Latest news with #Uyghurs
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
It's time to act on foreign interference, attacks on dissidents, say opposition MPs
Opposition parties are calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney's government to quickly implement key provisions of the law adopted last year to counter foreign interference following new revelations that attacks on Chinese dissidents living in Canada and around the world are on the rise. Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong said the "brazen" attacks by the Chinese government constitute a threat to Canadian democracy. "We've had more than enough reports, public inquiries, commissions that have highlighted this transnational repression and foreign interference," Chong said in an interview with CBC News. "It's now time for action." Chong's comments come in the wake of an investigation by CBC News, in conjunction with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which found attacks by the Chinese government on dissidents living in Canada — and around the world — are on the rise. Questioning of family members in China. Surveillance. Threatening phone calls. Online attacks. Spamouflage — which in one case led to fake, sexually explicit photos of one Quebec woman being spread online. In many cases, dissidents are targeted for expressing opinions contrary to the Chinese government's positions on what it calls "the five poisons": democracy in Hong Kong, treatment of Uyghurs, Tibetan freedom, the Falun Gong and Taiwanese independence. The Chinese embassy has yet to respond to questions from CBC News. It's a trend that worries experts on China, who say the attacks damage democracy and national security in Canada. Last June, Parliament adopted Bill C-70, which set out to counter foreign influence in elections and transnational repression of dissidents living in Canada. The legislation called for the establishment of a foreign agent registry and a foreign influence commissioner's office. Nearly a year later, those measures have not yet been put in place. NDP MP Jenny Kwan says it's time. "In light of the CBC investigation and the reports that have now come out, you would think that this would be a priority for the government. But so far, I have yet to hear the prime minister say foreign interference, transnational repression is a top priority for them." Kwan said people who are targeted by China are often told to go to the police, however she said that has often resulted in no action being taken. "All of that only just reinforces for them that there is no avenue for them to seek protection, that the Canadian government is not there with them in the face of such threats," she said. Bloc Québécois MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe said the government will be sending China a message if it doesn't act. "You can do whatever you want, we won't move. That's what the message will be. This is very dangerous," he said. Brunelle Duceppe said the Bloc has called for transnational repression to be added to Canada's Criminal Code. Chong said implementing Bill C-70 doesn't appear to be a priority for Carney's government. "The early signs are troubling," Chong said. "There's no mention in the speech from the throne. There's been no update on the establishment of this registry, and we've heard little from the government about protecting Canadians from these national security threats." The Public Safety Department says it is working on drafting the regulations to enact Bill C-70, setting up the commissioner's office and the IT infrastructure for the registry. Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree's office has yet to respond to an interview request from CBC News.
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First Post
3 days ago
- Politics
- First Post
Resisting Chinese colonialism: East Turkistan's struggle to restore its independence
China's occupation of East Turkistan has been ongoing for seventy-five years, but the resistance of the East Turkistani people—deeply rooted in centuries of anti-colonial struggle—remains undeterred read more The People's Republic of China (PRC) has used disinformation, coercion, and brutal force to maintain its colonial occupation over East Turkistan. While Beijing falsely claims to combat terrorism, it has in fact waged a campaign of state terror and genocide, aiming to erase the East Turkistani nation. Since the late 1990s, the Chinese government has deliberately conflated East Turkistan's legitimate independence movement with extremism and terrorism. The so-called 'East Turkistan Islamic Movement' (ETIM), widely cited by China, doesn't exist—it is a fabricated label used to demonize and discredit the East Turkistan independence movement. Proxy groups like the 'Turkistan Islamic Party' (TIP), whose actions and rhetoric are unrelated to East Turkistan's independence struggle, have been instrumental in this disinformation strategy. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD East Turkistan is not a 'restive region' or an 'ethnic minority area' of China; it is an occupied country. The Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other native Turkic peoples have never accepted Chinese rule and have continually resisted it. In 1759 the Manchu-led Qing Empire occupied East Turkistan and transformed it into a military colony. The people of East Turkistan responded with over 42 uprisings. In 1864, they restored East Turkistan's independence and established the State of Yette Sheher, which endured until another Manchu invasion in 1876. After subjugating the independent Turkic state, the Qing annexed East Turkistan in 1884 and renamed it ' Xinjiang,' meaning 'new territory'—a colonial designation. In the early 20th century, anti-colonial resistance in East Turkistan intensified, leading to the emergence of the modern East Turkistan independence movement. This movement declared the First East Turkistan Republic in 1933, and the Second East Turkistan Republic in 1944. However, in the late summer of 1949, over 30 senior political and military leaders of the East Turkistan Republic were assassinated by the Soviet Union. This political decapitation critically weakened East Turkistan's leadership at a critical moment. On October 12, 1949, the People's Republic of China (PRC) invaded East Turkistan, and by December 22, 1949, with Soviet support, overthrew the independent East Turkistan Republic. Beijing calls this a 'peaceful liberation,' when in fact it was a military occupation met with armed resistance. From 1949 to 1954, more than 150,000 East Turkistanis were killed resisting the Chinese communist occupation. In 1955, East Turkistan was designated as the 'Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR)'—a deceptive term meant to obscure Chinese colonial rule. For decades, China has carried out forced assimilation, executions, mass incarcerations, religious repression, cultural destruction, and demographic engineering via Chinese colonial settlement. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD From the 1950s through the 1990s, East Turkistan witnessed continued uprisings and mass mobilizations. These were met with violent crackdowns and executions. Despite repression, the desire for independence persisted. In March 1996, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s Politburo Standing Committee issued Document No. 7, a top-secret directive on crush East Turkistan's independence movement. It detailed instructions to infiltrate exile organizations, co-opt foreign governments, and shape international perception through propaganda. That same year, 'XUAR' Chairman Abdulahat Abdurishit made Beijing's position clear: 'All methods are acceptable to fight separatism—penetration, propaganda, killing.' The CCP didn't wait for a credible threat, it launched the ' Strike Hard Campaign' in April 1996. While tens of thousands of Uyghurs were arrested and imprisoned, Hasan Mahsum—long suspected by Uyghurs of being a CCP asset—was briefly detained and then released. He then traveled from Urumchi to Beijing, and later founded the so-called 'East Turkistan Islamic Party' (ETIP) in China's all-weather ally Pakistan in September 1997. ETIP's rhetoric emphasized jihad against 'global infidels' and demonized the national independence struggle as 'un-Islamic.' This undermined the East Turkistan independence movement—then led by the Kazakhstan-based United Revolutionary Front of East Turkistan—and created a proxy actor for Beijing to portray East Turkistani resistance as global jihadist terrorism. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In 1999, as the Shanghai Five Summit convened, East Turkistani leaders in Kazakhstan unequivocally declared: 'The struggle of the Uyghurs in Eastern Turkistan has nothing to do with Islamic fundamentalism or extremism, that struggle can be defined as one for national liberation.' By 2001, China was preparing to launch the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO ) . That same year, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and ETIP were folded into the so-called Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), which emerged with slogans to target 'all global infidels' and establish an 'Islamic caliphate.' TIP's alliance with, and presence alongside, terrorist groups in Afghanistan and later Syria allowed Beijing to promote a manufactured terrorist threat to justify its ongoing campaign of genocide. To solidify this narrative, the CCP invented the term 'East Turkistan Islamic Movement' (ETIM) just months after 9/11. No Uyghur group used this name. It was created to conflate the broader East Turkistan independence movement with Islamic terrorism. While the U.S. initially designated ETIM to appease Beijing, the designation was lifted in 2020 after a review found no credible evidence such a group existed. The State Department clarified that TIP is a distinct entity and that Beijing's conflation of the two was factually inaccurate. In exile, the legitimate independence movement continued. In 2004, the East Turkistan Government-in-Exile (ETGE) was established in Washington, D.C., to counter Chinese repression and disinformation. Since its founding, the ETGE has spearheaded East Turkistan's independence movement, calling for international recognition of East Turkistan as an occupied country and support for its right to external self-determination and independence. Despite continued efforts by China to brand all East Turkistani activism as terrorism, the global community is beginning to acknowledge the reality. The ongoing genocide against Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples—recognized by the United States, several parliaments, and legal experts worldwide—is not a byproduct of state security policy. It is a deliberate campaign of ethnic and cultural eradication. Since 2014, China's so-called 'People's War' has led to the internment of millions of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and Kyrgyz in concentration camps and prisons. Hundreds of thousands of East Turkistani women have been subjected to forced sterilizations and abortions. Over 20 million Uyghur children have been separated from families and placed in state-run boarding schools. East Turkistan has become a massive slave labour zone, producing goods from cotton to solar panels. Evidence presented to the U.S. Congress highlights that 25,000 to 50,000 Uyghurs are killed annually for organ harvesting. China's global influence—fuelled by the Belt and Road Initiative and strategic investments—has helped shield it from meaningful accountability. Many governments avoid criticizing Beijing due to economic dependence, while others actively cooperate with China to surveil and suppress East Turkistani diaspora activism. From the uprisings against the Manchu Empire to the founding of the East Turkistan Republics in 1933 and 1944, and to the modern-day political resistance of the East Turkistan Government-in-Exile, the people of East Turkistan have never surrendered their demand for the recovery of their independence. This is not a movement of extremism, religious fanaticism, or terrorism. It is a lawful and just struggle for national liberation and decolonisation, fully grounded in international law. The international community must recognize that East Turkistan's struggle is not an internal matter of China, but a fundamental issue of illegal occupation, genocide, and the right to national self-determination. Just as the world has supported the sovereignty of Ukraine and the decolonisation of former colonies, it must stand with the people of East Turkistan in their pursuit of freedom and independence. Restoring East Turkistan's independence is not just a matter of justice—it is essential for the survival and dignity of the Uyghurs and all Turkic peoples. The global community must affirm East Turkistan's right to external self-determination under international law. The author is the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Security for the East Turkistan Government-in-Exile and the leader of the East Turkistan National Movement. His X handle is @SalihHudayar. The views expressed in this article are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Firstpost.
New York Times
3 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
How China Uses Work to Reshape Uyghur Identity and Control a Strategic Region
The Uyghurs arrive in Chinese factory towns by train and plane, often in groups wearing matching caps or jackets. They are sent by the government to work where they are needed, whether it is molding rubber slippers, assembling automotive wiring or sorting chicken carcasses. A joint investigation by The New York Times, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism and Der Spiegel has revealed that Uyghurs are being sent out of their homeland, Xinjiang, on government work programs, more widely than previously documented. We found that workers are now involved in making a variety of goods for many well-known brands in factories across the country, presenting a challenge to international regulators looking to identify and purge forced labor from supply chains. Uyghur workers were traced to more than 70 factories in at least five major industries. MOnGOLIA Liaoning Xinjiang Tianjin Factories Shandong CHINA Jiangsu Anhui Hubei NEPAL Chongqing Hunan Jiangxi Fujian INDIA Guangdong MYANMAR MOnGOLIA Factories Xinjiang CHINA NEPAL INDIA MOnGOLIA Liaoning Xinjiang Tianjin Factories Shandong CHINA Jiangsu Anhui Hubei NEPAL Chongqing Hunan Jiangxi Fujian INDIA Guangdong MYANMAR MOnGOLIA Liaoning Xinjiang Tianjin Factories Shandong CHINA Jiangsu Anhui Hubei NEPAL Chongqing Hunan Jiangxi Fujian INDIA Guangdong MYANMAR Source: The LandScan Program, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL); Satellite Imagery by Esri; OpenStreetMap (OSM); Landsat Graphic by Pablo Robles Experts estimate that tens of thousands of Uyghurs have been transferred under these programs. While the precise conditions faced by these workers remain unclear, United Nations labor experts, academics and human rights advocates assert that the programs are coercive in nature. 'For these Uyghurs being forced and dragged out of their homes to go to work, it's hell,' said Rahima Mahmut, a Uyghur activist in exile and executive director of Stop Uyghur Genocide, a British-based rights group. A poultry processing plant in Dalian, Liaoning A poultry processing plant in Suizhou, Hubei 'Warmly send off Hotan migrant workers to transfer and work in the Chinese interior' 'Warmly send off Hotan migrant workers to transfer and work in the Chinese interior' 'Warmly send off Hotan migrant workers to transfer and work in the Chinese interiord' A sendoff ceremony for a group of migrant workers from the city of Hotan in Xinjiang in 2020. Source: Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Nikkei Asia
3 days ago
- Politics
- Nikkei Asia
Uyghurs welcome Turkey's crackdown on Chinese spy ring
ISTANBUL -- Uyghurs in Turkey welcomed police efforts to clamp down on Chinese espionage after a spy ring was busted, saying they had long been Beijing's targets. Turkish intelligence and law enforcement said in early May that they arrested seven Chinese nationals accused of gathering information about Uyghurs and local officials through the use of fake cellphone base stations.
Fashion Network
4 days ago
- Business
- Fashion Network
Shein eyes Hong Kong IPO as Chinese regulators stall London plans
According to three sources familiar with the matter, Shein is moving forward with plans to list in Hong Kong after its proposed initial public offering (IPO) in London stalled due to delays in securing Chinese regulatory approval. One source said that the fast-fashion giant China-founded aims to file a draft prospectus with the Hong Kong stock exchange within the coming weeks. Two sources added that Shein is targeting a public debut in the Asian financial hub within the year. The two sources said that the decision to change listing venues stems from the absence of approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). Shein had already received the green light from the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in March and subsequently notified the CSRC, expecting a swift follow-up. However, another source noted that communication from the Chinese regulator has since stalled. These developments, including the company's plans for a Hong Kong IPO, have not been previously reported. All sources requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter and because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Shein and the CSRC did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment. A spokesperson for Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. (HKEX) declined to comment on individual companies. Prior to pursuing a London IPO, Shein had explored listing in New York to bolster its global image and attract large Western investors. The Hong Kong shift marks a departure from that strategy and could potentially weaken Shein's appeal as an international brand. The London listing also faced challenges beyond regulatory delays. A separate source disclosed that accusations surrounding Shein's use of cotton from China's Xinjiang region and a planned legal challenge from an NGO opposing forced labor contributed to growing concerns. These factors risked public backlash and embarrassment for Beijing. The source added that tensions between China and the United States over trade policies have only added to Beijing's caution. Washington and various NGOs have accused China of human rights violations in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where Uyghurs are allegedly subjected to forced labor. Beijing has repeatedly denied these claims. In response, Shein maintains that it enforces a strict zero-tolerance policy against forced labor and child labor throughout its supply chain. As regulatory approval from the CSRC remained uncertain, Shein terminated its contracts with public relations firms Brunswick and FGS, which were initially hired to support its London IPO campaign, as previously reported by Reuters. IPO valuation Whether Shein has formally requested or received CSRC clearance for its Hong Kong listing remains unclear. The company had previously sought regulatory approval from Beijing for listings in both New York and London. Two sources explained that Shein falls under Beijing's listing requirements for Chinese firms going public overseas. These rules, which are based on the 'substance over form' principle, give the CSRC broad discretion in deciding how and when to apply them. Shein does not own or operate any factories directly. Instead, it sources its products from approximately 7,000 third-party suppliers in China, along with select manufacturers in countries such as Brazil and Turkey. The company had originally intended to complete its London listing in the first half of the year. However, its business model—shipping items directly from factories to customers globally—has faced disruption following U.S. policy changes. During the Trump administration, the United States ended duty-free access for Chinese e-commerce shipments and imposed steep tariffs. Previously, a 'de minimis' exemption allowed packages valued under $800 to enter the U.S. without tariffs, significantly benefiting Shein, Temu, and Amazon Haul. Now, those Chinese parcels face tariffs starting at 30%. While the exemption still applies to goods from countries other than China or Hong Kong, its removal for Chinese-origin shipments has forced companies like Shein to reassess their international strategies. The European Union has also proposed changes to its own duty exemption threshold for parcels under 150 euros, further complicating the company's cost structure. In February, Reuters reported that Shein was prepared to slash its valuation to approximately $50 billion for a potential London IPO—down from the $66 billion valuation reached during a $2 billion private fundraising round in 2023.
