Day: December 9, 2022

Uyghur News Recap: Dec. 2 – 9, 2022

Chin@Strategy

WASHINGTON —  Report: Automakers linked to Uyghur forced labor in China A report by a group of United Kingdom researchers found that the supply chain for the global auto industry is likely linked to Uyghur forced labor in China. Chinese security camera maker advertises ‘racial profiling’ feature despite ban in US and UK Chinese video surveillance camera maker, Hikvision, advertised its ethnicity recognition features to its European customers while blacklisted by the U.S. for allegedly being connected to China’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups. Hikvision denies any…

House Passes National Defense Authorization Act, Including $10B for Taiwan

Chin@Strategy

washington —  Paving the way for the U.S. defense budget to hit a record $858 billion next year, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation that could provide as much as $10 billion in aid to Taiwan over five years. The House passed the compromise version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), an annual bill setting policy for the Pentagon, by a 350-80 vote on Thursday. It includes $45 billion more than President Joe Biden proposed. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill next week. The…

‘The authorities will step up control’: where next for China after protests?

Chin@Strategy

Since Xi Jinping came to power a decade ago, China’s Communist party has enacted a sweeping crackdown on civil society. Independent NGOs have been shut down, journalists and human rights lawyers arrested and outspoken media tamed. Meanwhile, the government has invested heavily in a massive surveillance system to keep track of citizens’ movements and activities. Given their emphasis on national security and stability, party leaders would have been shocked therefore by the nationwide protests that broke out on 26 November in opposition to Xi’s “zero-Covid” policy. Demonstrators demanded an end…

Ukraine war, Taiwan tensions boost Japanese support for doubling of defence budget

Chin@Strategy

He said China’s rising military power, North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes, and Russia’s assertiveness in Ukraine had combined to increase Japan’s threat perceptions. Advertisement Jimbo said increasing the defence budget to 2 per cent of GDP would allow Japan’s Self-Defence Forces to procure new weapons, increase their combat readiness and enhance command and control systems. China has criticised the budget increase and accused Tokyo of “sensationalising regional tensions in an attempt to seek a military breakthrough”. “This is highly dangerous,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a news briefing…

Uyghur groups urge world leaders to make Dec. 9 Uyghur Genocide Recognition Day

Chin@Strategy

Some 55 Uyghur organizations have called on world leaders to recognize Dec. 9 as Uyghur Genocide Recognition Day, marking the day a year ago that an independent U.K.-based Uyghur Tribunal announced its findings that China committed genocide against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in its western Xinjiang region The tribunal held in London based its verdict on testimony from dozens of witnesses, including formerly jailed Uyghurs and other locals, as well as legal and academic experts on China’s actions in Xinjiang.  Though the tribunal’s decision was not binding because the…

No successor for departing U.S. ambassador to Myanmar

Chin@Strategy

There will be no immediate replacement for the U.S. ambassador to Myanmar, Thomas Vajda, when he leaves his post this month, with his deputy instead taking over as chargé d’affaires “ad interim.” The arrangement will allow the United States to maintain a mission in Yangon but avoid having a new ambassador hand credentials to the military junta that seized power in the February 2021 coup, a move that would be viewed as legitimizing the regime. But a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said in an email that Vajda’s departure…

Once treasured lapel pins of North Korea’s former leaders now sell for cheap

Chin@Strategy

Their portraits must be framed and hung in every home and public building, in classrooms and subway cars. They are enlarged to epic proportions at great monuments. And whenever anyone is seen in public, law dictates that they must wear pin-size portraits on their lapel. Wherever one turns in North Korea, the faces of the communist country’s former two leaders – founder Kim Il Sung and successor Kim Jong Il, the “Sun” and the “Shining Star” of the Korean people – are everywhere, and they are accorded the utmost respect.…

On UN Human Rights Day, activists, dissidents and defenders Asia lost in 2022

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In observation of Human Rights Day on Saturday, the 74th anniversary of the United Nations General Assembly’s adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Radio Free Asia is commemorating human rights defenders from the region who died, or whose death was revealed, in 2022. Under this year’s theme of “Dignity, Freedom, and Justice for All,” the UN is launching a campaign to spread awareness of the key rights document for its 75th anniversary next year. “For me it’s art that makes my life tolerable. I sang and wrote poetry…

U.S. issues slew of sanctions ahead of Human Rights Day

Chin@Strategy

A day ahead of International Human Rights Day, the United States on Friday issued sanctions against dozens of entities accused of rights abuses, including some linked to China’s illegal fishing industry, Tibet’s chief of police and a North Korean security agency. The Global Magnitsky Act sanctions issued by the Treasury Department block those named from using the U.S. financial system and bans American citizens from doing business with them.  The list includes the Nasdaq-listed Pingtan Marine Enterprise Ltd. as well as Dalian Ocean Fishing Co., Chinese citizens Li Zhenyu and…

Gulf of Guinea Countries Agree to Stop Illegal Chinese Fishing

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Grand Popo, Benin —  Chinese boats are decimating West Africa’s fish stocks and fishing communities in the Gulf of Guinea, say environmental groups. The Institute for Security Studies, a South African think tank, said the communities could be losing more than $2 billion each year to illegal fishing, mainly from Chinese-owned boats. Beninese fisherman Geoffroy Gbedevi said it’s getting harder to feed his daughter and pregnant wife. He said the community is suffering and the number of fish being caught is much lower than it used to be. “Nothing is…