In China, a 'black decade' for human rights lawyers
On the morning of July 9, 2015, and in the days that followed, around 300 lawyers and legal assistants were targeted in a police raid on their offices in Beijing and elsewhere. All were interrogated at length; some disappeared for months. 10 of them were sentenced to prison in the months and years following their arrests. Among them was Wang Quanzhang, who was eventually sentenced in 2019 to four and a half years in prison after a lengthy process, for having defended expropriated farmers and members of the banned Falun Gong sect throughout his career.
Retaliation also targeted families. Wang's family was forced to move 13 times in two months in 2023 – from rented apartments to hotel rooms – while his 12-year-old son had to repeatedly enroll in new schools due to police pressure to expel him.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Euronews
9 hours ago
- Euronews
UK and Australia to sign 50-year nuclear submarine treaty
The United Kingdom and Australia announced on Friday that they will sign a cooperation treaty to build Australian nuclear-powered submarines and welcomed a review by US President Donald Trump's administration into Washington's role in the trilateral defence deal. UK Defence Secretary John Healey and Foreign Secretary David Lammy met with their Australian counterparts Richard Marles and Penny Wong in Sydney for an annual meeting. Marles said he and Healey will sign a 50-year treaty on Saturday that will underpin bilateral cooperation on building an Australian fleet of submarines powered by US nuclear technology. "It is as significant a treaty as has been signed between our two countries since federation," Marles said, referring to the unification of several British colonies to form the Australian government in 1901. The three-way alliance was announced in 2021 to contend with growing Chinese military might in the Asia-Pacific region. It would deliver Australia at least eight submarines including three to five second-hand US Virginia-class submarines. Britain and Australia would cooperate to build their own SSN-AUKUS submarines. US reviewing AUKUS submarine deal US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth is reviewing the AUKUS pact, which the previous administration entered into under Joe Biden. There are concerns that the US may not provide Australia with its first Virginia-class submarine by the early 2030s as planned, due to domestic submarine construction being behind schedule. Marles and Healey declined to speculate on whether Britain and Australia would continue to jointly build submarines if the US pulled out, when questioned at a press conference. "Australia and the UK welcome the review because we see this as a chance for a new administration to renew their commitment to AUKUS. And that's what we expect," Healey said. "Any sort of hypotheticals that you suggest simply aren't part of the picture," Healey added, referring to the prospect of Britain and Australia proceeding without US involvement. The Australian government confirmed this week it had paid the US a second $500 million (€426 million) instalment on the AUKUS deal. The first $500 million was paid in February. The submarines are expected to cost Australia up to $245 billion (€208 billion). Brits join Australian war games The meeting comes as 3,000 British military personnel take part in the largest military exercise ever conducted in Australia. More than 35,000 military personnel from 19 nations are taking part in Exercise Talisman Sabre, which began in 2005 as a biennial joint exercise between the US and Australia. Marles and Healey will inspect the British aircraft HMS Prince of Wales at the northern port of Darwin on Sunday. Lammy said the carrier's arrival in Darwin was meant to send a clear signal to the world. "With our carrier strike group docking in Darwin, I think we're sending a clear signal, a signal of the UK's commitment to this region of the world. Our determination to keep the Indo-Pacific free and open and that we stand together," he said.
France 24
10 hours ago
- France 24
Zelensky seeks EU support while Ukraine struggles with corruption
03:26 24/07/2025 EU-China ties hit 'inflection point' and calls climate chage 'a priority' Europe 24/07/2025 EU says China's links with Russia now 'determining factor' in ties Europe 24/07/2025 EU tariffs on chinese EVs strain trade and diplomatic ties with Beijing Economy 24/07/2025 Spain beats Germany in Women's Euro 2025 and will play England on Sunday Europe 24/07/2025 War in Ukraine : Russia agrees prisoner swap but no deal on ceaserfire Europe 20/07/2025 Zelensky offers to hold new talks for ceasefire Europe 19/07/2025 EU launches new sanctions against Russia for more effective oil price cap Europe 17/07/2025 EU proposes 'most ambitious ever' budget of two trillion euros Europe
LeMonde
12 hours ago
- LeMonde
Faced with China, Europe is weak
The 25 th summit between China and the European Union (EU), held on Thursday, July 24, in Beijing, quickly turned into a dialogue of the deaf. Even on climate change, a topic on which China and Europe are supposed to stand out while the US has abandoned any ambition on the issue, it took considerable effort to reach a joint statement. On all other subjects, the divisions became glaringly apparent after just one day, rather than the two initially planned. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa had to resign themselves to traveling to the Chinese capital, as the head of the Chinese party-state, Xi Jinping, had made it known that he would not set foot in Europe. By contrast, he makes time each year to visit Moscow and celebrate his "no limits" friendship with Vladimir Putin. He was there again in May and will host the Russian president at the end of August for four days to once again formalize what Xi calls "great changes not seen in a century," a recalibration of the world order to the detriment of the West. The US began to focus on the threat posed by China's rise much earlier than the Europeans, as Beijing's project is a more explicit challenge to American hegemony. Europe, led by German car manufacturers, saw only the promise of the Chinese market, while security concerns seemed remote and abstract. Only when Europeans were directly affected did they wake up to this risk. A new world Today, Europe finds itself facing this risk on two fronts at once. First, in Ukraine. Russia has been able to continue its war for three years only because China finances it through purchases of hydrocarbons and provides the parts and machinery to assemble the drones that attack Ukrainian civilians every day. Second, in trade. The European Union has watched the imbalance in its relationship with China deepen, with no clear way out of this spiral. In a decade, the EU's trade deficit with China has doubled, surpassing €300 billion per year. Brussels is right to criticize the massive public subsidies that have made Chinese competition unfair, creating a heightened risk for jobs and industry in Europe, and to implement protective measures that China has never abandoned. But von der Leyen also saw, from the window of the Hongqi ("Red Flag") limousine provided by the Chinese protocol, just how much a new world has emerged in China. New cars, mostly electric or hybrid, new brands, and an unmatched expertise: In the race to develop the best batteries, only two Chinese players stand out – the world's largest supplier, CATL, which supplies Stellantis, Renault, Tesla, and Rolls-Royce, and the world's leading electric car brand, BYD. Europeans are mere bystanders. China believes Europe has only itself to blame. On this topic, as on the Ukrainian front, von der Leyen at least offered this diagnosis: Chinese-European relations are at a "turning point." Yet nothing suggests that the EU has even the beginnings of a solution to these fundamental problems.
