News Briefing for Thursday, August 25, 2022

Here’s what else you need to know about China today:

Will Michelle Bachelet finally release her report on Xinjiang? The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Thursday that she intends to release a highly anticipated report on China’s treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang before her term ends next week on August 31.

• There has been “tremendous pressure to publish or not to publish,” she said. “But I will not publish or withhold publication due to any such pressure.”

Taiwan beefed up its defense budget with a proposal to raise its total spending on the military by NT$397.4 billion ($13.2 billion), almost 14%, next year — a record increase as Beijing exerts increasing pressure on Taipei.

• Meanwhile, Andrew Hsia (夏立言 Xià Lìyán), the vice-chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT), Taiwan’s main opposition party, expressed Taiwanese people’s concerns about Beijing’s military drills near the island during a trip to mainland China, but his trip coming so soon after the drills sparked backlash at home.

China will provide a second round of emergency humanitarian aid to Pakistan for disaster relief after flash floods killed 700 and displaced more than 300,000 people in the provinces of Balochistan, Sindh, and elsewhere.

Daily trading volumes were down on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges in July, but surging oil prices helped PetroChina make billions in the first half of the year. For details, click through to today’s business briefs.

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