinjiang runs constant risks of harming Uyghurs, who face arrest for speaking to foreign media. I was followed by plain-clothes agents on foot and by car 2/

Police arrived at peaceful Covid protest in Beijing, on Liangma river. Candles being lit. Earlier, chants in honour of dead in recent fire in Urumqi,and “Shanghai police let them go”- reference to arrests today For now police handling cautiously. Asking crowd to disperse for covid safety reasons. Mostly young, white collar crowd now singing patriotic anthems

China's vow to end extreme poverty in 2020 involves stunning numbers: billions of $ spent, millions moved from rural homes. But don't miss what it really is: a political campaign to integrate the poor into the natl economy, & train them to thank the Party. economist.com/china/2020/09/… I spent most of last week on an official tour of poverty alleviation work in a mountainous region of Sichuan. Hard to convey the sheer intensity of the propaganda. Every home visited in every village has a poster of Xi Jinping.

This will further hurt US reporters in China. Trump administration talks of seeking reciprocity re. press visa rules for reporters. But this is a race to the bottom with an authoritarian state that uses short visas to punish and coerce. A democracy can’t/shouldn’t win that race1

https://twitter.com/niubi/status/1258876533487304711

It’s true China uses short visas - 6,3 or 1 month - to punish and intimidate a growing number of fgn reporters. One effect is to make it harder to bring families, put kids in school. A reciprocity race will accelerate that. Going to be hard to make China a lifelong speciality 2

Cover-ups have costs. Distrust of Chinese stats helps explain why the world’s not debating China’s giant covid bet. Alone of big countries its aim is 0 new infections even if that hurts China, global travel and trade. A thread on China's unique exit plan 1 economist.com/china/2020/04/… It's easy to miss just how radically different China’s strategy is. The govt just pushed a city of 10m people, Harbin, back into lockdown cos of 63 cases. In West, 63 cases is a blip. It’s how many Fairbanks, Alaska has this week (pop 32k) Why? In part CCP obsession with order 2

@lionelbarber @FinancialTimes This is magisterial and must-read but, as one of @BorisJohnson’s successors as @telegraph Brussels corr from 2005-7, I fear Sir Max is being too easy on the role his paper played in establishing the idea that Europe has only foolish and bad ideas, imposed on a hapless Britain 1/ @lionelbarber @FinancialTimes @BorisJohnson @Telegraph I inherited Boris’s office, with its fine view over a Brussels park and lake, and his assistant who told adoring tales of her scallywag boss. I also inherited a beat predicated on the idea that stories about the EU did not have to be wholly true as long as they were funny 2/