President Tsai Ing-wen swept to a landslide victory in Taiwan's presidential elections over a candidate favored by Beijing, in a campaign marked by threats, infiltration and saber-rattling by China.
The move is part of a campaign to increase China’s reliance on home-grown technologies.
Beijing has attacked the bills, saying they interfere in China’s internal affairs.
Pro-democracy candidates won an overwhelming majority of the district council seats up for grabs in Sunday’s vote.
On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which requires an annual review of Hong Kong’s human rights situation and sanctions against officials linked to rights abuses in the city. Beijing has threatened retaliation if President Trump signs the bill into law.
The New York Times has published leaked documents exposing China’s crackdown on Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region.
The plea comes as China is cracking down on anti-government protesters in Hong Kong, restricting religious practice in Tibet, and jailing hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minority groups in northwest China’s Xinjiang region.
China’s Communist Party closed high-level meetings Thursday with a statement praising the leadership of President Xi Jinping. China recently abolished presidential term limits, meaning Xi is serving an indefinite term as president. For some, lifetime rule for Xi is a Halloween nightmare.
Joshua Wong’s candidacy was rejected because he supports a political party that favors genuine autonomy for Hong Kong. Wong called the move “politically driven.”
Protests in Hong Kong have been fast, fluid and flexible as protesters use social media to stay ahead of police. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam have struggled to respond.
Senator Josh Hawley made the remark as more than 100,000 protesters gathered in downtown Hong Kong, urging the U.S. Congress to pass legislation to sanction officials and police over human rights violations in the Chinese city.
Numerous Western companies and organizations have run afoul of Chinese nationalism, often whipped up by state media, under the rule of President Xi Jinping. Recent examples include Apple Computers, game-maker Blizzard, and the National Basketball Association.
Beijing has been effective at silencing critics as it carries out human rights abuses and stifles dissent in Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong. The NBA was the latest victim. Chinese broadcasters have been ordered to cancel rebroadcasts of Houston Rockets’ games after a team official tweeted support for pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.
