China

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In yet another move to tighten its grip over Tibetan culture and identity, China has forcibly relocated approximately 200 students from the Lhamo Kirti Monastery school in Amdo (present-day Sichuan province) to state-administered residential schools. This controversial action is part of Beijing’s wider strategy to control Tibetan education and assimilate Tibetan identity, according to intelligence sources.

The Lhamo Kirti Monastery school, a traditional hub for Buddhist learning, has been entirely shut down. Reports indicate that four Tibetan youths who resisted the forced transfer were detained, subjected to political re-education, and subsequently enrolled in a local government school under duress.

“China is systematically erasing Tibetan identity by promoting Mandarin and Chinese cultural values through state-run schools,” read a note from top intelligence agencies. “Over one million Tibetan children are now in state-administered schools, separated from their families and traditional cultural roots.”

Beijing’s push to transfer students from monastic schools to government institutions is seen as part of a broader effort to suppress Tibetan Buddhism and ensure loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Increasing surveillance, restrictions on religious practices, and control over the appointment of Tibetan religious leaders—including the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama—underscore this strategy.

Recent developments coincide with a heightened security presence in Tibetan areas. In September, Chen Wenqing, the head of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, visited the Tibet Autonomous Region (Bod) and Tibetan areas of Amdo and Kham (present-day Sichuan, Qinghai, Yunnan, and Gansu provinces). Chen called for a “resolute crackdown” on separatist activities and ordered local officials to prioritize stability.

The increasing arrests of Tibetans for contacting outsiders or resisting state policies have drawn parallels to the ongoing repression of the Uighur population in East Turkestan (Xinjiang). Sources report that detainees are threatened with transfer to so-called “rehabilitation centers” if they fail to comply with government mandates.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/5201835

The UK House of Commons unanimously voted to reject China’s “distortion of the international law around Taiwan” to undermine its participation in international organizations, including the UN.

It is the fifth legislative body to condemn Beijing's interpretation of UN Resolution 2758, following Australia, Canada, The Netherlands and the EU.

The House said that UN Resolution 2758 passed on Oct. 25, 1971 — which states that the People's Republic of China (PRC) is the only legitimate government of China — does not mention Taiwan and therefore does not establish PRC sovereignty over Taiwan or define its political status.

The chamber urged the UK government to clarify its position that nothing in international law forbids Taiwan’s participation in international organizations such as the UN.

[...]

The UK continues to be a "staunch advocate for Taiwan’s meaningful international participation" in bodies including the UN and the World Health Assembly, UK Foreign Office Minister for the Indo-Pacific Catherine West said yesterday.

The UK government should condemn any attempts by the Chinese Communist Party to “rewrite history,” as this behavior does not benefit Taiwanese, the interests of the UK or the wider international community, West added.

[...]

[Labour Party lawmaker Blair] McDougall said that “diplomatic technicalities on an issue as fraught as the status of Taiwan could have far-reaching consequences for the entire world,” citing the importance of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, shipping routes and geopolitical position.

The economic toll of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be felt in every household in the UK, he added.

McDougall also stressed that the Russian invasion of Ukraine serves as a stark reminder to “form policy on a crisis before the crisis emerges,” he said.

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In response to rising geopolitical risks, foreign companies are reducing their dependence on China by strengthening economic ties with allied countries and returning production to their domestic markets, writes Chi Hung Kwan, Consulting Fellow at Japan's Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI), and Senior Fellow at the Nomura Institute of Capital Markets Research.

[...]

The 'inward direct investment' as reported in the 'Balance of Payments of China' by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange indicate a significant acceleration in the withdrawal of foreign companies from China. These statistics reveal a sharp decline in net inward direct investment, with the scale of foreign company withdrawal, including business downsizing, now exceeding new investment. In the most recent second quarter of 2024, the net flow was $-14.8 billion, marking the second negative figure recorded since the first in the third quarter of 2023.

[...]

Furthermore, as a key player in the international division of labor for electronic device production, China's factory closures and production halts during the large-scale lockdowns implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted the global supply chain. This prompted many companies to recognize the need to diversify their risk management options and to implement "China + 1" strategies.

[...]

As an example of electronics companies moving away from China, Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. (Foxconn), Apple's largest contract manufacturing partner, is working to reduce its dependence on China and diversify its production bases. In particular, the company has accelerated the construction of factories in India and Vietnam in response to the intensifying U.S.-China conflict since 2018 and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020.

[...]

Furthermore, as a key player in the international division of labor for electronic device production, China's factory closures and production halts during the large-scale lockdowns implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted the global supply chain. This prompted many companies to recognize the need to diversify their risk management options and to implement "China + 1" strategies.

[...]

Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. (Foxconn), Apple's largest contract manufacturing partner, is working to reduce its dependence on China and diversify its production bases.

[...]

South Korea's Samsung Electronics is also withdrawing from China [...] In 2019, it closed its last smartphone factory in China and moved production to Vietnam and India. Following that, PC production also withdrew from China in 2020.

[Japan's] Nintendo transferred part of the production of its flagship game console, the Nintendo Switch, to Vietnam in 2019 [...] Sony also closed its smartphone factory in Beijing in 2019 as part of a restructuring of its global production structure, concentrating production at a factory in Thailand.

[...]

Furthermore, content regulation and internet censorship in China is becoming stricter. The censorship system known as the "Great Firewall" restricts access to many overseas services, posing a major barrier to foreign platform companies doing business in China.

Among information technology companies, the withdrawal of platform companies has been especially significant, encompassing many of the industry's leading global players.

[In addition to platform companies like Airbnb and Amazon,] IBM, a comprehensive IT services company, announced that it will close its research and development division in China in August 2024. This will affect more than 1,000 employees. IBM plans to transfer its research and development functions to other overseas locations and will increase staff in places like India.

[...]

[In the car industry], Suzuki decided to dissolve two joint ventures, Changhe Suzuki and Chongqing Changan Suzuki, in 2018 and withdraw from the Chinese market.

[...] Hyundai Motor sold its Beijing No. 1 Plant in 2021 and its Chongqing Plant to a Chongqing city government-affiliated company in December 2023. The company also plans to sell its Cangzhou plant in Hebei Province soon.

[...] Honda announced in July 2024 that it will close its plant in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province in October and suspend production at its plant in Wuhan, Hubei Province in November. As a result, production capacity in China will be reduced by about 20% from the current annual level of 1.49 million units.

[...] Mitsubishi Motors announced in October 2023 that it would transfer its shares to its joint venture partner Guangzhou Automobile Group and withdraw from the Chinese market. Sales in China peaked at 179,000 units in 2018, falling to 33,000 units in 2022.

[...]

Nippon Steel announced in July 2024 that it will withdraw from its joint venture with China's Baoshan Iron & Steel, which supplies automotive steel sheets to Japanese manufacturers. The decision marks a significant shift in their half-century cooperation, which includes Nippon Steel's assistance in building the Baoshan Steelworks.

[...]

[As] consumption [in China's retail market] has been sluggish due to slowing economic growth and the collapse of the housing bubble [...] many foreign retail companies have decided to withdraw from the Chinese market or downsize their operations.

[...] In June 2019, Carrefour sold 80% of its Chinese business to China's Suning.com Group.

[...] Britain's Tesco sold all its shares in its Chinese joint venture to China Resources Enterprise, marking its complete withdrawal from the Chinese market.

[...] South Korea's Lotte Department Store in 2022, the company [sold its] last store in China [after operating in the country since 2008], in Chengdu, was sold. Meanwhile, Lotte Department Store has shifted the focus of its overseas expansion to Indonesia and Vietnam.

[...] Japan's Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings is also significantly scaling back its China operations. The company first entered China in 1993, [...] However, in 2022, it closed two stores in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, in April 2024 it closed two stores in Tianjin, and in June of the same year it closed its Shanghai Meilongzhen Isetan store. Currently, the company’s only store in China is located in the Isetan Renhan shopping mall in Tianjin.

[...]

Many countries have introduced policies to promote onshoring and friend-shoring to enhance their economic security. Good examples include the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act (enacted in August 2022), which encourages companies from friendly countries to invest in semiconductors in the U.S.; Japan's Economic Security Promotion Act (enacted in May 2022), which strengthens the supply chain of critical materials and promotes technological cooperation with friendly countries; and the European Semiconductor Act (enacted in July 2023), which aims to strengthen the semiconductor ecosystem.

Companies around the world are starting to cut prices and costs and scale back activity in China, as the world's second-biggest economy continues to flag despite Beijing's efforts to turn things around.

Big names including Hermes, L'Oreal, Coca-Cola, United Airlines, Unilever, and Mercedes (MBGn.DE) said Chinese customers are curbing spending as a property crisis drags on and youth unemployment stays high.

Some are already shifting their China strategies. French carbon graphite maker Mersen said last week it would close a factory making power transmission products in China because it cannot compete with local rivals.

International food companies such as Danone and Nestle have meanwhile deepened price cuts or are seeking to boost online shopping volumes.

Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey said on an earning call that the operating environment in China remained challenging. "The economy is kind of not taking off," he told investors.

[...]

Birkin handbag maker Hermes is compensating for lower traffic in China with higher average basket values, selling jewellery, leather goods and ready-to-wear for men and women.

After opening a store in Shenzhen last week, Hermes plans a second opening in Shenyang in December and a flagship outlet in Beijing next year.

But for others, business in China has changed for the long term.

"We used to fly, I think, roughly 10 flights a day to China, and I think those days are gone," United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/5134551

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• The Chinese industry ministry issued final – but not binding – investment guidelines for solar PV manufacturing projects after the local industry has been calling for government intervention to curb the booming solar manufacturing.

• The government now wants a minimum capital ratio of 30% for solar PV projects, up from 20% previously. This ratio typically refers to the share of total investment shareholders invest with their own assets.

The manufacturing boom and the competition for market share have prompted some Chinese manufacturers to sacrifice quality for the sake of higher profits, an industry executive said earlier this year. Companies are looking to survive in the race to the bottom in China’s solar component market and some are skimping on quality and testing.

The Chinese solar panel market remains oversupplied and this glut could last up to two more years, Longi Green Energy Technology said in July.

The company, which is one of the world’s top solar panel manufacturers, warned it would book a loss for the first half of 2024, amid a fierce price war and overcapacity in the sector.

[...]

The actions are part of China’s attempts to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty, Taiwan's National Security Bureau said.

'State Organs' (國有器官) documents allegations that Chinese government officials engage in organ harvesting and other illegal activities.

From last month to Friday last week, 28 incidents have been reported of theaters or institutions receiving threats, including bomb and shooting threats, if they did not stop showing the documentary, the bureau said.

[...]

Threats have also been received from Thailand, Vietnam, Turkey, Japan, Spain and Russia, suggesting that the criminals are using virtual private networks to hide their origins, it added.

The threats are part of a larger strategy by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to interfere with all levels of Taiwan’s society, the bureau said.

[...]

The bureau vowed to continue to closely monitor the [Chinese Communist Party's] CCP’s cyberintimidation attempts against Taiwanese, bolster domestic security and keep the public informed.

It also said it would seek to build up its international intelligence cooperation as well as domestic security initiatives to confront the CCP’s attempts at isolating and diminishing Taiwan.

[...]

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The decision comes after a landmark 2023 ruling by the same court shut the door on legalising same-sex marriage, but gave the government two years to set up an "alternative legal framework" to safeguard rights for such couples.

Tuesday marked the end of a six-year legal battle after resident Nick Infinger took the government to court when he and his partner were excluded from public rental housing on the grounds they were not an "ordinary family".

The case was later heard together with that of Henry Li and his late husband, Edgar Ng, who challenged government policies on subsidised housing and inheritance rules that barred same-sex couples.

[...]

Chief judge Andrew Cheung said policies that excluded same-sex couples from public rental flats and subsidised flats sold under the city's Home Ownership Scheme "cannot be justified".

"(For) needy same-sex married couples who cannot afford private rental accommodation, the (government's) exclusionary policy could well mean depriving them of any realistic opportunity of sharing family life under the same roof at all," Cheung added.

[...]

On the issue of inheritance, judges Joseph Fok and Roberto Ribeiro wrote that existing rules were "discriminatory and unconstitutional", adding that authorities had "failed to justify the differential treatment" of same-sex couples.

[...]

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Two trade unionists in Hong Kong - Carol Ng, Chair of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU), and Winnie Yu, President of the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance (HAEA) - were given prison terms of four years, five months, and six years, nine months, respectively.

The trade unionists are among 47 pro-democracy defenders who were arrested for participating in elections in 2020 to select candidates for the Legislative Council elections. Sixteen of them who had pleaded not guilty, including Winnie Yu, were convicted in May.

ITUC General Secretary Luc Triangle said: “Firstly, we must never forget that trade unionists are not criminals. Secondly, the United Nations as part of its human rights mandate protects trade unions and their right to freedom of association, including defending and fighting for democracy.

“We denounce the criminalisation of trade unionists for standing for democracy. These severe prison sentences given to Carol Ng and Winnie Yu for taking part in elections as part of their trade union work are inexcusable.

“Their persecution through the courts under the guise of national security is a gross violation of international labour standards.”

“We urge the Chinese and Hong Kong government to repeal the National Security Law in compliance with the findings of the ILO supervisory bodies and the UN Human Rights Committee, and release all imprisoned trade unionists.”

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China: Coverage in China this month of the rape of a 13-year-old girl, a case involving local officials, has drawn the focus to shortcomings in sexual assault protections as well as government corruption

The disturbing case of a 13-year-old in China who was raped and forced into prostitution — which first came to light in May this year — was back in the news this month, grabbing headlines also in Taiwan and Hong Kong. According to recent news on the case, the girl, identified in reports by the pseudonym “Li Xiaoxia” (李晓霞), was abused by 14 individuals, including three public officials. One of the latter is the deputy chairman of the local people’s congress in Hunan’s Xinhua County (新化縣), where the abuse occurred between April and July 2023.

[...]

Reports from official media in China, including Shanghai’s The Paper (澎湃), openly named the public officials implicated in the abuse, while others involved were identified only by their surnames — suggesting an interest in highlighting official malfeasance. Among the officials was Gong Haodong (龚昊东), who only a half year ago was selected as vice-chairman of the People’s Congress in Youxi Township (油溪乡). Back in May, the primary offender in the case — a 17-year-old who had previously forced Li into prostitution — was handed a sentence of more than nine years in prison. The penalties for the other adult defendants ranged from three to four and a half years.

[...]

As Chinese media seem keen to highlight odious official conduct at the lowest levels, it bears remembering on the issue of sexual harassment that international Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai (彭帅) was forcibly disappeared in November 2021 after she accused former vice-premier Zhang Gaoli (张高丽) of pressuring her into sex. The phenomenon of going after small-time officials while leaving high-level officials untouched is referred to in Chinese as “swatting at flies and letting the tigers run free.”

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On the two-year anniversary of Chinese authorities’ crackdown on the peaceful “Blank Paper” demonstrations, Chinese Human Rights Defenders calls on Beijing to release all wrongfully detained protesters.

"We urge the international human rights community to press the Chinese government to fulfill its human rights obligations to protect freedom of peaceful assembly, expression, and the right to fair trials," the organization writes on its websites.

In late November 2022, people across China, outraged by a deadly fire in Urumqi and frustrated by strict COVID-19 lockdown measures, took to the streets in cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, and Wuhan. Demonstrators held up blank sheets of paper, symbolizing censorship and their inability to express dissent openly. They chanted various slogans, including “End zero-COVID.” Some even called for “Down with Xi Jinping” and “Down with the Communist Party!”

The protests represented a rare instance of spontaneous demonstrations across multiple Chinese cities since the Tiananmen pro-democracy protests in 1989, with citizens openly expressing dissent in public space. Authorities responded with widespread detentions of students, journalists and other citizens across the country.

Two years ago, Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) tracked the names of more than 30 people who were taken into custody and estimated that at least 100 people had been detained. No official figures of arrests have been released. Some people were released shortly after their arrests. However, others faced harsher punishments, including imprisonment and enforced disappearances

[...]

The ongoing prosecution of participants and supporters of the Blank Paper protests underscores the urgent need to hold the Chinese government accountable and to put an end to its impunity for repeated and ongoing violations of its obligations to protect human rights.

TLDR: In recent years, as China has suffered from an economic downturn, the rate of random mass attacks has soared. After three random mass killings unfolded in Chinese coastal cities in the last two weeks, some people on social media echoed the official line of harsh punishment, while others called for freedom of expression so that people could express their grievances and the authorities could address their pain in time.

Some also suggested economic reform to boost the employment rate and policy reform, such as social welfare and labour laws, to improve working conditions. In short, people need to see hope for their future.

[...]

However, as anticipated, the Chinese authorities are fixated on their standard social control handbook. While social profiling is common in China through it's social credit system, on Weibo, many said that the Chinese Communist Party’s grassroots branches have started profiling residents into additional categories, namely, “4-without” (四無) and “5-failure” (五失).

The “4-without” are those without a spouse and children, job and regular income, normal social connections, and assets like property and cars. The “5-failure” are those who “fail” in their investments, lives, relationships, and suffer from mental illness.

**The party branches were told to pay special attention to people labelled “4-without” and “5-failure” as they are assumed to have nothing to lose, and thus might be more likely to harm society. **

However, such a measure won’t relieve the social strain. One social media user pointed out that the two social groups are victims of an unjust system and need assistance, rather than further social labels and control.

Having them screened out, and then what, put in jail? [People labelled] 4-without and 5-failure have not broken the law, and almost all of them are in need of economic assistance. The CCP does not have a comprehensive social welfare system, so how can it let these people who are in trouble get through their difficulties? The CCP keeps giving local governments money to solve their debt crisis, and it keeps pumping money into the stability maintenance system, but it is not willing to spend any money to solve the real problem! Shouldn’t the CCP know which is more effective: damming or dredging the river?

Archived version

Two high-profile mass killings and a car crash at a primary school in just over a week are raising questions about how well-equipped China is to deal with the stresses of a slowing economy and related mental-health issues.

Since November 11, the country has reeled from news of a driver reportedly angry at his divorce settlement killing 35 people by ramming his car into a crowd in Zhuhai; a former student on a stabbing rampage at a vocational college in Wuxi, killing eight; and a car ploughing into a crowd of school children and pedestrians in the city of Changde on Tuesday.

[...]

The events have led to a spike in worries about the overall health of society in China, where mass casualty attacks have occurred with alarming regularity throughout 2024. There have been nine so far this year, compared with six in total in the preceding decade.

[...]

As the economy slows, employment opportunities are more precarious and fewer people are being lifted by China’s long-running economic miracle. The repercussions on mental health from such economic pressures are growing, experts say.

[...]

Xiaojie Qin, a Beijing-based psychotherapist and director at mental health non-profit CandleX, says that a pervasive sense of societal unfairness and disparity can lead in extreme cases to violence against random bystanders.

“Some people who were left behind and socially and economically more marginalised can feel they are not being treated fairly, and some people who don’t have enough emotional regulation, they have outbursts, sometimes violent outbursts,” she said.

[...]

The widespread censorship of discussion around the attacks has also appeared to heighten concerns as more people question the veracity of information they are receiving from official sources, analysts said.

“It can exacerbate societal fears and distrust of the government within China, particularly if seemingly random, large-scale violent incidents persist as they have this year,” said Drew Thompson, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

[...]

"The lack of access to mental health services is one reason disaffected people resort to violence, but the lack of an independent legal system that protects individuals’ rights over the interests of the party or government results in a lack of trust and faith in the courts,” said Drew Thompson [a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore].

[...]

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/4980189

Sir Keir Starmer has been criticised for meeting China’s president Xi Jinping just hours before 45 Hong Kong pro-democracy activists were sentenced for attempting to field opposition candidates in an election.

Among those sentenced were Benny Tai, who was jailed for 10 years and Joshua Wong, sentenced to four years, for “subversion” after being involved in the “Hong Kong 47” group of activists and lawmakers.

The imprisonments were the largest use of the authoritarian National Security Law brought in to clamp down on democracy in Hong Kong in 2019.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, former chair of the Democratic Party in Hong Kong, Emily Lau, suggested Sir Keir’s meeting with Xi at the G20 a mere hours before the sentencing meant the UK’s agreements with China over the governance of the territory before its handover in 1997 were “evaporating”.

[...]

Archived link

A 27 percent year-on-year increase in dissent events. CDM logged 937 dissent events in the third quarter of 2024, a 27 percent increase over the same period in 2023. The majority of these protests are led by workers (41 percent), property owners (28 percent), and rural residents (12 percent), with the remainder driven by diverse groups such as parents, students, investors, consumers, members of religious or ethnic minority groups, and activists.

The top regions for protest events were Guangdong (18 percent), followed by Shandong, Sichuan, Henan, and Zhejiang. CDM has logged a total of 7,377 cases of dissent since data collection began in June 2022.

• Citizens fighting for autonomy in their communities. This issue analyzes 174 cases of homeowners pushing back against perceived abuses and overreach by property management companies. When homeowners have attempted to democratically form owners’ committees to take back powers that were seized by the management companies, they have been met with obstruction or other repression by the company or local government. These tensions have been exacerbated by the government increasingly treating property managers as the first line of social management.
• Dissenting through xinfang. Citizens often use xinfang, or petitioning, a complaint channel encouraged by the government, to carry out collective action or other contentious forms of dissent. This report explores the trends underlying 182 such cases, at least half of which led to some form of repression.
• Rise in frequency of consumer and investor protests. CDM has documented a rise in protests over recent months by consumers and investors amidst a sluggish economy. Despite the grievances originating with the conduct of private companies, nearly 40 percent of these protests demand government intervention.

[Edit typo.]

A Hong Kong court harshly sentenced 45 prominent pro-democracy figures on November 19, 2024, on baseless national security charges that underscored Hong Kong’s abysmal human rights situation, Human Rights Watch said today. The Hong Kong government should quash the convictions and immediately release all of those convicted.

Three judges handpicked by Hong Kong’s chief executive sentenced 37 men and 8 women to prison terms ranging from 4 years and 2 months to 10 years. The defendants were earlier convicted of “conspiracy to commit subversion” under article 22 of the National Security Law for helping to organize or run as candidates in an informal primary election in 2020 aimed at winning seats in the then-semi-democratic Legislative Council.

“It’s now a crime carrying up to 10 years in prison to try and run in and win an election in Hong Kong,” said Maya Wang, associate China director at Human Rights Watch. “The cruel sentences for dozens of prominent democracy activists show just how fast Hong Kong’s civil liberties and the rule of law have nosedived in the four years since the Chinese government imposed the draconian National Security Law on the city.”

[Edit typo.]

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/4918199

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Swedish authorities say they have detected a Chinese ship moving near two telecoms cables that failed within hours of each other on the Baltic Sea bed in recent days.

Prosecutors in Stockholm have launched a preliminary investigation into suspected sabotage, hours after Germany dubbed the cable failure part of a “hybrid operation”.

On Sunday morning at about 10am, Swedish authorities registered problems with a data cable under the Baltic Sea from the Öland island to Lithuania. At 4am on Monday, telecoms operators in Finland and Germany reported problems with another cable called C-Lion-1.

Both cables were damaged in the Swedish economic zone, prompting prosecutors in Stockholm to take the investigation lead.

Archived link

Despite Beijing’s efforts to dismiss the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ (OHCHR) expert findings, the UN’s Xinjiang report remains a central reference point in discussions on China’s rights record at the UN. Released in August 2022, the report found that Beijing may have committed, and may continue to commit, international crimes, including crimes against humanity.

During the 57th session of the UN Human Rights Council held in September 2024, ten countries composing the ‘Xinjiang Core Group’ – initially formed in September 2022 to table a vital motion on the Xinjiang report – spoke jointly to regret that China has continued to reject the OHCHR’s impartial findings and failed to engage meaningfully with the United Nations.

The joint statement urged China to release all people arbitrarily detained in the Uyghur region, clarify the status of missing persons, facilitate safe contact and reunion, and uphold its international obligations.

More than a dozen countries – including the Netherlands, Lithuania, Finland, and Japan – also spoke individually to call on China to implement the recommendations outlined in the OHCHR report on Xinjiang. Several countries also addressed the erosion of freedoms and human rights abuses in Tibet and Hong Kong, with particular emphasis on restrictions on civic space, arbitrary detentions, and the suppression of independent media.

To date, the OHCHR report has been referenced over 150 times at the Human Rights Council sessions, with repeated calls for China to take actions.

[...]

Beijing risks entanglement in multiple international conflicts, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the intensifying hostilities between Israel and Iran.

This involvement directly contradicts China’s Global Security Initiative (GSI), an international policing framework through which China’s leader, President Xi Jinping, seeks to position China as a diplomatic fulcrum, promoting peace and stability worldwide. This paradox reveals Beijing’s dilemma: can China maintain its self-proclaimed mediator role while aligning itself with states involved in ongoing conflicts?

As these partnerships become more of a liability than an asset, Beijing appears to be approaching a strategic crossroads. Will China recalibrate its relationships with these conflict-prone nations to preserve its diplomatic credibility, or will its aspirations as a global mediator be jeopardized by its ties to states that fuel regional destabilization?

North Korea’s Role in the Ukraine War

The deployment of North Korean soldiers to support the Russian war in Ukraine has sparked global concerns. While the US has turned to China to intervene and prevent further troop deployments by North Korea, the actions of Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin could complicate Beijing’s regional and international influence.

[...]

Yet, tighter Russian-North Korea cooperation benefits China. It ensures North Korea has an additional patron, which helps preserve the stability of its regime. As RUSI Fellow Samuel Ramani highlights, “China has also leveraged Russia’s diplomatic clout to get Tumen River access, which could tie the Sea of Japan to the Polar Silk Road. North Korea opposed Tumen access historically, and all China had to do for this was store Russia-bound North Korean arms in Zhejiang port.”

[...]

Nevertheless, complications keep arising. The influx of $1 billion in hard currency from artillery sales and additional hundreds of millions from remittances tied to North Korean troop deployments could reduce Pyongyang’s economic reliance on China – a crucial lever Beijing has traditionally used through calibrated adjustments in sanctions enforcement.

[...]

Additionally, South Korea might use this situation to bolster its alliances with the West by supplying munitions to Ukraine, which could complicate China’s diplomatic outreach to Seoul, particularly within the recently revitalized China-Japan-ROK trilateral dialogue framework. This could be further strained if South Korea begins to perceive China as complicit in North Korea’s arms transfers to Russia. Accusations of tacit Chinese complicity may well escalate if Beijing continues to resist US calls to apply pressure on both Moscow and Pyongyang – demands it previously opposed when countering Iranian and Houthi assertiveness in the Red Sea.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/4862641

The Netherlands' foreign minister, whose ministry oversees export restrictions on top computer chip equipment maker ASML, said on Monday that China-Russia trade was "directly affecting" European security.

NATO views China as a "decisive enabler" of Russia in its war against Ukraine, given that Chinese firms are selling goods that end up as components in Russian weapons, including drones, Caspar Veldkamp said before a meeting with European Union foreign ministers in Brussels.

"I raised this twice with the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and I think as Europeans we should all do this, because this is something that China should be realizing: it is directly affecting European security," Veldkamp said.

[...]

The Dutch government has rolled out a series of progressively tighter export restrictions preventing ASML from shipping its most advanced technology to Chinese chipmakers.

ASML dominates the market for lithography tools, which are essential for making the circuitry of computer chips.

Despite the restrictions, China has still been the largest market for ASML and other top U.S. and Japanese equipment makers over the past year and a half, as Chinese firms expand capacity to make older chips not covered by restrictions, but still adequate for many military purposes.

[...]

Veldkamp said he would discuss what to do about Chinese support for Russia with other EU foreign ministers on Monday.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/4853883

[The article is an analysis of the cooperation agreement signed between Finland and China by two Finnish scholars.]

Geopolitical tensions were prominently featured in the discussions between the two heads of state [of Finland and China during Finland's president in Beijing this week]. In contrast to the laudatory tone of the Chinese media, the the Finnish President's official press release stated that the central topic of the talks was Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, as had been the focus of previous visits of EU leaders as well. [Finnish President] Stubb, who earlier stated [Chinese President] Xi could end the war in Ukraine with “just one phone call”, reportedly focused on convincing the Chinese president of the importance of the conflict for Finland and the rest of the European Union, emphasizing that Putin could not be trusted.

Yet apparently, China cannot be completely trusted either. Far from boosting cooperation, the New Joint Action Plan signed by Finland and China represents a reality different from the praises in Chinese media. Strikingly, the plan, which describes the main avenues of Sino-Finnish future cooperation, is only five pages long [and] the focal points of the plan give an impression of shrinking cooperation.

[...]

The Arctic domain is entirely absent from the new Sino-Finnish action plan. In contrast to the 2019 plan, which envisioned deepening Arctic cooperation in the fields of law, research and marine technology, the new plan does not mention the Arctic at all.

The omission is rather unsurprising. Since the signing of the 2019 plan, the Arctic security situation has changed dramatically and Finland’s Arctic projects involving Chinese stakeholders have been quietly cancelled or put on ice. Examples include the termination of the planned Arctic railway project connecting Norway’s Kirkenes and Rovaniemi, and the Finnish security authorities’ refusal to provide satellite services to China in the Arctic Space Center in Sodankylä or to rent an airport for Arctic research flights near the Finnish Defence Forces’ firing range in Kemijärvi.

[...]

This state of affairs reflects broader suspicion towards Chinese intentions, as the Finnish media have increasingly reported on the covert activities of Chinese “united front groups” and scholars with connections to military-civilian fusion projects, for instance. Finally, in 2023, a Chinese container vessel, on its way to St. Petersburg via the Arctic Northeastern passage, destroyed a gas pipeline linking Finland and Estonia. Before its ill-fated journey, the vessel, Newnew Polar Bear, was celebrated in the Chinese media as a harbinger of increased Arctic cooperation between China and Russia. Whether the incident was intentional or not (the investigation is still ongoing), it caused a flurry of media speculation on a possible Chinese grey-zone operation in the Baltic Sea.

Since officially launching its Polar Silk Road in 2017, China has attempted to expand its presence within the Arctic countries through economic, diplomatic and scientific cooperation, but it now seems that the Arctic leg of the Belt and Road is not extending to Finland or into its neighbouring Nordic countries either. Consequently, China's Arctic expansion now increasingly relies on Russia.

Finland’s distancing from Arctic cooperation with China reflects deeper dynamics than mere domestic concerns. As the great power competition between “democratic” and “authoritarian” camps intensifies, Finland is increasingly “de-risking” from China, while integrating with its Western partners.

[...]

Finland’s changed approach to China provides the latest example for the Chinese leadership that there is a price to be paid for its “strategic straddle”; attempting to maintain business-as-usual relations with Europe while de facto enabling a brutal invasion in Ukraine. Naturally, this straddle is most severely felt in Russian neighbour states, including Finland, which shares the longest border with Russia in Europe.

[...]

Symbolic of the deteriorating Sino-Finnish relations, two giant pandas leased to Ähtäri zoo by China in 2017 are set to return to China eight years ahead of schedule due to financial problems. One might ask whether this reflects a broader reality for China’s Arctic cooperation in the future?

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/4768962

Ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Brazil visit on November 20, Brasilia has junked China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), becoming the second BRICS country after India to reject Beijing’s multi-billion dollar venture.

Earlier in December 2023, Italy, the only G7 country to have signed for BRI, also withdrew from China’s vast infrastructure initiative.

This move by Brazil—an influential player in the BRICS bloc—signals rising concerns about the long-term implications of China’s expanding global footprint through the BRI.

Prioritizing Strategic Autonomy

Under President Lula da Silva’s leadership, Brazil seeks to strengthen its ties with China while avoiding the formal commitments associated with joining the BRI.

Brazilian officials are actively pursuing Chinese investments without formal accession to the BRI, reflecting the country’s desire to maintain strategic autonomy while exploring various infrastructure and trade projects with China.

In an interview with the Brazilian newspaper O Globo, Celso Amorim, Brazil’s special presidential adviser for international affairs [...] clarified that Brazil does not view Chinese trade and infrastructure projects as “an insurance policy,” stating, “We are not entering into a treaty.”

[...]

[The article is originally published by AP.]

On the edge of Peru’s coastal desert [...] the megaport of Chancay, a $1.3 billion project majority-owned by the Chinese shipping giant Cosco, is turning this outpost of bobbing fishing boats into an important node of the global economy. China’s President Xi Jinping inaugurates the port Thursday during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Peru.

The development [...] has met a skeptical response from impoverished villagers, who say it is depriving them of fishing waters and bringing no economic benefit to locals.

“Our fishing spots no longer exist here. They destroyed them,” said 78-year-old fisherman Julius Caesar — “like the emperor of Rome” — gesturing toward the dockside cranes. [...]

The Peruvian government hopes the port 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of Lima will become a strategic transshipment hub for the region, opening a new line connecting South America to Asia and speeding trade across the Pacific for Peru’s blueberries, Brazil’s soybeans and Chile’s copper, among other exports. Officials cite the port’s potential to generate millions of dollars in revenues and turn coastal cities into so-called special economic zones with tax breaks to lure investment.

“We Peruvians are focused primarily on the well-being of Peruvians,” Foreign Minister Elmer Schialer told The Associated Press.

But many of Chancay’s 60,000 residents are unconvinced. Fishermen returning to port with smaller catches complain that they have already lost out.

The dredging of the port — which sucked sediment from the seabed to create a shipping channel 17 meters (56 feet) deep — has ruined fish breeding grounds, locals said.

“I’ve been out in the water all day and I’m always needing to venture farther,” said Rafael Ávila, a 28-year-old fisherman with sand in his hair, returning to shore empty-handed and exhausted.

“This used to be enough,” he said, pointing at his painted dinghy. “Now I need a larger, more expensive boat to reach the fish.”

[...]

With some of the world’s largest container ships to berth at Chancay Port in January 2025, residents also fear the arrival of pollution and oil spills. In 2022, a botched tanker delivery at La Pampilla refinery nearby sent thousands of barrels of crude oil spilling into Peru’s famously biodiverse waters, killing countless fish and putting legions of fishermen out of work.

Today a glance at the moribund town center, featuring mostly empty seafood restaurants, tells the story of diminished fishing stocks and decimated tourism even without the port being operational.

The port’s breakwater changed the currents and destroyed good surfing conditions, locals said, affecting everyone from ice vendors to truckers to restaurant owners. “No to the megaport” is spray-painted on a wall overlooking the waterfront.

“This port is a monster that’s come here to screw us,” said 40-year-old Rosa Collantes, cleaning and gutting slimy drum fish on the shore. “People come to the port and they say ‘Wow, tremendous!’ but they don’t see the reality.”

[...]

A car attack that killed 35 people in China has sparked questions about a recent spate of public violence, as officials continue to censor discussion on the incident.

On social media, many are discussing the social phenomenon of "taking revenge on society", where individuals act on personal grievances by attacking strangers.

Police said the driver who ploughed into crowds at a stadium in the southern city of Zhuhai on Monday night acted out of unhappiness over a divorce settlement.

While it is believed to be China's deadliest known act of violence in decades, it follows a string of attacks in recent months, including a stabbing spree at a Shanghai supermarket and a knife attack at a Beijing school.

Amid a national outcry over the Zhuhai incident, President Xi Jinping has vowed "severe punishment" for the perpetrator. Police said the 62-year-old driver, who has been arrested, is in a coma due to self-inflicted wounds.

On Chinese social media platforms, many expressed shock at his actions and asked if it was a symptom of deeper societal problems.

One comment that went viral on Weibo read: "How can you take revenge on society because your family life is not going well? You've taken the lives of so many innocent people, will you ever have peace of mind."

“If there is a widespread lack of job security and huge pressure to survive... then society is bound to be full of problems, hostility and terror,” a user said on WeChat.

Another person wrote in a widely-shared post: "We should be examining the deep-rooted, social [factors] that have fostered so many indiscriminate [attacks on] the weak."

A number of violent attacks in China have been reported this year, including a mass stabbing and firearms attack in Shandong in February which killed at least 21 people.

In October, a knife attack at a top school in Beijing injured five people, while in September, a man went on a stabbing spree at a supermarket in Shanghai, killing three people and injuring several others.

"We keep on raising flags and complaining about it, but they keep on sending them," said President Surangel Whipps Jr, the pro-US leader re-elected this week.

"They continually don't respect our sovereignty and our boundaries and just continue to do these activities," he told AFP from Palau's commercial centre Koror.

The most recent foray was detected earlier this week, one day after claiming victory in presidential elections.

"Once again, Chinese vessels are in our exclusive economic zone uninvited."

In what appeared to be another deliberate prod, Chinese officials earlier this year bestowed new names on two underwater mountains already claimed by Palau, Whipps added.

"They're now naming some of our seamounts Chinese names. Why? Why would you do that?"

A nation of some 20,000 people, Palau is one of the few countries to recognise Taiwan's claim to statehood.

It is a stance that has angered China, which in recent years has persuaded a clutch of new Pacific friends to walk away from Taiwan in favour of Beijing.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/4724783

China should face “a higher cost” for supporting Russia in the war against Ukraine, the EU’s incoming foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has said.

The former Estonian prime minister was speaking to MEPs during a three-hour hearing before she takes office, when she listed Ukraine’s victory as a priority – stronger words than vaguer formulas of support voiced by some EU politicians.

“Victory of Ukraine is a priority for us all; the situation on the battlefield is very difficult,” Kallas told MEPs in her opening remarks. “That is why we must keep on working every day, today, tomorrow and for as long as it takes, and with as much military, financial and humanitarian aid as needed.”

[...]