The Uyghur American Association (UAA) believes that the Chinese government’s contradictory statements on the details of trials for Uyghurs detained in the wake of unrest in Urumchi on July 5, 2009 indicate an absence of transparency surrounding criminal and judicial procedures, as well as a process ...
Chinese President Visits Volatile Xinjiang
BEIJING — President Hu Jintao has been visiting the volatile western region of Xinjiang for four days, state news media reported Tuesday, in his first trip to the region since deadly rioting in July left scores of people dead and strained relations between ethnic Han and ethnic Uighurs. According ...
Obama behind release of Chinese activists
CHINA has released two prominent activists who are seen as important to the development of the rule of law and public policy discussion of problems in Tibet and Xinjiang, following diplomatic representations by the Obama Administration. The unexpected release of public interest lawyer Xu Zhiyong, ...
China: Advocates Freed, Restrictions on Civil Society Remain
(New York) - The release of three leading Chinese civil society advocates shows that the Chinese government can be responsive to domestic and international human rights concerns, Human Rights Watch said today. The advocates - Xu Zhiyong, Zhuang Lu, and Ilham Tohti - had been arrested in recent weeks ...
Uyghur Economist Freed, Warned
Chinese authorities release and warn a prominent Uyghur economist they accuse of inciting deadly riots in Urumqi. HONG KONG—A prominent Beijing-based economist and member of China’s Uyghur ethnic minority has been released without charge after he was detained for allegedly promoting separatism, but ...
Can China manipulate Western media?
"Propaganda" is a dirty word, associated with authoritarian regimes that have no respect for human rights and is relied on by such governments to influence popular opinion. In the West, the so-called "free press" has long relied on more innocuous - but equally dangerous - ways to distort or 'spin' ...
Uyghur Women Step Forward
Women take on a bigger role after deadly riots and hundreds of detentions in China's northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. HONG KONG—With authorities detaining hundreds of men belonging to the Uyghur minority group in China’s northwest, Uyghur women are moving increasingly to the forefront ...
Demolition of Kashgar’s Old City Draws Concerns Over Cultural Heritage Protection
Authorities in a city in western China have launched a demolition project that has undermined the preservation of a cornerstone of the Uyghur ethnic group's cultural heritage and will result in the resettlement of roughly half the city's population. Official Chinese media have described the project ...
Xinjiang Authorities Train, Seek to Regulate Muslim Women Religious Figures
The Chinese government strictly regulates religious practice in China, and controls over religion in the Muslim-majority western region of Xinjiang, where Uyghurs and other ethnic groups live, are especially tight. As this analysis shows, in recent months, some local governments in Xinjiang have ...
China’s Secretive Military Opens Up in Cyberspace
BEIJING — China’s military launched a long-promised strategic assault Thursday on its skeptics and detractors, a globe-spanning offensive powered not by arms, but entirely by charm. The weapon was the Defense Ministry’s new Web site, its sharp home page topped by a photograph of a winding Great ...