In one of the most detailed accounts from a Uyghur prisoner in Xinjiang to date, the fashion model Merdan Ghappar leaked video and text describing his detention, including instances of torture that he witnessed. Ghapparโs account shows that even well-integrated Uyghurs are being targeted, and that arbitrary detentions have continued into 2020.
Life in the big city can be hard for Chinese migrant workers, but in Urumqi, economic incentives give them more opportunities than they'd get elsewhere. Provided that they are ethnically Han, that is.
The U.S. has announced new sanctions on the biggest state-owned entity in Xinjiang, the Chinese region where a million or more Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities have been subject to extra-legal detentions.
While programs such as โVisit the People, Benefit the People, and Bring Together the Hearts of the Peopleโ ่ฎฟๆ ่ and โUnited as One Familyโ ็ปๅฏน่ฎคไบฒ have conscripted over 1 million Han civilians and sent them to live with Uyghurs in arranged homestays, the Chinese Communist Partyโs contrived attempt to require Han people to share intimate moments and spaces with Uyghurs is fraught with paternalism, deception, and ethnocentrism; as such, it will be unlikely to alleviate Uyghur distrust of the Party and Han people.
The U.S. blacklisted 11 Chinese companies yesterday, some for well-documented coerced labor, and others for their involvement in invasive biometric tracking of Uyghurs. The companies had supplied American brands such as Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Nike, and Apple.
The U.S. blocked a shipment of hair extensions and accessories from China on the grounds that the products may have been made using forced labor in an internment camp in Xinjiang.
The latest depressing report about the plight of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang comes from the Associated Press, which reports on a โwidespread and systematicโ campaign of forced birth control. Some experts are calling the campaign โdemographic genocide."
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his most direct Chinese counterpart, Yรกng Jiรฉchรญ ๆจๆด็ฏช โ who holds two equally important titles, Politburo member, and director of the Office of Foreign Affairs of the Communist Party of China โ met yesterday in Hawaii. It was the first high-level diplomatic meeting between the U.S. and China in months, but donโt mistake that for a sign of dรฉtente.
The U.S. Commerce Department says new restrictions on 33 Chinese companies with ties to Xinjiang, Chinaโs military, and efforts to produce weapons of mass destruction will go into effect on Friday. The companies are based in mainland China, Hong Kong, and the Cayman Islands.