Chinese authorities have detained as many as 1 million Uyghurs in internment camps in western China’s Xinjiang region. China has denied that Uyghurs are detained arbitrarily or that “re-education centers” exist. Beginning in April 2017, Uyghurs accused of harboring “strong religious views” and “politically incorrect” ideas have been jailed or detained in political “re-education camps” throughout the Xinjiang region.
Earlier this week, police in the northeastern Chinese city of Changchun arrested 18 people after a major vaccine manufacturer recalled its rabies vaccine. It’s the latest in a string of tainted or substandard vaccine scandals to hit China, which is plagued with endemic corruption and profiteering in its biotech industry.
The U.S. has imposed massive tariffs on Chinese imports, and China has responded with retaliatory tariffs.
Prime Minister Hun Sen’s eldest son, Lieutenant General Hun Manet, was promoted last month to acting chief of the joint staff and commander of army headquarters. Hun Sen has been accused of trying to build a political dynasty by priming his three sons for powerful posts.
Shanghai resident Dong Yaoqiong was incommunicado on July 5 after she streamed live video social media of herself splashing ink on a poster of Chinese President Xi Jinping and declaring she did it to "oppose Xi Jinping's tyranny and dictatorship" and "oppressive brain control." Dong's act of protest drew a swift visit to her home by uniformed men, and her account and video were scrubbed by authorities, but she became an icon on social media, inspiring at least one copycat protest in another Chinese city.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, called the council “a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights.”
Uyghurs face discrimination, religious repression and cultural suppression under heavy-handed Chinese rule in their homeland in northwestern China.
U.S. President Trump said he “briefly” raise the issue of human rights during a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore this week. Last year, Human Rights Watch called North Korea “one of the most repressive authoritarian states in the world.”
Cambodia’s national elections next month are widely expected to be neither free nor fair after Prime Minister Hun Sen dissolved the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) in November over its alleged involvement in a plot to topple the government.
Trump wants Kim to take concrete steps to curb North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
Chinese troops crushed massive, student-led pro-democracy protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, killing hundreds, perhaps thousands. Because of his portly bearing, China’s current leader, President Xi Jinping, is often depicted as Winnie the Pooh.
Both sides have threatened to impose tariffs, raising fears of a trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
