China

Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/10066439

The official letters to U.S. travel agencies Abercrombie & Kent, Geographic Expeditions, and Wild Frontiers raise concerns about advertised tours in the region and asks that the agencies cancel any planned tours to the XUAR or respond to questions about company policies and the tours advertised on their website.

"Tourism whitewashes the atrocities committed against Uyghurs and other minorities and puts a happy face on genocide" in Xinjiang, the lettrr reads, urging companies to "not be complicit in this effort, marketing PRC-controlled tours to U.S. citizens and other foreigners."

"Instead, the U.S. and its allies should be demanding unfettered access for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials, and long-banned experts on the region to conduct investigations of past and ongoing atrocities and other gross violations of human rights, such as forced labor.”

Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/10063413

The Solar Stewardship Initiative (SSI), a joint initiative of Solar Power Europe and Solar Energy UK driving a more responsible, transparent, and sustainable solar value chain, fails its members and the wider solar industry by remaining silent on Uyghur forced labour, the most pervasive and severe human rights risk in the solar sector.

The SSI should provide clear and unequivocal guidance to its members that in state-imposed forced labour contexts, like the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (Uyghur Region), ending business relationships is the only responsible course of action. Further, ‘certification’ against the SSI Standards should not be considered as reliable evidence of compliance with forced labour regulations, the Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region says.

Every level of the solar panel supply chain is exposed to Uyghur forced labour. Recent research confirms that the solar industry remains highly reliant on the Uyghur Region for key inputs, where state-imposed forced labour is an integral element of a government-imposed system of oppression against the Uyghur population. Abuses in the Uyghur Region may constitute crimes against humanity according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The SSI’s silence on the industry’s continued reliance on state-imposed forced labour severely undermines the credibility and effectiveness of the initiative, which portrays itself as an industry standard to create a more sustainable solar supply chain.

Wong was jailed for just over six years - one of the longer sentences handed down by the district court on Saturday. Activists Ventus Lau and Owen Chow were also among those given prison terms.

Most of the defendants were found guilty of rioting.

The incident happened in July 2019 and was seen as a key moment in the pro-democracy protests that erupted over a controversial law allowing the extradition of people to mainland China.

Mo Yan's writing won China's first Nobel Prize in Literature, but is it patriotic enough for Xi Jinping's China?

That's the question at the centre of a high-profile lawsuit that has driven a debate about nationalism in China in recent weeks.

Patriotic blogger Wu Wanzheng, who goes by "Truth-Telling Mao Xinghuo" online, filed a claim against the novelist last month under a 2018 law that made insulting heroes and martyrs a crime punishable by up to three years in prison.

Mr Wu claims that Mr Mo's books smeared the ruling Communist Party's reputation, "beautified" enemy Japanese soldiers and insulted former revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.

Patriotic campaigns have become more common in recent years in China, as online nationalists attack journalists, writers and other public figures they say have offended the country's dignity.

But it is unusual for a figure as prominent as Mr Mo to be targeted.

"Since Xi Jinping came to power, he incited a wave of 'aggressive patriotism' such as building a cult of personality, obsession with catching spies and anti-West sentiments," says Murong Xuecun, a well-known Chinese writer who lives in exile in Australia.

Cao Shunli was arrested on 14 September 2013 at Beijing International Airport. Her whereabouts were unknown for five weeks before she reappeared in custody, charged with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. Shunli was kept in detention despite a serious deterioration in her health, allegedly due to torture, ill-treatment and failure by authorities to provide timely and adequate access to medical care. She was hospitalised on 19 February 2014, where she died on 14 March 2014.

The UN experts previously raised Cao Shunli’s case with Chinese authorities in several letters and issued three public statements.

Cao Shunli was part of a group of human rights defenders who, from December 2008, advocated for and requested to participate in the preparation of China’s national report for its Universal Periodic Reviews (UPR) in 2009 and 2013.

“Rather than using Cao Shunli’s death as a wake-up call and a moment to reform engagement with civil society, Chinese authorities have regrettably intensified their persecution of human rights defenders and others who seek to work with the UN in the field of human rights” the experts said.

"I am deeply concerned that evidence that is expected to be presented against Jimmy Lai imminently may have been obtained as a result of torture or other unlawful treatment,” UN’s special rapporteur on torture, Alice Jill Edwards, says. “An investigation into these allegations must be conducted immediately before any evidence is admitted into these present proceedings.”

The UN convention against torture, which China has ratified, prohibits the use of evidence obtained through torture in legal proceedings, unless those proceedings are against an alleged torturer.

Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/10012198

The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) has today published a comprehensive report unveiling troubling revelations surrounding the operations of the Zhejiang Ocean Family Co., Ltd. (ZOF), a major seafood industry player with extensive Chinese and global seafood supply chain links.

ZOF contributed 14.63% of China's total tuna production in 2020, and seafood tainted with human rights abuses and environmental destruction could be entering international supply chains on a significant scale, ending up on the shelves of household-name retailers.

12 vessels owned or chartered by ZOF or its subsidiaries were involved in human rights abuses and/or illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities, such as shark finning and the deliberate killing of cetaceans. One fisher aboard a ZOF vessel reported his boat would catch turtles, sharks, whales and even penguins. Human rights abuses were also reported across these vessels, including physical abuse, salary deductions, human trafficking, and forced labor, which crew told EJF led to the suicide of one crew member due to depression and the death of another due to illness.

EJF's report, which draws on crew members' testimonies, photographic and filmed evidence, AIS data, and open-source intelligence, meticulously outlines the IUU fishing and human rights abuses committed on the company’s vessels.

Last week, the government of Hong Kong published the latest of a series of increasingly draconian national security laws. This one will target espionage, treason, and foreign political interference, and those found guilty of violating some of its tenets could be sentenced to life imprisonment.

This might sound niche or even well-intentioned; doesn’t the US have its own fears about foreign political interference in its elections? But this isn’t really about national security. It is, as Human Rights Watch put it, “Beijing’s latest effort to transform Hong Kong from a free society to an oppressed one where people live in fear.”

Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/9982311

US President Joe Biden announced “unprecedented actions to ensure that cars on US roads from countries of concern like China do not undermine our national security.” He asked the Commerce Department to launch an advanced rulemaking (ANPRM) on connected vehicles with technology from those countries and to take action to respond to the risks.

ANPRM notes that China likely represents the broadest, most active, and most persistent cyber espionage threat to the US government and private networks. Experts suggest this risk of espionage poses a more significant Chinese threat to the rapidly emerging market of connected vehicles (CVs) than outright damaging attacks.

Spending heavily on after-school activities was once par for the course for middle-class families who usually have just one child, but the world's second-largest economy is in the throes of a crisis of confidence.

Companies have lost business due to trade tensions with the West and the property sector has been reeling under mountains of debt. The year began with a stock market rout, concerns abound that deflation may become entrenched and consumer confidence is hovering near record lows.

That's had a devastating impact on schools and clubs offering activities like soccer, swimming, piano and dance with many having closed.

Patriotic blogger Wu Wanzheng, who goes by "Truth-Telling Mao Xinghuo" online, filed a claim against the novelist last month under a 2018 law that made insulting heroes and martyrs a crime.

Mr Wu claims that Mr Mo's books smeared the ruling Communist Party's reputation, "beautified" enemy Japanese soldiers and insulted former revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.

Mr Wu's suit demands that the author apologise to all Chinese people, the country’s martyrs and Mao, and pay damages of 1.5 billion yuan ($316 million) – 1 yuan for each Chinese person.

He also requested that Mr Mo's books be removed from circulation.

Mr Mo, whose real name is Guan Moye, won the Nobel in 2012.

Patriotic campaigns have become more common in recent years in China, as online nationalists attack journalists, writers and other public figures they say have offended the country's dignity.

Inside Tibet, the chaos of China's 1966-76 Cultural Revolution left temples razed and monasteries reduced to ruins, destruction that continued in the decades that followed.

Today, activists decry what they say are Beijing's determined efforts to erase what is left of Tibet's cultural and religious identity.

Tibet's Dharamsala-based government in exile says it is looking to keep the increasingly scattered community connected, including via online conferences teaching younger generations about their history.

"If they understand Tibet a little more, they could be the best advocates," said Penpa Tsering, elected as the government's sikyong, or leader, by Tibetans worldwide.

The Uyghurs have been held as illegal immigrants – not refugees – under “poor living conditions” in detention centers, unable to speak with outsiders, said an advisor to the country’s National Human Rights Commission, Rattikul Chansuriya, who contended that the Uyghurs could be in danger if repatriated to China.

Once seen as the main gateway between the West and China, many investors now believe it is increasingly hard to separate Hong Kong from the authoritarian mainland — a dilemma that has sparked an exodus of foreign firms from the city known as the Pearl of Asia.

Since 2019, the number of global companies with regional headquarters in Hong Kong has fallen by 8.4%, according to data from the city's census and statistics department. The figures are even more stark among US firms, a third of whom have shifted out of Hong Kong over the past decade, the Wall Street Journal reported recently. Those multinationals that remain have cut headcount in the semi-autonomous city by nearly a third over the past four years.

Taiwan's top security official told parliament on March 11 that China runs "joint combat readiness patrols" near the democratic island every seven to 10 days on average, saying Chinese forces were trying to "normalise" drills near Taiwan.

China has expanded the use of boarding schools - for children as young as four - and replaced Tibetan as the main language of tuition with Chinese.

Beijing says these reforms give Tibetan children the best possible preparation for their adult lives, in a country where the main language of communication is Mandarin Chinese.

But Dr Gyal Lo disagrees - he believes Beijing's real aim is to undermine the Tibetan identity, by targeting the very youngest in society.

"They've designed the curriculum that produces a population that will not be able to practise their own language and culture in the future," he said.

"China is using education as a tool to minimise Tibetans' social capacity. No one will be able to resist their rule."

A wave of social media influencers are earning money by promoting illegal knockoffs imported from China on Facebook, TikTok, Discord, and Reddit. Pandabuy alone claims to have signed up thousands of content creators to its marketing program last year. They serve as the public face of an elaborate new counterfeiting economy that is proving difficult for tech platforms to combat and makes the dealers of Manhattan’s Canal Street look downright primitive.

It works by connecting Western buyers to Pandabuy and other fast-growing Chinese sites that act as a go-between for shopping marketplaces stuffed with fakes usually sold only inside China. In exchange for promoting the platforms, the influencers earn a cut of each sale.

PSA

There was a comment a couple months ago now I think about people concerned that VPNs no longer worked in China.

I traveled in China for several weeks over the lunar new year last month and tested proton, Nord, astrill, and a few random small ones I found off the chinese-accessible internet via Baidu without a vpn, and all of them work fine with the exception of one rabbit one that stated it refused to work in China.

But if anyone had any lingering concerns about the viability of using a VPN in China, they all worked fine, and the three big ones I mentioned worked fine all day every day, the smaller ones disconnected after an hour or so and then you would have to reconnect.

But they all worked, even over the holidays when the government is supposed to crack down on VPNs.

Right now there's a party committee going on for a few days so vpns are supposed to be shut off, but my friend is using a VPN in China and sent me messages from Gmail, which is inaccessible in China without a VPN, to let me know that they're still working.

Corollary PSA, my tickets from NY to Hong Kong were 274 bucks last month one-way, so prices are pretty crazy low right now, or at least they were several weeks ago.

Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/9818983

Ten years ago, on March 13, 2014, Thai immigration officials patrolling in Songkhla, near the Thai-Malaysia border, arrested a group of 220 persons in the jungle, kicking off this saga that continues today. In July 2015, Thai authorities forcibly returned 109 ethnic Uyghur men from immigration detention centers across Thailand at the request of the Chinese government.

Without giving the Uyghurs any opportunity to seek asylum, as required under international human rights law, the authorities rounded those 109 men up from detention centers around the country and handcuffed, blindfolded, and handed them over to Chinese officials in Bangkok. Beijing sent a plane with Chinese police officials to pick them up, and during the handover, treated the Uyghurs like dangerous criminals, degrading them, and filming them in blindfolds and handcuffs. The men then disappeared into China’s opaque, abusive penal system, never to be seen again.

The Philippines has signed or entered discussions over new security agreements with at least 18 countries since a Chinese coast guard vessel flashed a military-grade laser at a Philippine coast guard ship in the South China Sea last year, according to the Philippine Defense Department.

While the deepening Philippine alliance with the United States — which includes granting the U.S. military expanded access to Philippine military bases — has drawn much attention, Manila’s security campaign goes beyond Washington.

Since October last year, the perpetrator has targeted ministries, elected representatives, transportation hubs and tourist sites in Taiwan with e-mailed bomb threats or threats of violence against the recipients.

Leaked chat records show I-Soon executives wooing officials over lavish dinners and late night binge drinking. They collude with competitors to rig bidding for government contracts. They pay thousands of dollars in “introduction fees” to contacts who bring them lucrative projects. I-Soon has not commented on the documents.

Mei Danowski, a cybersecurity analyst who wrote about I-Soon on her blog, Natto Thoughts, said the documents show that China’s hackers for hire work much like any other industry in China.

"It is profit-driven,” Danowski said. “It is subject to China’s business culture — who you know, who you dine and wine with, and who you are friends with.”

Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/9786091

The European Commission says China hasn’t been playing fair in that its government has been paying subsidies through “direct transfer of funds,” among other actions, reports Reuters – which the EC says tips the balance in China’s favor and leaves European automakers out to dry.

Back in October 2023, Europe launched its formal investigation into the Chinese EV industry, as European companies are struggling to compete with the cheap, high-tech Chinese imports, made by low-cost labor, entering the European Union.

In Beijing and Kyiv, the divide between China and Europe over the war in Ukraine was on display this week.

As a Chinese envoy crisscrossed Europe for talks on ending the war, his boss, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, trumpeted a sharp rise in China-Russia trade — which the West sees as providing an economic lifeline to Moscow that undermines the sanctions it has imposed to try to pressure Russia to withdraw from Ukraine.

“Russian natural gas has entered thousands of households in China, and Chinese cars are driving in the streets of Russia, which fully demonstrates the strong resilience and broad prospects of mutually beneficial cooperation,” Wang said at an annual news conference on Thursday.

Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/9777654

The footage, shared by Russian military correspondent Pavel Kukushkin on his Telegram channel, shows two men sitting opposite each other at a table, communicating in Russian and Chinese via a voice electronic translator.

"The Chinese unit in the Pyatnashka brigade is growing. More and more [Chinese] are constantly arriving. Our Chinese brothers have also come to us," a Russian serviceman said in the video published by Kukushkin.

The video comes shortly after India said it was working to bring home some 20 of its citizens who say they were tricked into fighting for Russia on the front lines in Ukraine.

Some Indian citizens recruited by Russia told AFP that they were promised roles that wouldn't involved fighting on the front lines, but when they arrived in Russia, they were trained to use weapons including Kalashnikov assault rifles and deployed to Ukraine.