Latest news with #Uyghur
News18
6 hours ago
- Politics
- News18
Oxford University Press To Discontinue Publication Of China-Sponsored Journal
Last Updated: The research conducted through FSR has been regularly featured by OUP since 2023. Oxford University Press (OUP) has decided to discontinue the publication of an academic journal sponsored by China's Ministry of Justice after 2025. Forensic Sciences Research (FSR), in an official statement, revealed that the move came considering concerns regarding unethical DNA collection practices cited in some of its published papers. OUP has confirmed that it will no longer publish the quarterly journal on its platform. The research conducted through FSR has been regularly featured by OUP since 2023. The FSR works under China's Academy of Forensic Science, which describes it as 'the only English quarterly journal in the field of forensic science in China that focuses on forensic medicine." According to reports, serious questions have been raised about how several papers published in FSR collected data from Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China. Critics suggest that it is highly likely the genetic data was obtained without proper consent from the individuals involved. Moreover, it is suspected that this data may have been gathered to enhance state surveillance of minority populations in the country. An official statement by FSR confirmed the development, stating, 'Forensic Sciences Research will no longer be published by Oxford University Press (OUP) after the 2025 volume. The last issue published by OUP will be Volume 10, Issue 4." Going forward, the journal will be published by KeAi, Elsevier's co-publishing partner in China. Meanwhile, OUP has declined to provide a specific explanation for the termination of its contract with FSR. So far, OUP has already withdrawn at least two papers involving the study of DNA samples from Chinese minority groups. According to The Guardian, one of the studies, published in 2020, collected DNA samples from 264 Uyghur individuals. Although the paper claims the data was collected with participants' consent, critics have challenged this assertion. Notably, the lead author of the study is affiliated with China's state security apparatus. While OUP issued an 'expression of concern" regarding the article in 2024, it did not retract it. The Chinese government is already under global scrutiny for its treatment of Uyghurs and other ethnic minority communities. Concerns include allegations of human rights abuses, mass incarceration, forced labour, sexual assault, and intense state surveillance. view comments First Published: Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Telegraph
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Telegraph style book: Uu
U UK: Do not use it to mean Great Britain Ulez: Ultra Low Emission Zone. No need to spell out Ulysses UN: Spell out United Nations at first mention in text UNHCR: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees under way, not underway Underground is capped when describing the London transport system unforeseeable unfrocked: not defrocked Union: When describing Great Britain and Northern Ireland, it should be capped Union Jack: Properly, this is for the flag's naval use only (when flown from a jackstaff). In all other contexts the Union Flag unique: If you do use it remember that it cannot be qualified United Kingdom: this refers to the nation formed by England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. England, Scotland and Wales form Great Britain. Great Britain and the island of Ireland form the British Isles United Reformed Church: Not Reform United States, then US. Avoid using America when referring to the country. Unknown Warrior: It is he, and not the Unknown Soldier, who lies in Westminster Abbey unprecedented: See unique unself-conscious Uyghur not Uighur
The Independent
11 hours ago
- Science
- The Independent
Oxford University Press scraps China-sponsored journal after longstanding protests
Oxford University Press will cease publishing the Chinese government-sponsored journal, Forensic Sciences Research, after 2025. The decision follows years of controversy regarding the journal's alleged ethical breaches over DNA collection from Uyghur and other ethnic minority groups in China. Critics highlighted concerns that studies published in the journal used DNA samples from minorities without their consent. OUP had previously retracted at least two papers and issued an "expression of concern" for another due to these ethical issues. Forensic Sciences Research will be published by KeAi in China from next year.
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First Post
a day ago
- Politics
- First Post
China jails Japanese man, in his 60s and detained since 2023, for spying; Tokyo says ‘extremely regrettable'
China has jailed a 63-year-old Japanese man for three and a half years for spying. He is among 17 Japanese citizens with business or other connections to China who have been detained in China since 2014 when the Communist regime enacted the anti-spying law. Five Japanese nationals are still held in China. read more A Japanese man was sentenced Wednesday to three and a half years in prison in China on espionage charges, according to the Japanese embassy in Beijing. The embassy did not identify the man, who has been detained since March 2023. Japan's Kyodo News Agency described him as a man in his 60s and an employee of Astellas Pharma Inc., a major Japanese pharmaceutical company. The man was charged with espionage in August and his first hearing was held in November but no details were released. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court did not immediately make an announcement after handing down the sentence. Kenji Kanasugi, the Japanese ambassador to China, called the sentencing 'extremely regrettable.' The Japanese government has protested a series of detentions of its citizens in China. More from World How China's ideologues glorify the Uyghur genocide Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said that judicial authorities had handled the case in strict accordance with the law and that China provides a sound environment for Japanese companies and workers. 'As long as foreign nationals in China abide by the law and engage in lawful employment, there is nothing to worry about,' he said. A total of 17 Japanese citizens with business or other connections to China have been detained since 2014, when China enacted the anti-spying law. Five remain in China, Kyodo reported. A Japanese diplomat was detained for questioning in 2022 and released hours later, prompting strong protests from Japan. Kanasugi was present at Wednesday's ruling, but Japanese reporters were not allowed inside the courtroom. He told reporters that Japan has demanded and will continue to demand the early release of detained Japanese nationals, adding that such detentions are 'one of the biggest obstacles to improving people-to-people exchanges and public sentiment between Japan and China.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD A statement released by the Japanese embassy in Beijing urged the Chinese government to ensure the humane treatment of detainees and to improve the transparency of the judicial process. Japan considers China's growing influence in the region as a threat to its national security and economy, and the risks of getting caught in China on espionage allegations are a growing concern in Japan, including its business community. A safety handbook for visitors to China, published by the Japanese embassy in Beijing, urges visitors to use extra caution. (This is an agency copy. Except for the headline, the copy has not been edited by Firstpost staff.)
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First Post
4 days ago
- Politics
- First Post
How China's ideologues glorify the Uyghur genocide
The mass killings, cultural erasure, and brutal tactics of the 1950s are being celebrated as a model for how to govern East Turkistan today. This is not merely a message for domestic audiences, it is a signal to the world and a warning to those who remain silent read more China's ideological institutions are praising genocide as a tool of statecraft. On February 4, 2025, the Chinese Red Culture Research Association (CRCRA), a national ideological organisation supervised by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and overseen by China's Ministry of Civil Affairs, published an article openly glorifying the mass murder of Uyghurs by General Wang Zhen, a key figure in the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) violent conquest of East Turkistan in 1949. This article did not frame these atrocities as a regrettable chapter of the past. It held them up as a governing model for the present. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The article, titled 'Wang Zhen Governs Xinjiang: What 'East Turkistan' or 'West Turkistan'? Just 'Tutu' Them All!', refers to the slang term '突突' (tūtũ), meaning 'machine-gun them'. It uses the phrase '全部突突掉!' meaning 'just shoot them all!' not rhetorically but as direct policy advice. The piece presents the mass killings, religious subjugation, and total suppression of the Uyghurs not as regrettable, but as effective and necessary. Wang Zhen, remembered as Wang Huzi ('Bandit Wang'), ordered entire villages destroyed with artillery and implemented a brutal policy of collective punishment, executing five to ten Uyghurs in retaliation for every Chinese soldier lost. He enforced practices of spiritual desecration by forcing devout Uyghurs to raise pigs, slaughter them, and consume the meat; these were deliberate acts of cultural and religious humiliation. When villagers protested the killing of an elderly man, Wang deployed thousands of paramilitary units from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) to violently suppress the demonstration. The article boasts, 'Blood flowed like a river.' It further praises Wang for deceiving a delegation of Uyghur leaders who sought to petition Beijing to honour its nationality policies. Promising to take them to the capital, Wang instead ordered their transport to a remote location, where they were summarily executed. 'Tutu'ed,' the article notes, with chilling finality. It proudly recounts that any assembly of three or more adult Uyghur men was treated as a cause for immediate execution. It goes further, praising Wang's brutality as not excessive but exemplary. Why should we not be iron-blooded?' It asks, framing genocide as a patriotic necessity. It concludes by asserting that such measures succeeded in pacifying East Turkistan for decades, explicitly endorsing the repetition of those same genocidal tactics today. The article proclaims, 'Without thunderbolts, there can be no compassion,' and declares, 'Only by terrorising the troublemakers can we eliminate terror.' It ends with a chilling ideological assertion: 'In matters of national interest, force is truth.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD These are not metaphors. They are ideological endorsements of policies already being carried out: enslavement through forced labour, mass internment, organ harvesting, and the systematic erasure of an entire people. This is not the rant of an internet provocateur or the revisionism of a random Chinese blogger. These words come from an official ideological institution whose mission, according to its own charter, is to 'serve the overall work of the Party and the State,' 'study and promote red culture,' and 'strengthen the ruling status of the Communist Party'. It is overseen by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the CCP's top ideological think tank, and operates under the full authority of the Party. CRCRA is not obscure. Its events are attended and endorsed by China's top ideological elites. At its 2023 national conference, speakers included Teng Wensheng, former Director of the CCP Central Policy Research Office, and Li Dianren, former Deputy Political Commissar of the National Defence University, who also spoke at the organisation's 2024 national conference. The former praised the organisation's materials as 'politically sharp'. The latter called it a 'fighting force' for Xi Jinping's ideological leadership. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Former Central Propaganda Department head Wang Renzhi and former Director of the Literature Research Office of the CCP Central Committee (renamed the Central Institute of Party History and Literature after 2018), Pang Xianzhi, have publicly praised the CRCRA for its unwavering commitment to advancing Party ideology. Their support is not incidental. It is confirmation of alignment with the CCP's core ideological goals. This is not a historical reflection. It is contemporary incitement. These narratives are being institutionalised, not by fringe bloggers or elements, but by organs of the Chinese state. China officially refers to its 1949 invasion of East Turkistan as the 'Peaceful Liberation of Xinjiang'. But the CRCRA's own article contradicts this claim. It recounts, in vivid detail and with ideological pride, the shelling of villages, mass executions, forced desecration of religious identity, and suppression through terror. China's own ideological institutions have now confirmed what Uyghurs have said for decades: that this was not liberation. It is a brutal military occupation. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Since 2014, China has been engaged in a coordinated campaign of genocide and crimes against humanity in East Turkistan. Millions of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other Turkic peoples have been imprisoned in concentration camps, subjected to forced labour, coerced into sterilisation, and separated from their children. Thousands of cultural and religious sites have been destroyed. The Uyghur language has been suppressed. The Chinese government calls this 'poverty alleviation,' 'counterterrorism,' and 'vocational training'. But leaked official documents and the publicly available CRCRA article show the true motive: subjugation through extermination, justified in ideological terms. In 2020, the East Turkistan Government in Exile, the East Turkistan National Movement, and survivors of the camps filed a formal complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC). The United States and over a dozen parliaments have recognised China's actions as genocide. In 2022, the UN Human Rights Office confirmed these crimes may constitute crimes against humanity. Yet no meaningful legal or political consequences have followed. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The CRCRA article marks a dangerous new threshold. China's genocide against the Uyghurs is not only ongoing; it is now being openly glorified. The mass killings, cultural erasure, and brutal tactics of the 1950s are being celebrated as a model for how to govern East Turkistan today. This is not merely a message for domestic audiences. It is a signal to the world and a warning to those who remain silent. The world can no longer claim ignorance. In June 2025, the genocide of Uyghurs continues, no longer hidden but openly justified through state ideology. China's state-supervised institutions now openly praise the mass killings, forced assimilation, and religious destruction that defined the conquest of East Turkistan. These are not historical reflections; they are blueprints for how the Chinese party-state seeks to rule today. It continues to deny these crimes even as it glorifies the very ideology that justifies them. This is not merely impunity. It is escalation. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The United Nations, democratic governments, and leading human rights organisations must demand that the International Criminal Court open a formal investigation without further delay. If the Court fails to act, the responsibility falls to democratic states to establish a special international tribunal to prosecute China's ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in East Turkistan. Recognition of genocide and crimes against humanity, without concrete action to stop them and hold the perpetrators accountable, is not justice. It is complicity. Genocide does not begin with bullets. It begins with ideological incitement. In 2025, China is publishing that ideology proudly. The world must decide whether to confront the machinery of state-led extermination or enable it through silence. Mamtimin Ala is the president of the East Turkistan Government in Exile, and Salih Hudayar is leader of the East Turkistan National Movement. The views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
