Day: July 9, 2021

Jul 10th 2021 XICHANG IN THE HENGDUAN mountains of Sichuan province, swollen brown rivers and trees heavy with ripe mangoes do not evoke digital wizardry. Yet until recently, there were buildings here with rack upon rack of specialised computers. They were often near hydropower plants that supplied them with electricity from dams. They needed lots of power. Their machines were used for “mining”, a process that involves validating transactions conducted in bitcoin and other digital currencies by solving cryptographic puzzles. In return, they received newly minted coins. The buildings were…

Advertisement Following Western sanctions directed against it regarding alleged human rights issues, China unveiled its new anti-sanctions legislation on July 10 to much pomp and circumstance. The international community was quick to notice the promulgation, with widespread speculation ensuing that this could greatly damage the business environment for multinational corporations and other entities that have a large market presence within China. Domestically, the news was met with the support of several media outlets, portraying the bill’s passage as an indication that China would no longer allow this type of Western…

Advertisement Starting from the early hours on July 9, 2015, police across China set out in teams to conduct a series of coordinated raids. Organized by the Ministry of Public Security, these police nabbed people from hotel rooms in the middle of the night. They shut off the electricity at the homes of their targets. They prevented people from boarding flights. Who were the targets of these secretive actions? Drug lords? Corrupt officials? No: The targets were 300 human rights lawyers and activists associated with them. Many of these lawyers…