Just a quick update in case you missed it.
 | Released on 14.04.2023 | |
 | Chinese Cops' Move To Ensure Uyghurs Don't Fast During Ramzan: Report Chinese police have been using spies to ensure that Uyghur Muslims do not fast during the holy month of Ramzan. The spies, which Chinese officials call "ears", are drawn from ordinary citizens, police and members of neighbourhood committees, Radio Free Asia reported citing a police officer from an area near Turpan, or Tulufan in Chinese, in eastern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.Speaking to Radio Free Asia, the police officer said, "We have many secret agents." Read more: ndtv.com |
 | Congress Warns That Chinese Shopping Apps Could Enable Uyghur Forced Labor Imports The members of Congress behind the law that combats the import of goods produced by Uyghur forced labor are warning that some importers are taking advantage of a loophole intended to avoid scrutiny of the products that they’re bringing into the U.S. and that increasingly popular Chinese e-commerce apps might facilitate breaches of the law. The group of senators and House members Representatives Chris Smith and Jim McGovern, and Senators Jeff Merkley and Marco Rubio sounded the alarm in a letter today to the Department of Homeland Security, in their capacity as leaders of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. Read more: nationalreview.com |
 | Talks between China's vice minister of foreign affairs and DFAT focus on trade, human rights and 'strategic competition' TikTok ban rhetoric isn’t helping Australia has reiterated the importance of stabilising relations with China after a rocky past few years by discussing a wide range of issues during a "significant" meeting with the most senior official from China's Foreign Affairs Ministry on Wednesday. Ma Zhaoxu, the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and a former ambassador to Australia, met with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) secretary Jan Adams in Canberra to discuss topics the two countries rarely see eye-to-eye on, including human rights and strategic competition. Read more: abc.net.au |
 | Rubio Responds to Macron’s Call to ‘Break Away’ From US After China Meeting Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has condemned French President Emanuel Macron for appearing to advocate that Europe should distance itself from the United States over a possible Chinese military aggression against Taiwan. In a roughly two-minute video posted on Twitter Sunday, Rubio asked whether Macron “speaks for all of Europe” when he suggested that the EU should not pick sides between the United States and China over Taiwan, further arguing European nations should “break away” from the United States and avoid getting involved in crises “that are not ours” to build Europe’s “strategic autonomy” concept. Read more: ntd.com |
 | Macron Says Europe Should Reduce Dependence on US Dollar After Meeting With China’s Xi Amid reports that some countries are “de-dollarizing,” French President Emanuel Macron suggested in a new interview that Europe should reduce its dependency on the United States. There is a “great risk” that Europe “gets caught up in crises that are not ours, which prevents it from building its strategic autonomy,” he told Politico this weekend as he flew on an airplane from Beijing to Guangzhou in China after meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Xi and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have backed Macron’s “strategic autonomy” concept as CCP officials often refer to it when meeting with other European officials. Read more: ntd.com |
 | The U.S. Needs to Stop Paying Lip Service to the Uyghur Cause and Start Acting | Opinion For the past two decades, I have lived with a heavy burden: My human rights advocacy has come at the cost of my family. My parents have been unable to see their American children and meet their grandchildren. I could not participate in my father's funeral after he passed away in April last year. China has sanctioned me due to my role in the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), which has been vocal in its critiques of the Chinese government and recommendations to hold them accountable for violations of religious freedom and atrocity crimes. In particular, my work on Uyghur human rights for the past two decades has resulted in retaliation against my family members back in China. Read more: newsweek.com |
 | European Commission chief’s comments on Uyghurs fall short of expectations European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen discussed human rights issues with China’s Xi Jinping during a high-level meeting on Thursday in Beijing, a rare move for European leaders who usually avoid the topic when they visit the Chinese capital for talks. Von der Leyen, who visited China from April 5 to 7 along with French President Emmanuel Macron and a delegation of about 50 business leaders, told a news conference held after their meeting with the Chinese president that the human rights situation concerning Uyghurs in Xinjiang was “particularly concerning.” Read more: rfa.org |