Day: September 1, 2022

For China’s Xi and Other Strongmen, Gorbachev Showed Exactly What Not to Do

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In much of the West, Mikhail S. Gorbachev is hailed as the farsighted visionary who brought the Cold War to a peaceful conclusion. But for autocratic leaders in other parts of the world, his legacy stands as a cautionary tale of power discarded quickly and, by some estimates, cavalierly, with little or nothing in return. This lesson has been taken most to heart in China, where Xi Jinping is expected to be anointed to a third term as the country’s top leader during a Communist Party congress announced for October.…

Lawyer criticises UN report’s failure to call Uyghur oppression ‘genocide’

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The UN’s failure to mention the word genocide in its report alleging serious human rights violations by China against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province is an “astonishing” lapse, according to a leading British human rights lawyer. The 45-page report from the outgoing UN human rights commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, landed minutes before her term ended on Wednesday, outlining allegations of torture, including forced medical procedures, as well as sexual violence against Uyghur Muslims. The report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), concluded the “arbitrary and discriminatory”…

Droning On: China Floods the Middle East With UAVs

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Advertisement As countries across the Middle East diversify their arms suppliers in order to meet emerging security challenges, China is poised to fill the growing demand. However, Beijing is doing very little to prevent its technology from falling into the hands of Tehran’s proxies throughout the region. According to U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf, the unmanned armed vehicles (UAVs) used by Iranian proxy militias in recent years have been supplied by China. “Those UAVs that [Iranian] proxies use, they’re Chinese,” Leaf told the Senate…

To China’s Fury, UN Accuses Beijing of Uyghur Rights Abuses

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Advertisement The U.N. accused China of serious human rights violations that may amount to “crimes against humanity” in a long-delayed report examining a crackdown on Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups. Beijing on Thursday denounced the assessment as a fabrication cooked up by Western nations. Human rights groups have accused China of sweeping a million or more people from the minority groups into detention camps where many have said they were tortured, sexually assaulted, and forced to abandon their language and religion. The camps were just one part of…

The artists of Dafen can paint like Van Gogh

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The village of Dafen was once thought to produce the most oil paintings in the world. Heralded by the press as the “world’s art factory”, visitors marvelled at its many workshops, in which painters churned out mock masterpieces by Van Gogh, Rembrandt and Warhol. Their customers spanned the globe and included retailers, hotels and tourists. But the village, part of the southern city of Shenzhen, was always seen more as a production line than a place of culture. Today the future of Dafen may depend on whether it is able…

American warships go through the Taiwan Strait

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They were not the first American warships to sail through the Taiwan Strait in defiance of Chinese warnings. Nor were they the biggest to navigate the waters between mainland China and the self-governing island of Taiwan. But when the uss Chancellorsville and the uss Antietam, two guided-missile cruisers, made the transit on August 28th, the potential for sudden escalation was perhaps greater than at any point in the past 25 years. It was the first such operation since China staged big military exercises around Taiwan after a visit there by…

A weak China may be more warlike than a strong one

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When will America and China face the greatest danger of war? Around 2049, when Communist leaders promise a “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” and a “world-class military”; or 2035, when they aim to “basically complete the modernisation of national defence and the armed forces”; or 2027, when, according to American military chiefs, China seeks to have the wherewithal to invade Taiwan? Listen to this story.Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS or Android. Your browser does not support the <audio> element. Listen to this story Save time by listening…

Big Tech Reconsiders the “Made in China” Way

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Looking beyond China This month, Apple is expected to release the iPhone 14. Beyond rumors, little is known about what the crew from Cupertino, Calif., has planned for the company’s newest version of its nearly ubiquitous smartphone. But there is one major change that most consumers will probably fail to notice: A small but growing number of the latest iPhones will be manufactured outside China, report The Times’s Daisuke Wakabayashi and Tripp Mickle. That’s a big change for Apple, and it is not alone. After years of growing their Chinese…

Rights groups call for inquiries into Uyghur abuses in China after damning UN report

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Governments around the world should establish formal independent investigations into human rights abuses in Xinjiang, victims and human rights groups have said, after the 11th-hour release of a long-awaited UN report. The report by the UN office of the high commissioner for human rights (OHCHR) was published minutes before Michele Bachelet ended her tenure. The Chinese government had sought to prevent its release, and rights groups were apprehensive after Bachelet’s visit to Xinjiang in May concluded with a statement that many said supported Beijing’s narrative. But Wednesday’s report was damning.…

A long-awaited UN report condemns China’s actions in Xinjiang

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One of china’s favourite propaganda tools is the group tour. In the region of Xinjiang, for example, foreign dignitaries are often guided around by officials, as handpicked locals praise the Communist Party for improving their lives. When the un’s human-rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, was given such a tour in May, Chinese state media crowed that she had seen the “real Xinjiang”. Never mind the overwhelming evidence that more than a million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the region have suffered a violent campaign of incarceration and forced indoctrination in…