World

Human rights activists for the Uyghur people have demanded that western travel agencies cease marketing vacation packages that include stops in Xinjiang, where human rights violations by the government have been described as a genocide by certain nations. The proposal is timed with China's reopening to international tourists after the epidemic and President Xi Jinping's encouragement of more travel to the area. On Wednesday, the U.S.-based Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) issued a study warning that western tourists visiting the area would be normalizing Chinese government programs "intended to destroy the Uyghur identity." Through its practices of mass imprisonment, reeducation, surveillance, population control, and persecution of religious and cultural expression in the area,...

On a bilateral visit beginning on Wednesday, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly will bring up Beijing's human rights commitments, particularly as they pertain to the people of Xinjiang and Tibet.According to a statement released by the UK government, Cleverly will meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Vice President Han Zheng to address climate change and other topics in separate bilateral sessions. The last time a British foreign secretary visited China was nearly five years ago. To paraphrase the statement: "the choices that China makes are critical to our collective ability to tackle this global problem" since China is the greatest investor in renewable energy and the largest emitter of carbon. The Foreign Minister will argue that China's rising power means it m...

Human Rights Watch stated today that the continued implementation of China's counterterrorism tactics in the Xinjiang area of the country's far western province of Xinjiang is evidence of ongoing crimes against humanity. Uyghur and other Turkic Muslim rights breaches in Xinjiang "may constitute… crimes against humanity," according to a report released by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on August 31, 2022. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said earlier in 2023 that "concrete follow up" was needed on the report's findings. But he hasn't updated the UN Human Rights Council on the findings or his office's continued monitoring of the situation in Xinjiang. "Over the past year, Chinese officials have maintained their abusive'

After a disastrous meeting between his foreign minister and his Libyan counterpart became public knowledge, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued an order requiring him to authorize any future private conversations. According to the spokeswoman, the premier has also instructed his ministers to get his approval before making public any information about such meetings.Netanyahu seems to be trying to remove himself from the political fiasco that might impact his whole normalization strategy with Arab governments by claiming ignorance about the meeting between the Israeli and Libyan foreign ministers. The meeting between Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Libya's Foreign Minister Najla al-Mangoush in Rome last week was hailed as a "historic" step toward normalization of...

Analysts have said that Jakarta's decision to "level up" support for Southeast Asian claimants does not indicate a "nascent alliance" with Washington, but that the country's recent joint statement with the United States expressing concern over China's claims in the South China Sea indicates it sees Beijing as a security threat.While meeting last Thursday in Washington, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto discussed plans to increase defense capabilities, specifically in the areas of "fighter aircraft upgrades, new multi-role fighter aircraft, and additional fixed and rotary wing transport aircraft," as reported by the Pentagon. Additionally, the two nations said that Beijing's claims in the South China Sea were "inconsistent with internatio...

Over the last two decades, South Asian nations have struggled to maintain their democracies against internal and external threats with significant assistance from the international community. Despite their best efforts, however, democracy has been steadily declining over the last several years, endangering not just the viability of democracy but also larger geostrategic interests. South Asian political unrest One striking illustration of the aforementioned pattern is the recent detention of Imran Khan, Pakistan's well-liked and even populist leader. It is common knowledge that the ISI and other members of Pakistan's security apparatus are behind the scenes influencing the democratic process to strengthen their position.In April of last year, then-prime minister Imran Khan lost a no-...

Analysts have suggested that Libya's internationally recognized prime minister is under fire for his alleged involvement in trying to normalize ties with Israel. Foreign Minister Najla al-Mangoush was fired by GNU leader Abdul Hamid Dbeibah after news of her meeting with her Israeli colleague Eli Cohen in Rome last week leaked to the media. The GNU is located in Tripoli. Since then, she's left the nation.According to a statement released by the Israeli foreign ministry on Sunday night, al-Mangoush and Cohen met to explore ways to improve already "great relations" between their countries. Protesters in Tripoli and other towns took to the streets Sunday night in response to the conference, blocking highways with burning tires and waving Palestinian flags. While the Presidency Counc...

Opponents of Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) controversial technique of disposing of radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean have not given up as of the 24th of August. On August 28th, two scientists and one political activist gave a presentation at the Foreign Correspondents Club in Tokyo in which they harshly criticized the Japanese government's stance on the matter. In a nutshell, they were: The Pacific Islands Forum (an organization of 18 Pacific island states, including Australia and New Zealand) appointed an Expert Panel, which includes Arjun Makhijani, PhD, a nuclear engineer and author who serves as president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (based in Maryland, USA), to support consultations with the Japane...

An ethnic Kazakh Muslim has been imprisoned by Chinese officials in the volatile Xinjiang region for reportedly reading passages from the Quran at a wedding and at people's homes. According to a Radio Free Asia (RFA) article from August 25th, the detention is being seen as part of a larger crackdown on religious and ethnic minorities in the communist country as part of the so-called "strike hard" campaign. According to Bekzat Maksutkhan, the leader of the Kazakh rights organization Atajurt, Kusman Rehim, 56, a native of Jimsar county in Xinjiang, was detained on July 14. Bekzat also claimed that during the police raid, a Quran was discovered. According to the article, "he had also participated in a Muslim wedding and recited passages from the Quran at people's homes during Eid...

China's draconian policies against the 11 million predominantly Muslim Uyghurs who live in the restive, far western province of Xinjiang were reaffirmed by President Xi Jinping during his second visit to the area in little over a year. Maintaining "hard-won social stability" will remain a key priority, and that stability must be leveraged to "guarantee development," Xi said in a speech on Saturday in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Autonomous Uyghur Region, according to official media. Xi has stated the need to "combine the development of the anti-terrorism and anti-separatism struggle with the push for normalizing social stability work and rule of law." As part of his instructions, he urged government authorities to "promote the Sinicization of Islam" and "effectively control v...