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szalacsi · 3 years

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history

“I’m from Malaysia.

China has traded with Malaysia for 2000 years. In those years, they had been the world’s biggest powers many times. Never once they sent troops to take our land.

Admiral Zhenghe came to Malacca five times, in gigantic fleets, and a flagship eight times the size of Christopher Columbus’ flagship, Santa Maria. He could have seized Malacca easily, but he did not.

In 1511, the Portuguese came.

In 1642, the Dutch came.

In the 18th century the British came.

We were colonised by each, one after another.

When China wanted spices from India, they traded with the Indians. When they wanted gems, they traded with the Persian. They didn’t take lands. The only time China expanded beyond their current borders was in Yuan Dynasty, when Genghis and his descendants Ogedei Khan, Guyuk Khan & Kublai Khan concurred China, Mid Asia and Eastern Europe. Yuan Dynasty, although being based in China, was a part of the Mongolian Empire.

Then came the Century of Humiliation. Britain smuggled opium into China to dope the population, a strategy to turn the trade deficit around, after the British could not find enough silver to pay the Qing Dynasty in their tea and porcelain trades.

After the opium warehouses were burned down and ports were closed by the Chinese in ordered to curb opium, the British started the Opium War I, which China lost. Hong Kong was forced to be surrendered to the British in a peace talk (Nanjing Treaty).

The British owned 90% of the opium market in China, during that time, Queen Victoria was the world’s biggest drug baron. The remaining 10% was owned by American merchants from Boston. Many of Boston’s institutions were built with profit from opium.

After 12 years of Nanjing Treaty, the West started getting really really greedy. The British wanted the Qing government:

1. To open the borders of China to allow goods coming in and out freely, and tax free.

2. Make opium legal in China. Insane requests, Qing government said no.

The British and French (with supports from the US), started Opium War II with China, which again, China lost.

The Anglo-French military raided the Summer Palace, and threatened to burn down the Imperial Palace, the Qing government was forced to pay with ports, free business zones, 300,000 kilograms of silver and Kowloon was taken.

Since then, China’s resources flew out freely through these business zones and ports. In the subsequent amendment to the treaties, Chinese people were sold overseas to serve as labor.

In 1900, China suffered attacks by the 8-National Alliance (Empire of Japan, Russian Empire, British Empire (including India), France, USA, Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungary).

Innocent Chinese civilians in Peking (Beijing now) were murdered, buildings were destroyed & women were raped. The Imperial Palace was raided, and treasures ended up in museums like the British Museum in London and the Louvre in Paris.

In late 1930s China was occupied by the Japanese in WWII. Millions of Chinese died during the occupancy. 300,000 Chinese died in Nanjing Massacre alone. Mao brought China together again from the shambles. There were peace and unity for some time. But Mao’s later reign saw sufferings and deaths from famine and power struggles.

Then came Deng Xiao Ping and his infamous 'black-cat and white-cat' story. His preference in pragmatism than ideologies has transformed China. This thinking allowed China to evolve all the time to adapt to the actual needs in the country, instead of rigidly bounded to ideologies. It also signified the death of Communism in actually practice in China.

The current Socialism+Meritocracy+Market Economy model fits the Chinese like gloves, and it propels the uprise of China. Singapore has a similar model, and has been arguably more successful than Hong Kong, because Hong Kong being gateway to China, was riding on the economic boom in China, while Singapore had no one to gain from.

In just 30 years, the CPC have moved 800 millions of people out from poverty. The rate of growth is unprecedented in human history. They have built the biggest mobile network, by far the biggest high speed rail network in the world, and they have become a behemoth in infrastructure. They made a fishing village called Shenzhen into the world’s second largest technological centre after the Silicon Valley.

They are growing into a technological power house. It has the most elaborate e-commerce and cashless payment system in the world. They have launched exploration to Mars. The Chinese are living a good life and China has become one of the safest countries in the world.

The level of patriotism in the country has reached an unprecedented height. For all of the achievements, the West has nothing good to say about it. China suffers from intense anti-China propagandas from the West. Western Media used the keyword “Communist” to instil fear and hatred towards China.

Everything China does is negatively reported. They claimed China used slave labor in making iPhones. The truth was, Apple was the most profitable company in the world, it took most of the profit, leave some to Foxconn (a Taiwanese company) and little to the labor.

They claimed China was inhuman with one-child policy. At the same time, they accused China of polluting the earth with its huge population. The fact is the Chinese consume just 30% of energy per capita compared to the US.

They claimed China underwent ethnic cleansing in Xinjiang. The fact is China has a policy which priorities ethnic minorities. For a long time, the ethnic minorities were allowed to have two children and the majority Han only allowed one. The minorities are allowed a lower score for university intakes. There are 39,000 mosque in China, and 2100 in the US.

China has about 3 times more mosque per muslim than the US. When terrorist attacks happened in Xinjiang, China had two choices:

1. Re-educate the Uighur (CENSUDED by Youtube) before they turned (CENSUDED by Youtube). (**Here I could not copy the exact word, since today it is censored by YouTube if I write it next to the indicated ethnicity. It is the one used to identify those crazy people who are killing people thinking that by doing this they will be able to go to paradise**).

2. Let them be, after they launch attacks and killed innocent people, bomb their homes. China chose 1 to solve problem from the root and not to do killing.

How the US solve terrorism? Fire missiles from battleships, drop bombs from the sky.

During the pandemic, When China took extreme measures to lockdown the people, they were accused of being inhuman.

When China recovered swiftly because of the extreme measures, they were accused of lying about the actual numbers.

When China’s cases became so low that they could provide medical support to other countries, they were accused of politically motivated. Western Media always have reasons to bash China. Just like any country, there are irresponsible individuals from China which do bad things, but the China government overall has done very well.

But I hear this comment over and over by people from the West: I like Chinese people, but the CPC is evil. What they really want is the Chinese to change the government, because the current one is too good.

Fortunately China is not a multi-party democratic country, otherwise the opposition party in China will be supported by notorious NGOs (Non-Government Organization) of the USA, like the NED (National Endowment for Democracy), to topple the ruling party.

The US and the British couldn’t crack Mainland China, so they work on Hong Kong. Of all the ex-British colonial countries, only the Hong Kongers were offered BNOs by the British. Because the UK would like the Hong Kongers to think they are British citizens, not Chinese.

A divide-and-conquer strategy, which they often used in Color Revolutions around the world. They resort to low dirty tricks like detaining Huawei’s CFO & banning Huawei. They raised a silly trade war which benefits no one. Trade deficit always exist between a developing and a developed country.

USA is like a luxury car seller who ask a farmer: why am I always buying your vegetables and you haven’t bought any of my cars? When the Chinese were making socks for the world 30 years ago, the world let it be.

But when Chinese started to make high technology products, like Huawei and DJI, it caused red-alert. Because when Western and Japanese products are equal to Chinese in technologies, they could never match the Chinese in prices.

First world countries want China to continue in making socks. Instead of stepping up themselves, they want to pull China down. The recent movement by the US against China has a very important background.

When Libya, Iran, and China decided to ditch the US dollar in oil trades, Gaddafi’s was killed by the US, Iran was being sanctioned by the US, and now it’s China’s turn. The US has been printing money out of nothing. The only reason why the US Dollar is still widely accepted, is because it’s the only currency which oil is allowed to be traded with.

The US has an agreement with Saudi that oil must be traded in US dollar ONLY. Without the petrol-dollar status, the US dollars will sink, and America will fall.

Therefore anyone trying to disobey this order will be eliminated. China will soon use a gold-backed crypto-currency, the alarms in the White House go off like mad.

China’s achievement has been by hard work. Not by looting the world. I have deep sympathy for China for all the suffering, but now I feel happy for them. China is not rising, they are going back to where they belong. Good luck China.”

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bountyofbeads · 5 years

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To Gain Leverage in China Trade Talks, Trump Shows Solidarity With Hong Kong https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/22/us/politics/trump-china-hong-kong.html

Trump's natural instinct is not concern for those #HongKong protesters who are putting their lives on the line fighting for Democracy and freedom, but what he can get out of the situation. This should tell you everything you need to know about the soul of the man who occupies the Oval Office. #VoteBlue2020 #VoteBlueToSaveAmerica #VoteBlueNoMatterWho

To Gain Leverage in China Trade Talks, Trump Shows Solidarity With Hong Kong

By Alan Rappeport and Edward Wong | Published August 22, 2019, 3:33 p.m. ET | New York Times |Posted August 22, 2019 8:30 PM ET |

WASHINGTON — President Trump has shifted his stance on the unrest in Hong Kong in recent days to show greater solidarity with the pro-democracy protesters after coming to view the issue as a point of leverage in trade negotiations with China.

For months, Trump administration officials described the Hong Kong uprising as an internal matter for China, aware of how delicate the issue is for President Xi Jinping and other Communist Party officials. With tensions already high between the two nations and trade talks stalled, the administration chose to tread lightly.

But as the protests have dragged on, advisers to Mr. Trump have succeeded in making the case that wading into the issue could prove necessary — and advantageous — to the United States as it tries to push Beijing to accede to its trade terms.

After previously saying Hong Kong was a “very tough situation” that was up to Chinese leaders to handle, Mr. Trump has more recently called on those leaders to offer a “humane” response and urged Mr. Xi to engage in dialogue with the protesters.

The change in the administration’s tone appeared to be carefully coordinated this week, after Mr. Trump on Sunday issued a warning to China. The words were couched in practical terms centered on a trade deal, not in the language of human rights, but they were nevertheless surprising given Mr. Trump’s earlier passive remarks on Hong Kong.

“I think it would be very hard to deal if they do violence,” Mr. Trump said on Sunday. “I mean, if it’s another Tiananmen Square, it’s — I think it’s a very hard thing to do if there’s violence.”

The next day, Vice President Mike Pence echoed those words in a speech in Detroit. “It will be much harder for us to make a deal if something violent happens in Hong Kong,” he said. “And I want to assure you, our administration will continue to urge Beijing to act in a humanitarian manner and urge China and the demonstrators in Hong Kong to resolve their differences peaceably.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was even more explicit in tying Hong Kong to trade in an interview with Fox News on Monday. He accused China of violating promises it made to Hong Kong and commitments about protecting human rights.

“When we try to negotiate a trade agreement with them,” Mr. Pompeo said, “we’ve tried to put in processes that ensure we have the opportunity to verify because we need to make sure that we don’t suffer from China breaking a promise or have to watch Chinese disinformation about the agreement that’s entered into.”

By conveying the belief that China is straying from its decades-old commitment to preserve Hong Kong’s independent political system, the top American officials are buttressing their argument that a trade treaty with China must have strict enforcement provisions.

They are also sending the message that a violent crackdown in Hong Kong along the lines of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre would make China a pariah in the eyes of many Americans and other citizens around the world, rendering it all but impossible to resume trade discussions amid the global backlash.

“Showing support for a peaceful resolution of the situation in Hong Kong could potentially give the U.S. a stronger hand in trade negotiations under the assumptions that Beijing wants a trade deal badly enough and wants to maintain Hong Kong’s special status in its trade with the U.S.,” said Eswar Prasad, the former head of the International Monetary Fund’s China division. “Both are reasonable assumptions but might be trumped by Beijing’s unwillingness to countenance further protests in Hong Kong that directly challenge Beijing’s authority.”

The Trump administration has already imposed tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese imports and is planning to tax another $300 billion worth. American and Chinese officials have spoken by phone in recent weeks, but no date has been set for a Chinese delegation to visit Washington in September, as had been previously announced. And Mr. Trump has made clear he does not mind keeping the trade war going.

“Unless they’re going to make the right kind of a deal, I’m not ready to make a deal,” he told reporters this week.

Foreign policy officials have grappled in recent weeks with how to get Mr. Trump to take a more forceful stand on Hong Kong. Officials are wary of potentially harsh measures Mr. Xi might take against the protesters. They have become more concerned as videos have emerged of Chinese troops amassing across the border in Shenzhen.

Several top aides had urged Mr. Trump to make statements warning the Chinese leadership against using violence. Among them is John R. Bolton, the national security adviser, who views China as a formidable rival. Mr. Trump, on the other hand, said in June that he saw the United States and China as “strategic partners.”

American officials are also cognizant that they must avoid giving the Communist Party ammunition that it can use to reinforce its conspiratorial message that the United States and other Western powers are “black hands” behind the protests.

For weeks, as tensions rose in Hong Kong, Mr. Trump remained passive, suggesting that the uprising was an internal matter for China. That position was not unusual — the president has never made strong statements about protecting human rights in China or elsewhere — and his foreign policy is based mainly on long-held ideas about commerce and transactions. In his two and half years in power, Mr. Trump has been focused on cutting United States expenses abroad and getting more advantageous trade deals.

On Aug. 1, Mr. Trump employed the language used by Chinese Communist Party officials when he said that Hong Kong has had “riots for a long period of time.”

“Somebody said that at some point they’re going to want to stop that,” he added. “But that’s between Hong Kong and that’s between China, because Hong Kong is a part of China.”

Analysts of China said Mr. Xi and other party officials would read those words as a green light to take whatever measures they deemed necessary to suppress the protests.

The language from Mr. Trump was much less assertive than that used by members of Congress from both parties, the State Department and Mr. Bolton. In an interview with Voice of America on Aug. 14, Mr. Bolton said Americans “remember Tiananmen Square” and “the picture of the man standing in front of the line of tanks.” He added, “It would be a big mistake to create a new memory like that in Hong Kong.”

As a trade deal has appeared increasingly remote, Mr. Bolton and other China hawks in the administration have pushed Mr. Trump to move ahead on separate issues that advisers feared might jeopardize the trade talks. That includes the sale of 66 F-16 fighter jets to the self-governing island of Taiwan. The $8 billion deal is the largest or one of the largest arms sales from the United States to Taiwan.

Lawmakers had accused the Trump administration of delaying the sale to avoid upsetting the trade talks. But last week, Mr. Bolton, who advocates greater American support for Taiwan, prodded Mr. Trump to go ahead with the sale. Mr. Pompeo signed a memo approving the deal on Aug. 15, and the administration gave formal notification to Congress this Tuesday.

Yet the administration has failed to take action on what is by far the biggest human rights abuse by China in decades — the detention of one million or more Muslims. Mr. Bolton, Mr. Pompeo and other foreign policy aides have recommended to Mr. Trump that the United States impose sanctions on Chinese officials over the detentions.

Trade advisers such as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have argued that the sanctions would endanger trade talks. In an interview in June, Mr. Mnuchin would not comment on the detentions of Muslims.

Human rights advocates say they hope the recent appointment of a Uighur-American scholar, Elnigar Iltebir, to the National Security Council will lead to action. Most of the detained Muslims are ethnic Uighurs.

Some analysts are skeptical of the new linkages among trade, human rights and Hong Kong that the administration is pushing, while others warn they could backfire.

“The U.S. government has to be careful not to do things that could be portrayed as inciting riots,” said Michael Pillsbury, a China expert at the Hudson Institute and an informal adviser to the president. “What the Trump assessment team in Beijing is trying to figure out is the grand strategy. Is Trump trying to overthrow the party, or is it just about trade?”

Hu Xijin, the editor in chief of China’s state-run Global Times newspaper, wrote on Twitter that Mr. Trump’s threats of backing away from a trade deal carried no weight in China.

“As for Washington’s threat to link trade talks with the situation in Hong Kong, what I heard on various occasions is scorn on this idea,” he said. “China is making arrangements on scenario of no deal.”

For his part, Mr. Trump is trying to keep his true intentions murky. Asked on Wednesday if he saw Hong Kong as leverage in trade talks with China, he demurred.

“I don’t view it as leverage or nonleverage,” he said. “I hope it works out in a humane way.”

He added, “And I think that President Xi has the ability to make sure that happens.”

#trumpism #trump administration #president donald trump #impeach trump #president trump #trump #china news #china #hongkong #hong kong protests #u. s. foreign policy #u.s. foreign policy #u.s. news #u.s. military #u.s. presidential elections #2020 candidates #2020 election #2020 presidential candidates #trump trade war

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xtruss · 3 years

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Bloody British Bastards

UK Government Could Boycott China’s ‘Genocide Games’, MP Says

Folks Look! What F****** War Criminals and Genocide Committers of Indians, Iraqis, Syrian, Palestinians and Afghans are Talking About! WTF?

— 20 November, 2021 | RT

UK prime minister Boris Johnson is reportedly considering a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics, with the country's foreign secretary and a high-ranked politician accusing China of committing genocide.

US president Joe Biden is widely thought to be on the verge of announcing that his country will be conducting a diplomatic boycott of the showpiece, which takes place in February 2022.

Now Johnson's government is said to be involved in an "active discussion" about snubbing diplomatic duties in Beijing – a move backed by foreign secretary Liz Truss, according to a report which claims she is "personally appalled" by Beijing’s alleged persecution of the Muslim Uighurs.

Caroline Wilson, the UK ambassador to China, held a meeting with Truss when she was international trade secretary, The Times has reported.

Two idiots with displays: Iain Duncan Smith, MP and Tim Loughton, MP

Wilson is said to have asked Truss why the UK couldn’t treat China “like we treat the French”, to which the outlet's sources claim she responded: “Because the French aren’t committing genocide.”

Sources close to Truss told the newspaper that she had not expressed a view on the issue. Johnson is said to be a sinophile who is reluctant to carry out a full sporting boycott, although the option of British ministers skipping the games while Wilson attends is an option.

Tim Loughton, who is one of five Conservative politicians to have sent a letter sent to Johnson urging him not to allow any diplomatic representation at the Games, is demanding that delegates do not attend.

“It is inconceivable that the UK should be sending any officials, ministers or diplomats to what has already been dubbed the ‘genocide Games’," he said.

"The Chinese government will again be using this prestigious international event for propaganda purposes.

"We need to make a stand and show that their complete flagrant abuse of human rights cannot go unchallenged.”

The British foreign office said: “The government has led international efforts to hold China to account for its human rights violations in Xinjiang at the UN.

"It is the longstanding policy of the government that the determination of whether genocide has taken place should be made by a competent court with the jurisdiction to try such cases, rather than by the government or a non-judicial body.

The camps in Xinjiang, in the north-west of the country, reportedly enforce sterilization and slave labor, although China denies those allegations and describes the sites as vocational education and training centers.

Loughton and his fellow signatories have been sanctioned by China, according to The Times.

India's Secret History: 'A Holocaust, One Where Millions Disappeared...'

Author says British reprisals involved the killing of 10 millions, spread over 10 years

— Randeep Ramesh in New Delhi | Friday, 24 August 2007

The battle of Cawnpore - the entire British garrison died at Cawnpore (now Kanpur), either in the battle or later massacred with women and children. Their deaths became a war cry for the British. Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty

A controversial new history of the Indian Mutiny, which broke out 150 years ago and is acknowledged to have been the greatest challenge to any European power in the 19th century, claims that the British pursued a murderous decade-long campaign to wipe out millions of people who dared rise up against them.

In War of Civilisations: India AD 1857, Amaresh Misra, a writer and historian based in Mumbai, argues that there was an "untold holocaust" which caused the deaths of almost 10 million people over 10 years beginning in 1857. Britain was then the world's superpower but, says Misra, came perilously close to losing its most prized possession: India.

Conventional histories have counted only 100,000 Indian soldiers who were slaughtered in savage reprisals, but none have tallied the number of rebels and civilians killed by British forces desperate to impose order, claims Misra.

The author says he was surprised to find that the "balance book of history" could not say how many Indians were killed in the aftermath of 1857. This is remarkable, he says, given that in an age of empires, nothing less than the fate of the world hung in the balance.

"It was a holocaust, one where millions disappeared. It was a necessary holocaust in the British view because they thought the only way to win was to destroy entire populations in towns and villages. It was simple and brutal. Indians who stood in their way were killed. But its scale has been kept a secret," Misra told the Guardian.

His calculations rest on three principal sources. Two are records pertaining to the number of religious resistance fighters killed - either Islamic mujahideen or Hindu warrior ascetics committed to driving out the British.

The third source involves British labour force records, which show a drop in manpower of between a fifth and a third across vast swaths of India, which as one British official records was "on account of the undisputed display of British power, necessary during those terrible and wretched days - millions of wretches seemed to have died."

There is a macabre undercurrent in much of the correspondence. In one incident Misra recounts how 2m letters lay unopened in government warehouses, which, according to civil servants, showed "the kind of vengeance our boys must have wreaked on the abject Hindoos and Mohammadens, who killed our women and children."

Misra's casualty claims have been challenged in India and Britain. "It is very difficult to assess the extent of the reprisals simply because we cannot say for sure if some of these populations did not just leave a conflict zone rather than being killed," said Shabi Ahmad, head of the 1857 project at the Indian Council of Historical Research. "It could have been migration rather than murder that depopulated areas."

Many view exaggeration rather than deceit in Misra's calculations. A British historian, Saul David, author of The Indian Mutiny, said it was valid to count the death toll but reckoned that it ran into "hundreds of thousands".

"It looks like an overestimate. There were definitely famines that cost millions of lives, which were exacerbated by British ruthlessness. You don't need these figures or talk of holocausts to hammer imperialism. It has a pretty bad track record."

Others say Misra has done well to unearth anything in that period, when the British assiduously snuffed out Indian versions of history. "There appears a prolonged silence between 1860 and the end of the century where no native voices are heard. It is only now that these stories are being found and there is another side to the story," said Amar Farooqui, history professor at Delhi University. "In many ways books like Misra's and those of [William] Dalrymple show there is lots of material around. But you have to look for it."

What is not in doubt is that in 1857 Britain ruled much of the subcontinent in the name of the Bahadur Shah Zafar, the powerless poet-king improbably descended from Genghis Khan.

Neither is there much dispute over how events began: on May 10 Indian soldiers, both Muslim and Hindu, who were stationed in the central Indian town of Meerut revolted and killed their British officers before marching south to Delhi. The rebels proclaimed Zafar, then 82, emperor of Hindustan and hoisted a saffron flag above the Red Fort.

What follows in Misra's view was nothing short of the first war of Indian independence, a story of a people rising to throw off the imperial yoke. Critics say the intentions and motives were more muddled: a few sepoys misled into thinking the officers were threatening their religious traditions. In the end British rule prevailed for another 90 years.

Misra's analysis breaks new ground by claiming the fighting stretched across India rather than accepting it was localised around northern India. Misra says there were outbreaks of anti-British violence in southern Tamil Nadu, near the Himalayas, and bordering Burma. "It was a pan-Indian thing. No doubt."

Misra also claims that the uprisings did not die out until years after the original mutiny had fizzled away, countering the widely held view that the recapture of Delhi was the last important battle.

For many the fact that Indian historians debate 1857 from all angles is in itself a sign of a historical maturity. "You have to see this in the context of a new, more confident India," said Jon E Wilson, lecturer in south Asian history at King's College London. "India has a new relationship with 1857. In the 40s and 50s the rebellions were seen as an embarrassment. All that fighting, when Nehru and Gandhi preached nonviolence. But today 1857 is becoming part of the Indian national story. That is a big change."

What they said:

Charles Dickens: "I wish I were commander-in-chief in India ... I should proclaim to them that I considered my holding that appointment by the leave of God, to mean that I should do my utmost to exterminate the race."

Karl Marx: "The question is not whether the English had a right to conquer India, but whether we are to prefer India conquered by the Turk, by the Persian, by the Russian, to India conquered by the Briton."

L'Estaffette, French newspaper: "Intervene in favour of the Indians, launch all our squadrons on the seas, join our efforts with those of Russia against British India ...such is the only policy truly worthy of the glorious traditions of France."

The Guardian: "We sincerely hope that the terrible lesson thus taught will never be forgotten ... We may rely on native bayonets, but they must be officered by Europeans."

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newstfionline · 3 years

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Friday, February 12, 2021

House managers wrap up case against Trump (Washington Post) House managers on Thursday wrapped up their case against former president Donald Trump, imploring the Senate to convict him while warning that he could stoke violence again. Trump’s legal team is poised to respond on Friday, arguing that he should be acquitted. They are expected to use only one of two allotted days. A verdict could come as early as the weekend. The developments came on the third day of an impeachment trial in which Democrats have charged Trump with “incitement of insurrection” for his role in the Jan. 6 violent takeover of the Capitol.

California Is Making Liberals Squirm (NYT) California is a remarkable place. It also has the highest poverty rate in the nation, when you factor in housing costs, and vies for the top spot in income inequality, too. The median price for a home in California is more than $700,000. As Bloomberg reported in 2019, the state has four of the nation’s five most expensive housing markets and a quarter of the nation’s homeless residents. In much of San Francisco, you can’t walk 20 feet without seeing a multicolored sign declaring that Black lives matter, kindness is everything and no human being is illegal. Those signs sit in yards zoned for single families, in communities that organize against efforts to add the new homes that would bring those values closer to reality. Poorer families—disproportionately nonwhite and immigrant—are pushed into long commutes, overcrowded housing and homelessness. Those inequalities have turned deadly during the pandemic. There is a danger—not just in California, but everywhere—that politics becomes an aesthetic rather than a program. It’s a danger on the right, where Donald Trump modeled a presidency that cared more about retweets than bills. But it’s also a danger on the left, where the symbols of progressivism are often preferred to the sacrifices and risks those ideals demand.

6 killed in 130-vehicle pileup on icy Texas interstate (AP) A massive crash involving more than 130 vehicles on an icy Texas interstate left six people dead and dozens injured Thursday amid a winter storm that dropped freezing rain, sleet and snow on parts of the U.S. At the scene of the crash on Interstate 35 near downtown Fort Worth, a tangle of semitrailers, cars and trucks had smashed into each other and had turned every which way, with some vehicles on top of others. The ice storm came as a polar vortex — swirling air that normally sits over the Earth’s poles — has moved near the U.S.-Canada border, resulting in colder weather farther south than usual, said Steve Goss, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

History of abuse for Mexican police unit in migrant massacre (AP) When state police in northern Mexico allegedly shot 19 people, including at least 14 Guatemalan migrants, to death in late January near the border with Texas, it was a tragedy that critics say authorities had been warned could come. In 2019, prosecutors charged that the same Tamaulipas state police unit, then operating under a different name, pulled eight people from their homes in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, posed them in clothing and vehicles to make them look like criminals, and shot them to death. Now, a dozen officers of the 150-member Special Operations Group, known by its Spanish initials as GOPES, have been ordered held for trial on charges they shot to death at least 14 Guatemalan migrants and two Mexicans on a rural road in the border township of Camargo. The bodies were then set afire and burned so badly that three other corpses are still awaiting identification. Authorities had ample warning of the problems in the unit, which was created last year from the remains of the special forces group accused of the 2019 killings and other atrocities. A federal legislator even filed a non-binding resolution in Mexico’s Congress in early January to protest beatings and robberies by the unit. “If back then they had done something, if any attention had been paid, perhaps today we would not be mourning the deaths of 19 people,” said Marco Antonio Mariño, vice president of the Tamaulipas Federation of Business Chambers.

Brazilian ballerina born without arms soars with her attitude (Reuters) When Vitória Bueno’s mother first dropped her off at ballet class, she worried about her five-year-old fitting in. Born without arms, Bueno’s dream of being a dancer seemed painfully unrealistic—especially in a small town in rural Brazil. But Bueno, now 16, focused on her assemblés, pirouettes and other technical challenges. She took up jazz and tap as well. Now a regular at the ballet academy in her hometown in the state of Minas Gerais, Bueno’s talent has made her a social media star and an inspiration to many. Watching her glide across the wooden stage, synchronized with her colleagues in a dazzle of green and white, it is easy to forget she dances without arms. More than just realizing a dream, the strength and flexibility gained through dance have proven crucial to Bueno, who does everything from brushing her teeth to picking items off the supermarket shelf with her feet. “There are things she can do with her feet that I can’t do with my hands,” said her stepfather, Jose Carlos Perreira. With over 150,000 Instagram followers, Bueno is glad to be a role model for others too. “We are more than our disabilities, so we have to chase our dreams,” she said, flashing a broad smile.

German children suffer from psychological issues in pandemic (AP) A new survey of children in Germany suggests that the stress and depravations of the coronavirus pandemic are taking a toll on their mental health, especially among those from underprivileged families, researchers said Wednesday. The study by the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf found about one in three German children are suffering from pandemic-related anxiety, depression or are exhibiting psychosomatic symptoms like headaches or stomach aches. Children and teenagers from poorer families and those with migrant roots are disproportionally affected, according to the study. “Children who were doing well before the pandemic and feel sheltered and comfortable within their families will get through this pandemic well,” said Ulrike Ravens-Sieberer, the head of the study and research director of the children’s psychiatric clinic at the university hospital.

Koo d’etat (Foreign Policy) Indian lawmakers are threatening to abandon Twitter in favor of Indian lookalike app Koo amid a dispute with the Silicon Valley company. The Indian government has ordered the removal of hundreds of Twitter accounts and posts in recent days over claims that users are spreading misinformation about ongoing farmer protests. On Wednesday, Twitter announced it would not comply with some takedown orders as it deemed them in contravention of Indian law. India’s IT ministry posted its displeasure with Twitter on rival app Koo, as a number of Indian leaders, including Trade Minister Piyush Goyal encouraged a Twitter exodus. The Koo app has seen a ten-fold increase in downloads as a result of the spat—a total of 3 million in the past two days.

They were accused of plotting to overthrow the Modi government. The evidence was planted, a new report says. (Washington Post) Key evidence against a group of Indian activists accused of plotting to overthrow the government was planted on a laptop seized by police, a new forensics report concludes, deepening doubts about a case viewed as a test of the rule of law under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. An attacker used malware to infiltrate a laptop belonging to one of the activists, Rona Wilson, before his arrest and deposited at least 10 incriminating letters on the computer, according to a report from Arsenal Consulting, a Massachusetts-based digital forensics firm that examined an electronic copy of the laptop at the request of Wilson’s lawyers. Many of the activists have been jailed for more than two years without trial under a stringent anti-terrorism law. Human rights groups and legal experts consider the case an attempt to suppress dissent in India, where government critics have faced intimidation, harassment and arrest during Modi’s tenure. Sudeep Pasbola, a lawyer representing Wilson, said the Arsenal report proved his client’s innocence and “destabilizes” the prosecution case against the activists. On Wednesday, Wilson’s lawyers included the report in a petition filed in the High Court of Bombay urging judges to dismiss the case against their client.

China to pull BBC News off the air, state broadcast regulator says (Washington Post) China’s broadcasting regulator has moved to pull BBC News off the air in the country over a “serious content violation,” the Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported Thursday. China’s National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) said in an announcement on its website that the broadcaster, which is partly funded by the British state but editorially independent, had “undermined China’s national interests and ethnic solidarity.” The announcement, which arrived with the Lunar New Year holiday in China, followed recent disputes between Chinese officials and BBC News. It also came just a week after Britain’s media regulator pulled the Chinese state-run television channel CGTN off British airwaves because of alleged errors in an application to transfer its license to another company. In December, BBC News produced a report that alleged the forced labor of ethnic minority Uighurs in China’s cotton industry in Xinjiang. Chinese state media bristled at the work, calling it “fake news” and accusing the BBC of political bias.

Racialized surveillance (Foreign Policy) Following numerous reports of Chinese firms, including Huawei, singling out Uighurs in facial recognition, a Los Angeles Times/IPVM investigation found that Dahua, the world’s second-largest security camera manufacturer, provides Chinese police with “real-time warning for Uighurs” and informs them of “Uighurs with hidden terrorist inclinations.” In many parts of China, being Uighur is now effectively criminalized, with the few remaining Uighur residents of cities outside Xinjiang reporting routine harassment by police. The arrival of Uighurs, even mothers with children, in a new city or town prompts the arrival of the police and actions ranging from warnings to stay in their hotel or apartment to deportation back to Xinjiang. Dahua is rolling out its race-based systems to other countries, which may have their own least favored minorities to target.

Biden Announces Myanmar Sanctions (Foreign Policy) U.S. President Joe Biden has announced U.S. sanctions against Myanmar’s military junta, ten days after the military seized absolute power and arrested members of the country’s democratically-elected leadership. Biden is to freeze $1 billion in Myanmar’s state assets held in U.S. banks, with further sanctions expected to follow against a “first round of targets” this week. But Myanmar’s generals have endured sanctions before—including recent ones over the ethnic cleansing of its Rohingya minority—and so whatever the international community can muster is unlikely to dislodge them.

Digital siege: Internet cuts become favored tool of regimes (AP) When army generals in Myanmar staged a coup last week, they briefly cut internet access in an apparent attempt to stymie protests. In Uganda, residents couldn’t use Facebook, Twitter and other social media for weeks after a recent election. And in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, the internet has been down for months amid a wider conflict. Around the world, shutting down the internet has become an increasingly popular tactic of repressive and authoritarian regimes and some illiberal democracies. Digital rights groups say governments use them to stifle dissent, silence opposition voices or cover up human rights abuses. Regimes often cut online access in response to protests or civil unrest, particularly around elections, as they try to keep their grip on power by restricting the flow of information, researchers say. Last year there were 93 major internet shutdowns in 21 countries, according to a report by Top10VPN, a U.K.-based digital privacy and security research group. The list doesn’t include places like China and North Korea, where the government tightly controls or restricts the internet.

Japan Olympics chief who said women talk too much will resign over remarks, reports say (Washington Post) The head of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee is set to resign, Japanese media reported on Thursday, after an uproar over sexist remarks he had made about women at a meeting last week. Mori, an 83-year-old former prime minister with a record of insensitive and sexist pronouncements, had tried to justify the lack of women at a senior level in the Japanese Olympic Committee by saying women talk too much at meetings and make them run on too long. The following day he apologized but showed no apparent remorse and said he had no intention of resigning. The comments provoked an unprecedented reaction in Japan, with more than 146,000 people signing an online petition calling on him to step down. Nearly 500 Olympic volunteers withdrew, and one poll found less than 7 percent of respondents thought Mori was qualified to continue in his role. The World Economic Forum ranks Japan 121st out of 153 countries in terms of gender parity, with the largest gender gap among advanced economies.

20 UN peacekeepers injured in an attack in central Mali (AP) An attack on a United Nations base in central Mali has injured at least 20 peacekeepers, the U.N. mission spokesman said Wednesday. The temporary U.N. base in Kerena, near Douentza, was the target of direct and indirect fire early Wednesday morning, Olivier Salgado said in a statement on Twitter. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Islamic extremists linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group stage regular attacks on U.N. peacekeepers and soldiers.

Salesforce declares the 9-to-5 workday dead, will let some employees work remotely from now on (The Verge) Cloud computing company Salesforce is joining other Silicon Valley tech giants in announcing a substantial shift in how it allows its employees to work. In a blog post published Tuesday, the company says the “9-to-5 workday is dead” and that it will allow employees to choose one of three categories that dictate how often, if ever, they return to the office once it’s safe to do so. The company joins other tech firms like Facebook and Microsoft that have announced permanent work-from-home policies in response to the coronavirus pandemic. “As we enter a new year, we must continue to go forward with agility, creativity and a beginner’s mind—and that includes how we cultivate our culture. An immersive workspace is no longer limited to a desk in our Towers; the 9-to-5 workday is dead; and the employee experience is about more than ping-pong tables and snacks,” writes Brent Hyder, Salesforce’s chief people officer. “In our always-on, always-connected world, it no longer makes sense to expect employees to work an eight-hour shift and do their jobs successfully,” Hyder adds. “Whether you have a global team to manage across time zones, a project-based role that is busier or slower depending on the season, or simply have to balance personal and professional obligations throughout the day, workers need flexibility to be successful.”

At first cat lawyer was embarrassed. Then he realized we all could use a laugh. (Washington Post) As far as courtroom disclosures go, this one was unique: “I’m not a cat,” a Texas attorney claimed as his Zoom square displayed a fluffy white feline. At a routine civil forfeiture case hearing in Texas’ 394th Judicial District Court, Presidio County attorney Rod Ponton accidentally signed on with the cat filter, making the flummoxed attorney look like an adorable kitten. The 34-second clip of Ponton’s brief appearance as a cat immediately amused many and is becoming a viral hit. The prevalence of video chat platforms for court appearances has led to other unusual moments: A defendant in Sacramento appeared from a barber’s chair, a Florida burglary suspect tried to flirt his way out of trouble with a judge, and a lawyer in Peru was caught on camera naked after he stripped to have sex. But Tuesday’s video was the cat’s pajamas to many. Even Ponton, once he recovered from cat face and mortification, found humor in his proverbial 15 minutes of fame. “At first I was worried about it,” Ponton, 69, told The Washington Post on Tuesday, “but then I realized as it was going viral if the country could take a moment to laugh at my cat moment at my expense, I’ll take it. We’ve had a stressful year.”

#headlines #news

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ericfruits · 5 years

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History shows the folly of China’s paranoia about Islam

IT IS A shame that so few Chinese remember General Bai Chongxi, a brilliant tactician during the war against Japan in 1937-45. He showed China that it is possible to be at once a patriot and a devoted Muslim. Bai was a complicated figure. A warlord capable of ruthlessness, he was also a reformer who wanted education to free his fellow Chinese Muslims from isolation and poverty. As a commander of Kuomintang (or Nationalist) troops, he was involved in massacres of Communists. Still, when Chaguan this week visited Bai’s home town in Guangxi province, in the south, locals praised his victories over the Japanese. The Bai family mansion is a protected historical site. Austere and grey-walled, it sits amid rice fields and limestone peaks straight from a scroll painting. Its empty interior offers no explanation as to why Bai matters.

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He was once one of China’s best-known Muslims. Under the autocratic Nationalist rule of Chiang Kai-shek, Bai became head of a body representing the Hui minority, a diverse group of about 10m Chinese united by their Muslim faith. Often indistinguishable from China’s ethnic-Han majority, their ancestors include Persian merchants and Central Asians imported by 13th-century Mongol rulers. The body headed by Bai, the China Islamic National Salvation Federation, recruited Muslim troops and made the religious case for war with Japan. It supported Muslim schools and job schemes for refugees. Bai encouraged Hui delegations to tour the Muslim world to seek diplomatic backing for China’s war effort.

The general, who died in Taiwan in 1966, might have had useful advice to offer today. China is drawing up a five-year plan to “sinicise” Islam, as if the religion had been polluted by links to the outside world. In recent months Hui communities from Ningxia and Gansu in the north-west to Yunnan in the south have seen private Arab-language schools closed, mosques raided for providing “illegal religious education” and Islamic-style domes removed from buildings. Officials renamed the Aiyi river in Ningxia, a region that is home to around 2m Hui, because its name was “Arabic-sounding”. In December Chinese media reported that Gansu and six other regions were abolishing local standards for halal, or Muslim-approved, foods, in the name of fighting extremism and foreign influences. If such measures stir thoughts of repression in the far-western region of Xinjiang, where as many as a million Muslims from the Uighur minority have been sent to re-education camps, that is no coincidence. Ningxia officials recently toured Xinjiang, pledging to learn from its “good practices”.

The Hui have faced suspicions of disloyalty before. In 1280 a Mongol emperor of China, Kublai Khan, outlawed halal food and other Islamic customs, reputedly incensed because Muslim merchants had refused a banquet he offered them. In a forthcoming essay for the Rubin Museum in New York, Johan Elverskog of Southern Methodist University describes a panic that gripped the Qing dynasty in the 1760s. Amid reports that Arab-educated Islamic hardliners were stirring up trouble, local officials were told to report all Muslim misdeeds. A new law deemed three or more Muslims found with any weapon to be criminals. “As might have been expected,” the professor writes, officials inundated the Qing court with reports of dangerous Muslims, prompting still-harsher laws and further radicalisation of the Hui. In time, rebellions followed.

Yet long before Communist bosses vowed to regulate Islam, Hui elites crafted what amounted to their own sinicised versions of Islam, advocating political loyalty to China’s rulers alongside eternal allegiance to Allah. One age of co-operation, about 400 years ago, generated the “Han Kitab”, texts that reconciled Confucianism and Islam, teaching Muslims to obey any emperor who upheld a social order aimed at moral perfection. Jump to the 1920s, and a reformist scholar, Wang Jingzhai, promoted the phrase aiguo aijiao or “loving our country is as one with loving our faith”, which hangs in Chinese mosques. The expression had authority because it was both patriotic and Islamic. It is ascribed to the Prophet Muhammad. Wang translated it after studying in Mecca.

Withdrawing from the world

If it is a shame that Bai Chongxi is largely forgotten, it is heartbreaking to find how defensively he is remembered in places that know his name. Bai’s kinsfolk still live in villages near Guilin city. Chaguan found some of them preparing ducks for curing ahead of Chinese new year. Alas, even mild questions about whether their ancestor protected the Hui caused disquiet. “Just stop talking,” hissed a woman to an old man surnamed Bai, who had begun answering as he salted duck neck-bones. “We are very happy and there is no ethnic discrimination,” said the woman.

In nearby Jiu village, home to a century-old mosque, Wang Yisehakai, the ahong or imam, blandly praised General Bai as a pious man who prayed in the heat of battle. He added, improbably: “The most important thing about Bai is that he cared for his parents.” Asked about politics, Mr Wang said his community’s only ills come from lost faith. He grumbled that fewer than a dozen elderly Hui pray each week at his mosque, which looks like a Chinese temple with its tree-filled courtyard and curving roof.

At the Bai family mansion, Chaguan bumped into four male travellers from Ningxia, sporting straggly beards, long robes and the white prayer caps of pious Hui. One, surnamed Zhou, hailed General Bai’s strong faith but scorned any link between Islam and patriotism. “We are put on Earth to have our faith in Allah tested. We are not interested in politics at all,” he said. “Such things as aiguo aijiao are spoken only by those who don’t understand.”

Such a historically ignorant vision of Chinese Islam would appal Bai Chongxi, as would official attacks on halal rules. The general was a pragmatist. During wartime rows about dietary codes he proposed creating Hui units with their own food so they could get on with fighting. Communist bosses seem not to care for such approaches. They prefer sullen submission to shared loyalties.

This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline "Losing hearts and minds"

https://econ.st/2RBfHBm

#IFTTT #Feedly

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everbecomesreal · 3 years

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It's the anniversary of Tiananmen Square, something I was always peripherally aware of but never really knew much about.

A facebook friend of mine, a woman who I like on a personal level, but who has some interesting and extreme viewpoints (I don't think she was an antivaxxer but at the start of the pandemic she posted something about 5g leading to coronavirus), posted an angry and defensive facebook post claiming that there was no massacre at Tiananmen Square.

This seemed to jar with what little I knew so rather than question her directly, it worked as a catalyst for me to do just a little research on the internet.

In under an hour I had found and read three eyewitness accounts, multiple stories of people who were afraid to pass the knowledge of what happened at Tiananmen Square on to their children, the account of a soldier who was there who later became an artist who has been frequently detained for his memorial of the event, and accounts of the way the Chinese Government censors mention of it to make it seem like a non event.

When I started on this path I was open to the idea that maybe, my facebook friend was correct, maybe it had been exaggerated, or only a few people had died, or that violence had been instigated by protestors, not the army, who were mobilised by the CIA. After all, the UK, the US, France, Belgium, the Netherlands etc are and have been known over the past several centuries of history (including very recently) to stir up disturbance in countries when it suits them, actions which have often lead to bloody and painful revolutions.

I read several articles supporting this point of view that it was a hoax or propaganda, in comparison to the eyewitness accounts they were not convincing.

I was open to that idea. I no longer am. Even if you were to discount the eyewitness accounts, the extent of chinese censorship, and temporary imprisonment of activists on this particular topic makes it very difficult to believe the official government narrative. Especially when you have seen similar disinformation campaigns to justify the actions of a government elsewhere recently, for example the Israeli government claiming, against all evidence, that there was Hamas in the associated press building, or the denial of the existance of concentration camps for the Uighur muslims, or the lies told by the Belarus Authorities to arrest a journalist, or the continuous poisonous lies from the UK right wing press trying to blame the EU for predictable consequences of Brexit, when none of the policies are new, they always applied to third countries of which the UK is now one.

Furthermore, if you look at the months immediately after the event, there was a lot of discussion of it in Chinese Press, in an attempt to paint the governments actions as justified. When this wasn't working, then discussion of the event was shut down.

I fully believe that the massacre happened, although there is no way of knowing the exact number killed: the official figure at the time from the Chinese Government was 200-300, but the BBC at the time estimated at least 10,000. I think the true figure will never be known but from what little I've read I would guess that it went into the thousands, but whether that was 6000 or 10000+ there is no way of knowing. Even if the number were as low as stated in the official figures, it is still a horrific tragedy.

The situation, the factors that led up to it, the events of the night itself, are undoubtedly far more complicated than I can parse in around an hours internet research. I intend to read 'The Pro-Democracy Movement: Reports from the Provinces' by Johnathan Unger, and 'The People's Republic of Amnesia' by Louisa Lim to get a better and more thorough understanding.

Now though, I offer up a prayer for the unknown number of people who were murdered 31 years ago, and for those living in China either too afraid to tell their truth, or regularly imprisoned for doing so.

Below I have linked a couple of the articles I read this morning in case anyone is interested.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/witnesses-to-tiananmen-square-struggle-with-what-to-tell-their-children/2013/06/02/a0354d42-c799-11e2-9245-773c0123c027_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_15

https://www.newstatesman.com/world/2020/06/ns-archive-bearing-witness-tiananmen-square

https://www.cjr.org/watchdog/tank-man-tiananmen-vox-pop-got-wrong.php

https://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/postcard/truth-about-Tiananmen

https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2004/03/dr-jiang-yanyongs-letter-calling-for-june-4-reappraisal/

#tiananmen square #history #china #censorship #misinformation #fact checking #tragedy #mourning #rest in peace #sources

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cardamomoespeciado · 4 years

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China and our accomplices advancing Uighur eradication plan

Ryhan Assat (Lawyer, Chairman of the Turkic National Bar Association), Jonah Diamond (Raul Wallenberg Human Rights Center, Legal Counsel)

<A horrifying plan to kill men by housing men, performing sterilization on women, and separating children from their parents. It is no different to branded products made by forced labor of Uighurs and their consumers.

In two horrifying news stories recently announced, the world finally realized the terrible reality and terrible scale of the Uighur oppression being carried out by the Chinese government in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.

First, a survey by a think tank in the United States revealed that Uyghur women are systematically undergoing sterilization. And the other is news that the US Customs and Border Protection seized 13 tons of hair products such as wigs and false hair shipped from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. These are believed to have been made by forcibly cutting the hair of Uyghurs in the camp.

The two events are horribly overlapping with past atrocities in other parts of the world. Some countries have forced ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, and indigenous people to undergo sterilization surgery. And a pile of hair piled over the glass in the exhibition room of Auschwitz camp...

The genocide treaty (China is also a contracting party) defines genocide (genocide) as adding the following acts to the members of the group. For the purposes of (a) killing, (b) causing significant physical or psychological harm, (c) deliberately forcing living conditions that result in physical destruction of the group, and (d) interfering with birth within the group. (E) Force the transfer of children in a group to another group. If any one of these is true, it is considered genocide. An enormous amount of evidence shows that the Chinese government's systematic Uyghur repression applies to all these items.

Imprisoned for fake

Uighurs are a Turkic minority, often secular Muslims. The Chinese government has put more than a million Uighurs in concentration camps and prisons. Detainees are forced into military-style discipline, and are forced to change their ideas and criticize themselves. Abuse, torture, and rape are routine and can even be killed. What survivors testify to is the savagery of hitting kicks, assaults, electric shocks, water blame, psychological bullying, and murky injections. The purpose of the concentration camp is to destroy the Uighur's spirit by continuing to cause physical and psychological intolerable harm.

The Chinese government has repeatedly commanded, "Break their lines, break their roots, cut their connections, and destroy their origins." "Keep all the ones who should be arrested," he said.

It has also become clear that plans have been implemented to systematically reduce the birth rate of Uighurs. What emerges from it is the Chinese government's intention to eliminate the Uighurs themselves.

The fate of Uighur oppression is traced by one of the authors of this article, Reyhan Assat's brother Ekpal Assat. The Chinese Communist Party has previously hailed him as an exemplary Chinese, praising him as a "construction force" by acting as a "bridge" between Uighur residents and the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region authorities. However, he died suddenly in 2016 and is reportedly sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment for being accused of being "famed for the hatred of his people." We requested authorities to disclose court records, but none.

<Reference article> In China, the Uighur extinction plan is unlimited. Why can't anyone stop?

<Reference article> China angry over the passage of the Uighur human rights bill and began to say that "the United States also slaughtered indigenous people"

In 2017, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region issued a “stronger crackdown on childbirth restrictions” and ordered municipalities to take a series of measures in connection with it. The goal is "zero violation of birth control." By 2019, more than 80% of women of childbearing age will have intrauterine device (IUD) or sterilization planned.

Official documents report that hundreds of thousands of sterilization procedures were publicly funded in 2019 and 2020. In terms of per capita population, sterilization operations far exceeded the number of compulsory cases implemented throughout China during the "one child policy".

Authorities circulated an information network to reach the goal and called on women of childbearing age one after another. If called, they will have to undergo forced sterilization surgery or be sent to a camp. If you are put in a camp, you will be forced to undergo injections, abortions, or take drugs with unknown contents.

According to the statistics, the authorities are steadily achieving their goals.

Between 2015 and 2018, the population growth rate in the Uighur region has decreased by 84%. In inverse proportion to that, official data show a rapid increase in sterilization rates in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (a sharp decline in other parts of China) and associated public spending.

Thorough monitoring system

In some regions of the Autonomous Region, infertility among women increased by 124% in 2018 and women who died with their husbands increased by 117% in 2018 compared to 2017. In addition, the population of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region occupies only 1.8% of the whole of China, but in 2018, 80% of IUD installations in China are implemented in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Forced IUDs cannot be removed without the permission of the authorities. If you remove it without permission, it will be sent to prison. In the autonomous region of Kashgar, only about 3% of women of childbearing age gave birth in 2019. Fertility data are not included in the latest annual reports of some regions in the region, perhaps to cover up organized sterilization campaigns. The Autonomous Region authorities closed the official homepage because of the controversial demographic data. Although it is nominally called a crackdown on birth control violations, the purpose and scale of the crackdown clearly show the intention to prevent the birth of Uighurs.

By containing men and making women infertile, the Chinese government is trying to completely eliminate the Uighur lineage. It is known that 500,000 Uighur children have been separated from their parents and placed in what is known as a "child shelter."

This genocide is extremely dangerous. It is because the people are efficiently purified by using advanced technology, and they are cleverly turning off the eyes of the international community.

The most technologically advanced police states watch and control every aspect of Uighur life, from religion, family and culture to relationships. The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has introduced a mesh-like management system in order to streamline monitoring. Municipalities are divided into units of about 500 people, and police stations are set up for each section to check residents' ID cards, faces, DNA samples, fingerprints, and mobile phones frequently.

<Reference article> China angry over the passage of the Uighur human rights bill and began to say that "the United States also slaughtered indigenous people"

<Reference Article> Uighur women are forced to use contraceptives and sterilization surgery: Chinese government's "sterilization" genocide

The "Integrated Integrated Operations Platform" (IJOP) supports such monitoring. Personal information is collected and analyzed from surveillance camera images and smartphones, and a list of "dangerous molecules" sent to the camp is created. More than one million Han surveillance personnel have downloaded an app to watch Uighurs' movements, check interactions between family members, and inform authorities whenever there is suspicious content.

China operates one of the world's most brute force personal surveillance systems, but even if the international community tries to find out what it is, it remains a secret veil. If we don't do a survey right now and reveal the nature, depth, and speed of the genocide, it's too late.

Whether or not the Uighur oppression is recognized as genocide is a matter of life and death. In 1994, when the U.S. government continued to debate endlessly, when it finally recognized the situation in Rwanda as genocide, nearly one million Tutsi were killed. A U.S. Department of State document dated May 1, 1994, when the genocide storm was raging, states that "if you know genocide, the US government will take some action."

U.S. President Bill Clinton admitted to the U.S. government's historic mistakes in front of the people of Rwanda, who survived four years later, and swore that he would never hesitate again with the evidence at hand. It was

The passage of the "Uighur Human Rights Policy Bill" in the US Senate in May this year is a constructive step taken by the United States. This will prevent the repeated humanitarian tragedy. The US government imposes sanctions on the Chinese authorities based on the Magnicky law (a law that applies to foreigners who are considered to be involved in human rights violations and corruption), and also for atrocities such as genocide, The bill, which included formal denunciation statements, gained overwhelming majority in the Senate.

Everyone is an accomplice

The US government has banned four Chinese officials and one agency for sanctions, allegedly involved in operating a surveillance system that infringes human rights and expanding Uyghur camps. In addition, it is necessary to formally condemn the Uyghur oppression as an act corresponding to genocide. This shouldn't be so difficult. The US Department of State spokesman Morgan Ortagas added: "What happened to the Uighur people... the worst crime we've seen since the Holocaust (Nazi Jewish massacre)." Would be."

The U.S. government's blame for Uighur oppression as genocide is not just a symbolic act. Other countries will join the protest, and consumers will also cooperate with the boycott of 80 international-branded products manufactured by Uighurs, including forced labor. Global companies that are urging unjustified profits by forcing Uyghurs to modernize slave labor at Chinese factories will also be forced to rethink their supply chains if they protest. There should be strong pressure on companies to refrain from engaging in genocide and making profits, and to procure ethically.

In today's world, where people from all over the world are intimately linked both economically and socially, if you know that genocide is taking place and you don't know it, you cannot be a mere bystander. If you keep silent, you become an accomplice.

From Foreign Policy Magazine

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ladystylestores · 4 years

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Your Thursday Briefing – The New York Times

China gathers DNA for surveillance

The police in China are collecting blood samples from men and boys from across the country to build a genetic map of its roughly 700 million males, giving the authorities a powerful new tool for their emerging high-tech surveillance state.

China’s police have been collecting the samples since late 2017, according to a new study published by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a research organization, based on documents also reviewed by The New York Times.

The police say they need the database to catch criminals and that donors consent to handing over their DNA. Critics warn it could tempt officials to punish the relatives of activists and dissidents, and say that citizens feel pressured to participate.

The database would allow China to expand its high-tech surveillance net, which already includes advanced cameras, facial recognition and artificial intelligence.

Details: The authorities went door to door and to schools, collecting blood samples. Some men and boys said in interviews and social media posts that they were told they would be punished if they refused. Authorities are aiming to collect samples from 35 million to 70 million men and boys, according to the report.

Why backing down is tough for Modi and Xi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke his silence and issued a stern warning after 20 Indian soldiers died in a border clash with Chinese troops: “India wants peace, but if provoked India is capable of giving a befitting reply.”

China also pledged to avoid a broader conflict, but the foreign minister pointedly told his Indian counterpart that India “must not underestimate China’s firm will to safeguard territorial sovereignty.”

President Xi Jinping and Mr. Modi probably did not intend to ignite the clash on their border, high in the Himalayas, but the leaders now confront a military crisis that could spin dangerously out of control, our correspondents write.

They are both ambitious, nationalist leaders, eager to assert greater roles for their countries. Neither wants to risk losing face.

Context: The violence has been decades in the making. Here’s a look at how both countries got to this juncture.

Trump asked Xi for election help, new book claims

In “The Room Where It Happened,” John Bolton, the former U.S. national security adviser, claims the impeachment inquiry into Mr. Trump should have been expanded to include other troubling actions. (Here’s our book critic’s review.)

Here are a few of the explosive allegations about Mr. Trump’s foreign policy in the book:

President Trump asked President Xi Jinping of China to buy a lot of American agricultural products to help him win farm states in this year’s election. He writes that Mr. Trump was “pleading with Xi to ensure he’d win.”

During Mr. Trump’s 2018 meeting with North Korea’s leader, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slipped Mr. Bolton a note disparaging the president, saying, “He is so full of shit.” A month later, Mr. Pompeo dismissed the president’s North Korea diplomacy as having “zero probability of success.”

According to an excerpt published by The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Trump said Mr. Xi should go ahead with building internment camps for Uighurs, a Muslim minority in China’s Xinjiang region. He said he thought it was “the right thing to do,” according to Mr. Bolton.

Ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, Mr. Trump apparently refused to issue a statement, saying: “Who cares about it? I’m trying to make a deal. I don’t want anything.”

If you have some time, this is worth it

More than a meal, an experience

Alexander Chee dished on waiting tables for celebrities in ’90s New York. Adam Platt looked back on Sunday family dinners at a Mongolian barbecue in Taiwan. And Bill Buford recalled the bouchons in Lyon, France — eateries that feel “like a vacation from yourself.”

Here’s what else is happening

North Korea: Kim Jong-un’s younger sister, Kim Yo-jong, has taken a leading role in speaking for the nation as tensions flare with South Korea. The 32-year-old wields influence and is seen as a potential candidate to replace her brother in patriarchal North Korea.

U.S. protests: In an extraordinary session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on Wednesday, George Floyd’s brother, Philonise, urged the world body to investigate the killing of black people by the police in the United States. The session was called by African countries.

Wang Zhenhua: A Shanghai court on Wednesday sentenced the billionaire real-estate developer and philanthropist to five years in prison for child molestation. The case spurred soul searching about how China handles child abuse, and the sentence was criticized on social media as too lenient.

Snapshot: Above, a platypus getting an exam at a wildlife hospital in Mosman, New South Wales. After fires in Australia ravaged the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, zoo workers rescued seven of them. Now, the platypuses are home again, a little plumper than before, and are part of a study to better understand their species.

What we’re reading: This excerpt from Kevin Kwan’s new novel in Vanity Fair. In “Sex and Vanity,” the “Crazy Rich Asians” author revisits the nuances of Asian-American identity, this time in Capri and New York.

Now, a break from the news

Cook: It’s time for French fries. This recipe involves soaking the potatoes to destarch them before blanching and frying, to achieve a heavenly crispness.

Listen: Lil Baby’s new song “The Bigger Picture” addresses police violence and racism. It’s part of this week’s playlist along with tracks by John Prine, Raphael Saadiq, Ambrose Akinmusire and others.

Do: Wearing a mask while exercising can affect your workout. Here are some tips on finding the right mask for exercising in crowded spaces.

At Home has our full collection of ideas on what to read, cook, watch, and do while staying safe at home.

And now for the Back Story on …

Erasing Confederate symbols

Two days before George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis police custody, The Times’s Opinion section published an editorial by Brent Staples that now looks prophetic. It urged the U.S. military to rename 10 military bases in the South that are named for Confederate officers.

In the weeks since Floyd’s death, the issue of Confederate iconography has exploded. Protesters have toppled statues of Confederate leaders. NASCAR has banned the Confederate flag from its events. And a Senate committee, defying President Trump, voted to direct the Pentagon to begin the process of renaming the 10 bases.

“If you write about something long enough, the moment comes around when people can grasp it,” said Mr. Staples, whose coverage of race won a Pulitzer Prize last year. “It may be after Trump leaves, but I think this matter is rolling downhill with tremendous speed.”

The 10 bases are among the more than 1,700 Confederate monuments and other named tributes nationwide. The list includes an Alabama high school named for Jefferson Davis; Washington and Lee University in Virginia; and 11 statues in the U.S. Capitol.

That’s it for this briefing. See you next time.

— Melina

Thank you Carole Landry helped write this briefing. Theodore Kim and Jahaan Singh wrote the rest of the break from the news. You can reach the team at [email protected].

P.S. • We’re listening to “The Daily.” Our latest episode is about the killing of Rayshard Brooks. • Here’s our Mini Crossword, and a clue: “___ Boots Are Made for Walkin’” (1966 hit) (five letters). You can find all our puzzles here. • Nikole Hannah-Jones, a reporter for The Times Magazine and creator of the 1619 Project, joined Oprah Winfrey to discuss the collective grief of black Americans.

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khalilhumam · 4 years

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Uyghur human rights advocate Dilnur Reyhan laments lack of Muslim solidarity

New Post has been published on http://khalilhumam.com/uyghur-human-rights-advocate-dilnur-reyhan-laments-lack-of-muslim-solidarity/

Uyghur human rights advocate Dilnur Reyhan laments lack of Muslim solidarity

Dilnur Reyhan. Photo by Ikuha, used with permission

The 11 million Uyghurs living in the western province of Xinjiang in China are a Muslim Turkic nation that has been targeted by Beijing and deprived of their most basic human rights, including freedom of religion, of movement, and also of transmitting their native language since Xi Jinping took power in China in 2012. While extensively documented, the situation of the Uyghurs has gained very limited support, including in predominantly Muslim countries. To understand why, I talked to Dilnur Reyhan, an Uyghur scholar who lives in France and teaches at Paris National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO). She is also the founder and president of the European Uyghur Institute, an NGO promoting Uyghur issues and culture. Reyhan is an outspoken community leader who advocates the defense of human rights and women's rights. The interview has been edited for brevity. Filip Noubel Despite the massive human rights abuses taking places in Xinjiang, there is little, or no show of solidarity from governments in Muslim countries. You first raised that issue in 2019 during the Ramadan by challenging Muslims to react. Have things changed since?

Dilnur Reyhan I published this column in a French newspaper during last Ramadan with a feeling of desperation and disappointment, because until the end of 2019, almost no government of Muslim countries had shown the slightest sign of solidarity with the Uyghurs. What was all the more disappointing was the total indifference of the population of Muslim countries, except in Turkey. Hatred against the West among Muslim populations has blinded ordinary Muslim citizens of different countries to the point of refusing to believe any news brought by the Western media, even when it covers concentration camps for Muslims. On the one hand, China takes advantage of our Muslim identity to justify its camps, on the other hand, the majority of Muslims refuse to believe in it and thus support Chinese policy. Not much has changed, except in the case of Qatar, because most Muslim countries rely on China economically speaking, and to benefit from transfers of Chinese technology. Besides most of those countries do not have great human rights records, and rarely protect the rights of their own minorities. Finally, China is often seen as a positive counterweight to the West. But we have seen the case of individuals, such as the Turkish-German football player Mesut Özil raising the issue publicly. This could mean that opinion leaders could make public opinion be more aware.

FN What about the attitude of the governments of Western countries? Do you see them evolving on the issue of human rights violations in Xinjiang?

DR The attitude of Western countries is a little better than that of Muslim countries. At least 22 Western countries have asked China to close its concentration camps, while 50 countries, half of which are Muslim, have expressed collective support to China. Due to the current Sino-US trade war, Washington is showing a fairly firm attitude against Chinese policies targeting Uyghurs, in particular through sanctions against Chinese companies and officials responsible for these camps, but also through the bill for the protection of the human rights of Uyghurs. In Australia, we see similar signs of policy change emerging.

Sign of Taiwanese solidarity with the Uyghurs during a JUne 4th (Tiananmen massacre commemoration) in Taipei. Photo by Filip Noubel, used with permission.

< p dir="ltr">FN Are you able to establish alliances with members and activists in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan?

DR The Uyghurs of the diaspora stand in solidarity with the democracy movements of Hong Kong and Taiwan. The Hong Kong people did not forget to connect their movement to the issue of the Uyghurs during their demonstrations in 2019 .last year. One of the representatives of the Hong Kong democracy movement, Denise Ho, who is also a pop star in Asia, even supported the European Uyghur Institute by making a video to call the public to support our organization. In Taiwan, Tiananmen student movement leader and exile Uyghur Örkesh [known as Wuerkaixi in Chinese], links the Uyghur diaspora with the democratic movements in Taiwan.

FN Uyghur culture and identity have come under serious threat in Xinjiang. What are the tools of resistance Uyghur people can still use in this situation?

DR Since the establishment of this extended network of concentration camps by China in the Uyghur Region [Xinjiang] , the tasks of the Uyghur diaspora has increased significantly increased. On the one hand, political organizations are working to pressure Western countries to adopt measures that would force China to close the camps. On the other hand, the protection and safeguarding of the Uyghur language and culture in the diaspora has become vital. Thus, almost everywhere in the diaspora, mother tongue schools have been created for the past three years.

Our organization is a good example: we started our activities as a student association to promote the Uyghur language and culture in France in 2009. Ten years later, the context in the Uighur region but also in the diaspora has changed to the point that we now broaden our activities for the safeguard of the Uyghur identity in the Europe, where about 10,000 Uyghurs are believed to live.

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lorajackson · 4 years

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The World Is Awaking to the Ugly Realities of the Chinese Regime

Earlier this month, a McDonald’s restaurant in Guangzhou, in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, was forced to remove a sign warning that “black people are not allowed to enter.” Upon removing it, McDonald’s told NBC News in a statement that the sign was “not representative of our inclusive values.”That sounds like what it almost certainly is: a product of the company’s communications department, called in to do damage control. And while we can accept that the McDonald’s corporation itself is not, on the whole, racist, the sign does unfortunately represent China’s values.As NR’s Jim Geraghty has noted, the incident is an example of the “xenophobia and racism” on display just now in China. This is phenomenon is not new to the PRC, but the government has an extra incentive to lean into it now, because it helps the government’s concerted campaign to deflect blame for the global coronavirus pandemic.There is ample evidence of this. A recent Reuters report noted that ambassadors from several African nations recently engaged the Chinese foreign ministry to raise concerns about how their citizens are being mistreated in China. Passport holders from African countries are subject to extreme stop-and-search practices. Many who are coronavirus-negative are being forced into 30-day quarantines anyway. Foreigners from a range of countries who can document clean bills of health are being denied entry to places of business and other facilities simply because they are foreigners.Much of this is taking place in Guangzhou, known to some as “Little Africa” because it has the largest African-immigrant population in China. To some extent, African immigration to China is a by-product of Xi Jinping’s effort to build a global network of trade and infrastructure investment that gives the regime a perceived geopolitical advantage over the West in the developing world. Ghanaians, Nigerians, and other immigrants to China are all too happy to take advantage of the work and educational opportunities China offers. But many of them have learned the hard way just how limited the country’s kindness is.In fact, China’s ill-treatment of foreign-minority populations reflects how the Chinese government treats its own citizens. Muslim minority Uighurs are being held in so-called re-education camps intended to strip them of their religious and ethnic identity, and in many cases subjected to forced labor. In Tibet, which China has oppressed since the very beginning of Communist rule in 1949, things have gotten worse under Xi: Last year, Freedom House named Tibet the second-least-free territory on Earth, behind only war-torn Syria.It would be natural to presume that such discrimination is a regrettable result of the dominance of the Han Chinese, who are more than 90 percent of China’s population and dominate its society. (By comparison, ethnic Uighurs, for example, make up less than 1 percent of the population.) The Han Chinese, with 1.3 billion members, are the largest ethnic group not just in the PRC but in the world. Antipathy, oppression, and discrimination toward minority ethnic groups in a country with such a dominant majority is regrettable but not surprising, and not unique to the PRC.Beijing’s response to critics who note all of this is to try to drown them out by highlighting America’s own well-documented history of racial discrimination. But that’s the point: Our historical sins are well-documented, and they inform just about every aspect of our public policy. A free press and other institutions hold up our actions for the world to see. There is no mystery about how our country continues to deal with the effects of the institutionalized discrimination that persisted for nearly two centuries after our own founding, and for a century after we fought a war to end it.That said, there is a quality to the pattern of behavior in the PRC that transcends ethnicity. Chinese racial discrimination is horrifying in its own right, of course. But it also suggests a farther-reaching chauvinism that is emerging as the defining characteristic of the Xi era.Han Chinese make up the same percentage of the population in Hong Kong as on the mainland, and are 97 percent of the population in Taiwan. Neither Hong Kongers nor Taiwanese have suffered any less at Xi’s hands for that. Nor, for that matter, have the 400 million mostly Han Chinese living on less than $5 a day in the country outside China’s megacities, who face vicious discrimination from urban elites.In some ways, the gulf between the rich in China’s cities and the poor in its rural areas has been institutionalized through the longstanding “hukou” system of internal registration, which hampers movement between regions and creates what amounts to an economic caste system. While Xi has made hukou reform a priority in order to create greater opportunity for urban migration and prosperity, the system continues to reinforce the divide between urban haves and rural have-nots. As the former become wealthier and more global in their perspective, the disdain they frequently show for those who are different — whether from Africa or rural China — is becoming more pronounced.Xi-era chauvinism is beginning to create a backlash around the world. One example is the cooling ardor toward the Belt and Road Initiative, Xi’s aforementioned effort to gain footholds in foreign markets. Many projects have caused host countries to take on excessive debt. In one instance, a strategic port in Sri Lanka was ceded to China when the debt burden became too high. Politicians in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and other countries have reversed earlier positions of support because of what they see as China’s discriminatory debt diplomacy.This backlash is appearing even in European countries that once saw China as a potential counterbalance to the Trump administration. In Sweden, for instance, some cities have ended sister-city relationships with Chinese counterparts, and the country has closed its Confucius Institute schools, dealing a blow to one of Beijing’s other soft-power propaganda operations. European leaders, including NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenburg and French president Emmanuel Macron, have also called for better understanding of how Beijing handled the coronavirus pandemic and pushed back against China’s campaign to deflect blame for it.In short, the world finally seems to be recovering from its decades-long love affair with the PRC, which peaked with the rise of Xi, who was initially viewed as a reformer who would bring China onto the world’s stage as an equal, responsible actor. The true nature of the regime is becoming more apparent, and the world doesn’t like what it sees: the dreadful treatment of ethnic minorities and the rural poor; the obvious interference in Taiwan’s recent presidential election; the belligerence toward Hong Kong as the “one country, two systems” agreement is systematically dismantled and pro-democracy leaders are arrested or just disappear; the bullying of emerging economies through debt diplomacy; and now what is very likely a global pandemic caused by Chinese negligence.For the first time since the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square massacre 30 years ago, the world has awakened to these ugly realities, and if anything good has emerged from this chaotic geopolitical era, that might be it. Here’s hoping that more aggressive action to counter Beijing comes next.

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edsporl · 5 years

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SPORL AND COMPANY HIGH ALFA PORTFOLIOS

24 October 2019

SPORL & COMPANY HIGH ALFA, NON-CORRELATED PORTFOLIOS

True to form our portfolios continue to outperform the stock market. Since the end of October last year the stock market is down, but our portfolios are up. Looking back to past interest rate cycles, our portfolios have typically outperformed stocks each time interest rates began to decline after a peak. This happened between 2000 and 2005 when stocks were down 15%, but our portfolios were up, and again from 2007 to 2016 when stocks were up 19%, but our portfolios were up more.

Since October of last year we’ve entered another period of declining rates and, so far, our portfolio is up while stocks are flat.

I believe that this will continue because, as of now, there is little reason to expect interest rates to rise any time soon.

The political backdrop to the markets has been most unsettling. In Europe, Britain has been struggling to negotiate its way out of the European Union, but the British citizenry and the Parliament are hopelessly divided about whether it should happen at all or what shape it might take. My own take on this is that I hate to see the European countries begin to fragment the Union. If Britain leaves others may want to leave also. Europe has been peaceful since the end of WWII. One can only hope that if Europe dissolves the Union, they will be better able to govern themselves now than they were in the past when Europe looked more like the Middle East does today with all their wars and turmoil.

At the same time, the trade negotiations between the US and China are in the push-and-shove stage and have not resulted in an agreement just yet. The US position is that China has been taking advantage of its developing nation status for a long time, which gave them unfair advantages but allowed them to grow and prosper by exporting large quantities of goods to the US while severely restricting opportunities for U S companies to sell to China. The US had this same policy with respect to Japan following WWII, hoping that economic prosperity would result in a peaceful, prosperous and democratic Japan that would be allied with the US. This has been extremely successful in Japan’s case and, for that matter, in Germany’s also. But the communists in China seem to be intent on taking a different course.

When China signed the agreement in 1997 to allow Hong Kong to govern itself until 2047 under the “One Country, Two Systems” policy, it was hoped that by the time this interim agreement expired, China would have become more prosperous and much more democratic. Unfortunately, China shows few signs of moving in that direction. On the contrary, it has imposed stricter and stricter controls on its population, even going so far as to imprison some one million Uighurs in western China in “reeducation” camps to stifle political dissent. It has placed surveillance cameras, phone monitoring and face recognition equipment to keep track of anyone who disagrees with the Communist Party. The riots in Hong Kong are but another sign that China continues to encroach on the rights and freedoms of those citizens in spite of having agreed not to do so. I don’t know why anyone could have expected otherwise. The Communists’ primary goal has always been to rule for the benefit of the Party and to suppress or crush all opposition. They are doing this in China today, not moving toward democracy. Let’s hope that they don’t send the PLA into Hong Kong for a replay of the Tenormin Square massacre that they used to suppress dissent 30 years ago.

Finally, there is the turmoil in Washington as the democrats seek to overturn the 2016 election and remove President Trump from office. Although this is not likely to succeed, it creates enormous uncertainty for the Markets.

Fortunately, our portfolios have been immune to these disruptions. All of the securities are government guaranteed and are not affected by the swings in the investor sentiment that affects stocks. This is one of those times when having no exposure to the stock market is a plus. Please feel free to give me a call if I can answer any questions for you.

Ed Sporl

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trunewsofficial · 5 years

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Chinese Government Silences Mentions of Tiananmen Square Massacre

Today is the 30th anniversary of the Chinese government’s crackdown and massacre of protesters seeking greater freedom in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. While the event is passing without even a mention in mainland China, thousands of people in Hong Kong turned out to remember the hundreds who lost their lives. Organizers say more than 180 thousand have turned out for a candlelight vigil in the city’s Victoria Park. As one might expect, government officials claim the turnout is much lower. The event has featured speeches by exiled “pro-democracy” activists who shared their stories of what happened that day. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo weighed in on the day on behalf of the U.S. government, issuing the following statement: “On June 4, we honor the heroic protest movement of the Chinese people that ended on June 4, 1989, when the Chinese Communist Party leadership sent tanks into Tiananmen Square to violently repress peaceful demonstrations calling for democracy, human rights, and an end to rampant corruption. The hundreds of thousands of protesters who gathered in Beijing and in other cities around China suffered grievously in pursuit of a better future for their country. The number of dead is still unknown. We express our deep sorrow to the families still grieving their lost loved ones, including the courageous Tiananmen Mothers, who have never stopped seeking accountability, despite great personal risk. The events of thirty years ago still stir our conscience, and the conscience of freedom-loving people around the world. “Over the decades that followed, the United States hoped that China’s integration into the international system would lead to a more open, tolerant society. Those hopes have been dashed. China’s one-party state tolerates no dissent and abuses human rights whenever it serves its interests. Today, Chinese citizens have been subjected to a new wave of abuses, especially in Xinjiang, where the Communist Party leadership is methodically attempting to strangle Uighur culture and stamp out the Islamic faith, including through the detention of more than one million members of Muslim minority groups. Even as the party builds a powerful surveillance state, ordinary Chinese citizens continue to seek to exercise their human rights, organize independent unions, pursue justice through the legal system, and simply express their views, for which many are punished, jailed, and even tortured. “We salute the heroes of the Chinese people who bravely stood up thirty years ago in Tiananmen Square to demand their rights. Their exemplary courage has served as an inspiration to future generations calling for freedom and democracy around the world, beginning with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of communism in Eastern Europe in the months that followed. “We urge the Chinese government to make a full, public accounting of those killed or missing to give comfort to the many victims of this dark chapter of history. Such a step would begin to demonstrate the Communist Party’s willingness to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms. We call on China to release all those held for seeking to exercise these rights and freedoms, halt the use of arbitrary detention, and reverse counterproductive policies that conflate terrorism with religious and political expression. China’s own constitution stipulates that all power belongs to the people. History has shown that nations are stronger when governments are responsive to their citizens, respect the rule of law, and uphold human rights and fundamental freedoms.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang railed against the statement during his regular press conference, saying: “The Chinese government has already drawn a clear conclusion on the political disturbance in the late 1980s. The great achievements we made in the past 70 years since the establishment of the People's Republic of China have spoken volumes that we chose the right development path and it is endorsed by our people. The Chinese people will continue to advance along the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics. “Secretary Pompeo's statement made vicious accusations on China's political system, human rights and religious situation, and baselessly criticized China's Xinjiang policy. It grossly interferes in China's internal affairs, tramples the basic norms governing international relations and undermines mutual trust between China and the US. China firmly opposes it and has made stern representations to the US side. “Some people in the US have been lecturing other countries and interfering in their internal affairs under the pretexts of "democracy" and "human rights" while turning a blind eye to the domestic problems in the US. Such hypocrisy and ill intentions are already seen through by the Chinese people. They are not at all qualified to accuse China randomly. Any attempt to interfere in China's internal affairs or destabilize our country is doomed to fail. “We advise those people to take a good look at themselves in the mirror and mind their own business. They need to stop tarnishing China's image, interfering in China's domestic affairs and resorting to words and deeds that undermine trust and cooperation between China and the US. It is high time that they refrained from making more mistakes. Otherwise, they will become nothing but a laughingstock of the world.” Tensions between the U.S. and China certainly haven’t abated. The Chinese Foreign Ministry took further action against the U.S. in the midst of the growing trade war between both countries, issuing a travel alert—a potential first step toward a full-blown travel ban. Separately, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism released its own travel advisory that warns “Chinese tourists in the U.S. should fully assess the risks” of travelling there, and to “conscientiously improve awareness to ensure safety.” Pompeo also further stoked tensions, mentioning Huawei as a security threat in the context of his background as former CIA director. In an interview with EuroNews, he said: “Look, I used to run the Central Intelligence Agency. There’s no doubt the Intelligence Community gets things wrong from time to time, but their overall body of work is excellent and to be relied upon and trusted. That’s certainly the case. “Here, this is pretty straightforward. We share a common concern. Western countries, liberal democracies share a common value set. The Chinese don’t share that value set, and so their infrastructure, their IT systems, and in a particular case a company called Huawei, are fundamentally different. “The incentive, if you’re Huawei, is to work with the Chinese Government. They have three members of the Communist Party sitting on their board of directors. This is deeply inconsistent with how we protect security of the people of Netherlands and the people of Europe and the people of the United States. And we have made very clear that there’s real risk. “Europeans care deeply about privacy; I know that very well. One can’t have private information flowing across a network that has access and control from the Chinese Government.” There are further signs China may be looking to restructure its business models to accommodate the Trump administration’s trade war. In an interview with a Russian newspaper to preview the upcoming Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, China Overseas Development Association Secretary-General He Zhenwei says small- and medium-sized enterprises in his country may move their production operations to Russia. The official said those companies are now fighting to maintain their existence, noting that Chinese items manufactured in Russia would not face 25-percent tariffs in the U.S. (Photo Credit: Kap Leung/Wikimedia Commons) source https://trunews.com/stream/chinese-government-silences-mentions-of-tiananmen-square-massacre

#TRUNEWS - Rick Wiles

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marilynngmesalo · 5 years

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Cdn turned back in attempt to visit dissident father in Chinese prison

Cdn turned back in attempt to visit dissident father in Chinese prison Cdn turned back in attempt to visit dissident father in Chinese prison https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

OTTAWA — Ti-Anna Wang was one passport stamp away from seeing her imprisoned father in a Chinese prison before her dream was shattered yet again.

On Wednesday, the Montreal woman arrived in southern China where her father, Wang Bingzhang — considered the father of China’s ill-fated international pro-democracy movement — has been jailed since Chinese agents snatched him in Vietnam in 2002 and hauled him back to the People’s Republic.

Her 11-month-old daughter was strapped into her papoose-style body carrier and her husband was by her side. Wang’s passport contained a fresh Chinese visa, something she had been denied for 10 years. But it wasn’t enough.

Her infant daughter and husband were deemed free to enter China. But she was not. So began a six-hour ordeal that would see Wang and her family locked in an airport detention room before they could be sent to a nearby South Korean island on the next available flight.

“I can’t really articulate the disappointment because it’s just so crushing,” Wang said Thursday by telephone from the South Korean island of Jeju.

Wang said she knew the risks associated with travelling to China following last month’s imprisonment of fellow Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, which appeared to be retaliation for Canada’s arrest of high-profile Chinese executive Meng Wanzhou. But she was determined to make the journey because she might never get a chance to see her father again, and she thought the sight of his new granddaughter might boost his waning spirits.

Wang has for years pushed the Canadian government to work towards releasing her father. There is one hitch: while she is a Canadian citizen, he is not, despite a strong historic connection to Canada.

Wang Bingzhang was one of the first generation of Chinese students to come to Canada and he got his doctorate from McGill University. While in Montreal, he planted Canadian roots, which included having children who would become citizens. His exposure to democracy sparked hope of importing it to his birth country.

Ti-Anna was born in 1989, the year the Chinese military killed student protesters in the Tiananmen Square massacre, and he named her in honour of the fallen.

His abduction and widely derided trial in China in 2002 earned him a spot on a dubious list of 16 political prisoners that Amnesty International urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to advocate for during his most recent trip to China in late 2017. The list included Huseyin Celil, an advocate of China’s persecuted Uighur community from southern Ontario, who received a life sentence in 2007.

When Wang’s father was arrested, she was a teenager. Now 30, she has become a vocal human-rights activist, and has been harassed by Chinese officials during a United Nations presentation. She married, and this past February had her first child, a girl.

Wang said she gave up pushing the Canadian government to do more for her father, so she asked Global Affairs Canada to focus on something specific — pushing China to grant her a visa, which her activism had barred her from getting since 2009.

In August, she received word that the visa would be granted. She doesn’t know how or why, but she was grateful for the government’s efforts. With a new daughter, and a husband studying at university, they made a plan in November to travel in January.

Then the Dec. 1 arrest of Meng occurred and the arrests of Spavor and Kovrig followed.

“They (Global Affairs) said that they would not tell us not to go but they would just say that they think that I’m someone who could be vulnerable in this situation,” she said.

So she and her husband decided to keep the trip to China short — just 48 hours — and Global Affairs said it would have a diplomat accompany them while in China. Wang and her husband travelled to South Korea in early January to stay with his relatives before making the hop to China.

They telephoned China’s prisons bureau to say they were coming. They landed in Hangzhou, intending to travel to Guangzhou, where her father has been imprisoned. Then they hit a wall.

“I got the sense they were waiting for me because the border agent was communicating with another agent and said something like ‘That’s her.'”

She and her daughter were shuffled off to a small room by police, where they spent the next hour with officers always with them, before her husband was reunited with them.

They spent six hours there before her husband was able to buy them tickets on a late-night flight to Jeju.

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Before leaving, her baby grew restless, crying and wailing and wanting out of mom’s carrier. The police told her not to let her crawl on the grimy floor, but Wang had to let her blow off steam. Her daughter’s mood improved and she started charming the police.

“I feel really bad having subjected her to that. At the same time, I think she kept the mood very light. My daughter’s quite social and smiley.”

Those smiles, however, were meant for Wang’s father, who has spent most of his time in solitary confinement, with failing health, including strokes, asthma and inflammation in his legs.

Wang said it’s distressing to think about what Kovrig and Spavor are enduring, but she has mixed feelings.

“Cases like that make me feel a little bit sad because I know that it means that my father’s case cannot be a priority,” she said. “When the Canadian government is negotiating on these issues with the Chinese, they cannot ask for too much each time.”

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#metronews24 bangla #Latest Online Breaking Bangla News #Breaking Bangla News #prothom alo #bangla news #b

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