Picture of the Day: Regina Ip's Burberry Boycott

Pro-Beijing lawmaker Ip seems to look longingly at her scarves

 

The uproar over cotton from Xinjiang has dragged fashion labels into the fray. Fast fashion brand H&M immediately felt the wrath of China when it was completely wiped out of the Chinese internet sphere when it declared it would not use Xinjiang cotton.

Other companies are sending out mixed messages with Hugo Boss saying on its website it did not use cotton from China's northwestern province, but its Chinese office said it did.

Then celebrities were caught up in declaring their allegiances too, with Cantopop singer Eason Chan Yik-shun cutting his ties with Adidas, while others supported Xinjiang cotton, such as Joey Yung, singer Pakho Chau Pak-ho, actor Jordan Chan Siu-chun, and actress "Angelababy" Angel Yeung Wing.

Politicians got into the act of showing off their patriotism, with Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee taking the lead.

On Twitter she posted a picture of herself sitting on a couch and seemly looks longingly at her three Burberry scarves. The British fashion brand said it would not use Xinjiang cotton.

Ip's post said Burberry is one of her favourite brands: "I will stop buying or using Burberry products until Burberry has retracted or apologized for its unfounded allegations against Xinjiang."

Is that all Ip has in her wardrobe from Burberry? Three scarves?

Hardly seems like a boycott... 

Counting Coronavirus Cases

China tested 4.75 million people in Kashgar in two days

 

Did you know the Chinese government counts coronavirus cases differently from everyone else in the world? It does not follow the World Health Organization definition of a confirmed case as someone who tests positive.

Kashgar is now in lockdown with five cases?

Instead China will only count cases of those who show symptoms, not those who are asymptomatic or presymptomatic but test positive.

That is why the cases in Kashgar, Xinjiang are counted as five confirmed cases, but 178 without symptoms but are positive. As a result these 178 people are not counted as confirmed cases, though they will be included if they later show symptoms.

China only began releasing figures counting asymptomatic cases from April, but they were only counted as confirmed cases if they developed symptoms or their lung imaging was abnormal.

By late February, one-third of the positive cases were silent carriers or presymptomatic. But it is unclear how many asymptomatic cases China has had so far because accumulated figures were never released.

China counts cases differently from the WHO

It is the only country in the world to have a different definition of what a positive case is. Is it any wonder the numbers since late December are not correct and we may never know what they really are?

Chinese officials argued early in the pandemic that the number of true asymptomatic cases was small, and "there was no evidence" they could spread the disease.

But 10 months on this conclusion does not hold water. Data shows asymptomatic cases comprise a significant percentage of the total positive ones and these patients can spread Covid-19.

For example, the Korean Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported up to 40 percent of Covid-19 patients in South Korea were asymptomatic.

In the case of Kashgar, 4.75 million people were tested in two days. So if testing is so crucial, then the counting of positive asymptomatic cases is too and should be included in the total tally. Positive is positive whether they develop symptoms or not.

Xi says China will be more open to cooperation

Earlier today Chinese President Xi Jinping said the country will adopt a more open and inclusive strategy towards international scientific cooperation. He said this during the World Laureates Forum in Shanghai, an online forum attended by hundreds of scientists including dozens of Nobel Prize laureates.

"China is ready to work with top scientists around the world and international science and technology organizations to implement a more open, inclusive and mutually beneficial international scientific strategy," he said.

The country can start by being more honest with its numbers; if the number of confirmed cases is so low now, why are Chinese residents not allowed to fly directly to Beijing but instead quarantine in another city for 14 days first?

 

 

China's Verbal Joust with Canada

 Cong warns Canada about taking Hong Kong asylum seekers

 

The 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Canada and China was marked by a war of words sparked by Cong Peiwu, the Chinese ambassador to Canada.

He urged Canada not to accept people from Hong Kong who participated in last year's anti-government protests, describing them as "violent criminals". Cong also warned that accepting these people would jeopardize the "health and safety" of 300,000 Canadians who live in Hong Kong.

When asked by the media if this was a threat, Cong replied, "That is your interpretation."

How is that not a threat?

Over 9,000 people were arrested last year

Cong went on to say: "We strongly urge the Canadian side not to grant so-called political asylum to those violent criminals in Hong Kong, because it interferes in China's domestic affairs, and certainly it will embolden those violent criminals," he said.

This is strange logic -- wouldn't China be happy to see so-called "violent criminals" move to another country so Hong Kong will be "safer"?

In any event so far the number of actual convictions of protesters has a very low success rate in the courts, so his description of last year's participants as "violent criminals" is overblown.

Canada has accepted at least two activists from Hong Kong, granting them protection as early as September. There are apparently 45 people waiting for approval.

The Chinese envoy warned of further consequences if Canada accepted more Hong Kong asylum seekers.

"If the Canadian side really cares about the stability and the prosperity in Hong Kong, and really cares about the good health and safety of those 300,000 Canadian passport holders in Hong Kong and the large number of Canadian companies operating in Hong Kong... you should support those efforts to fight violent crimes," he said.

Champagne says Cong's words were "disturbing"

Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne later called Cong's statements inappropriate.

"The reported comments by the Chinese ambassador are totally unacceptable and disturbing," the minister said in a statement.

"I have instructed Global Affairs to call the Ambassador in to make clear in no uncertain terms that Canada will always stand up for human rights and the rights of Canadians around the world."

Interesting Champagne did not summon Cong for a dressing down, which would have made for good political theatre.

In any event, the ambassador also lashed out, saying China would have a "strong reaction" if Canada's Parliament were to pass any resolution that condemned China's treatment of Uyghurs as "genocide". 

Uyghurs in an "education training centre"

According to experts studying what is going on in Xinjiang, China's westernmost province, over 1 million Uyghurs have been forcibly living in detention camps since 2017, though the Chinese government has called them "vocational and education training centres". 

"We will take resolute measures to safeguard our sovereignty and national security," Cong said. He rejected widespread allegations that genocide is happening in Xinjiang, saying Uyghurs "live in harmony ... and [China's] human-rights record is the best in history."

His words are so amazingly false, when there are many testimonies from exiled Uyghurs who have given first-hand accounts of their experiences in these camps, as well as loved ones who haven't heard from their parents, brothers, sisters and other relatives for months or years. And when they finally emerge, they are a shadow of their former selves.

There are also statistics the birth rate in Xinjiang has plunged after academic Adrian Zenz published a report that found the number of sterilizations in the province surged from almost 250 per 100,000 people in 2018 from 50 per 100,000 in 2016. Zenz says this follows the United Nations' definition of genocide.

Michael Kovrig (left) and Michael Spavor

As for the detentions of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, Cong insisted there was no "coercive diplomacy on the Chinese side", even though the two were detained soon after Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was arrested on a US extradition request.

Canada is finally taking a firmer stand with China, but it really needs to have its ducks lined up in order to play hardball with Beijing. China has a lot of diplomatic tactics up its sleeve, and Ottawa needs to be ready to hit back.

Education Bureau's Witch Hunt

The teacher taught at Alliance Primary School in Kowloon Tong

 

The Hong Kong government continues its repression of anyone who actively participated in last year's protests, and in particular targeting teachers.

Today it was announced a Primary 5 teacher was struck off the register of teachers for his teaching materials that "seriously harmed" students at Alliance Primary School in Kowloon Tong.

He was the first teacher to be deregistered for professional misconduct, as teachers are typically struck off the register for criminal convictions.

Michelle Li says teacher advocated independence

In a press conference this afternoon, education officials claimed the teacher was spreading separatist messages and asked pupils if they agreed with Hong Kong independence.

Apparently the lesson plan involved 50 minutes discussing the Hong Kong National Party and the Societies Ordinance, under which the separatist group was banned in 2018 on national security grounds.

Then the students were told to spend 35 minutes discussing independence for Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang. 

However students only spent two out of 23 hours on the above lesson plan, which focused more in freedom of speech than advocating independence.

But officials pounced on this particular lesson for severe punishment.

"It is a very serious case with a premeditated plan to spread a pro-independence message," said Permanent Secretary for Education Michelle Li Mei-sheung, calling the scheme "biased and twisted".

Ip says bureau too quick to accuse teacher

However, education sector lawmaker Ip Kin-yuen says unlike other professionals, such as doctors and engineers, teachers were not given the right to an oral hearing before having their registration removed. The teacher was only able to give his side of the story in writing.

 What's more, Ip added, officials relied on written materials, including worksheets and a lesson plan, rather than receiving a full picture of what happened in the classroom.

"We have to observe the lessons," Ip said. "I think I am quite experienced in observing lessons, because I am a former College of Education lecturer, and I have been observing many, many lessons and we have to look at both the lesson plan and also the actual delivering of the lessons.

"So we cannot ignore the actual delivering and just look at the lesson plan. This is a major mistake they [the Education Bureau] have made this time."

Later the media found the school had conducted its own investigation and found the teacher was not advocating independence. What's more is that he only drafted the lesson plan and did not teach it. Not only was the teacher from the school stripped from registry, but also the principal and vice-principal were reprimanded, and three other teachers were given warning letters.

Yeung's children were educated in Australia

If the teaching material was as Li purports it to be, the Education Bureau has used this teacher as an example to scare the rest of his colleagues into submission. Was it an instruction from Beijing or proactively done to please its masters we may never know, but the witch hunt is here and will continue to "weed out" bad apples.

Meanwhile, it should be reminded that Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung Yun-hung's children were educated in an international school and later studied overseas in Australia...

 

 

Disney's US$200M Mistake

Mulan is out in theatres across China tomorrow... how will it do?

Disney's live-action remake Mulan is opening in theatres tomorrow in China, but there is so much controversy around the film that one wonders if the movie studio will ever make back the US$200 million it spent to make it.

Donnie Yen enthusiastically shaking Xi Jinping's hand

Already last year pro-democracy Hongkongers were determined to boycott the film after actress Liu Yifei, who plays Mulan, supported the police and their excessive force during the protests last summer on her Weibo account.

Protesters were also not impressed with actor Donnie Yen who has written social media posts praising Beijing, and there's a video clip of him shaking Chinese President Xi Jinping's hand and not wanting to let go...

But now after months of delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, Mulan is finally out, and the credits have rolled to reveal Disney thanked eight government entities in Xinjiang, including the public security bureau in Turpan, a city in eastern Xinjiang where several internment camps have been documented. Another credit went to the Chinese Communist Party's propaganda department in Xinjiang.

Detention camps were only 7km from where Disney filmed

At the time Disney filmed Mulan, probably around 2018, did studio executives know what was going on in the region where its Uighur residents are under severe repression and surveillance? Shawn Zhang, the graduate student who has studied satellite maps on Xinjiang to find the internment camps, says the film crew were a few only 7 kilometres from an internment camp.

Critics are also blasting the studio for kowtowing to the Chinese government.

Isaac Stone Fish is a senior fellow at the Asia Society, and in a column in the Washington Post he wrote: "It's sufficiently astonishing that it bears repeating. Disney has thanked four propaganda departments and a public security bureau in Xinjiang, a region in northwest China that is the site of one of the world's worst human rights abuses happening today."

Chinese dissident artist Badiucao, who lives in Australia satirizes the film by depicting Mulan as a guard in one of the internment camps in Xinjiang.

Badiucao's satirical take on Mulan in Xinjiang

"It's very problematic and there's no excuse. I mean, it's clear, we have all the evidence showing what is going on in Xinjiang," he said.

Badiucao also accused Disney of "double standards", embracing western social justice movements such as MeToo and Black Lives Matter, while turning a blind eye to China's rights abuses.

However it's not just Disney to blame for bending to Beijing. In the upcoming Tom Cruise film Top Gun: Maverick, the Taiwanese flag that was on his bomber jacket in the original movie has been digitally erased, and the storyline in the 2013 film World War Z removed China as the source of a zombie virus.

And it's not just Hongkongers who are boycotting the film, but also activists in Taiwan and Thailand.

So any bets on how well Mulan will do?

If anything this fiasco sheds more light on the horrific plight of Uighurs to the rest of the world, at Disney's expense, at the tune of US$200 million.

Government's Mixed Messages on Coronavirus Battle

Lam clarifies 290,000 are trips into Hong Kong, not people

In a rare admission, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor actually apologized about the trouble caused to those who were forced to eat outside due to the dining-in ban that was implemented on July 29 and then abruptly U-turned two days later.

"I admit we haven't balanced well in considering public health tolerance of the business sectors and pubic needs," Lam said in a radio program this morning. "That led to the scenes that happened on July 29, the first day [the ban] came into effect. We are very sorry about that."

She said the government decided to change the restriction the day after after realizing the problem and how it affected the grass roots community, such as construction workers.

But how will the reversal in the decision help keep the virus numbers down?

Many were forced to eat meals outside for 2 days

Also interesting to note how defensive she was on Friday evening about the number of 290,000 that we all had assumed to the point to be the number of people who were exempted from quarantine.

Lam explained that actually it was 290,000 trips into Hong Kong. She claimed for example a truck driver would come in and out of Hong Kong several times a day, which would contribute to the 290,000 number.

Is this true? Someone needs to fact check this.

Nevertheless, Lam's apology to the grass roots wasn't enough to keep the number of new coronavirus cases down, with 125 reported today for a total of 3,396, and four deaths to a total of 31.

Today Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection's communicable disease branch advised people not to gather with loved ones for the time being.

"We also observed some extended family clusters, for example, the grandparents, children or the aunties, because they have had some family gatherings during weekends as usual," she said.

"So we think we may have to stop this practice for one or two weeks, to maintain the social distancing... especially if we want to protect the elderly."

Dr Chuang says family gatherings need to stop

How about telling that to others having house parties, birthday parties and the like? Many think these restrictions don't pertain to them, but fighting the virus is a city-wide effort. We can't let our guard down now especially during this third wave.

Apparently Lam has asked Beijing for help in conducting mass coronavirus testing, and 60 clinical technicians will come here, with seven arriving tomorrow.

When she was asked for more details, CHP's Chuang had no more information, as she herself had read it in the media! A reporter asked if these technicians would be quarantined for two weeks before beginning their work, and again Chuang could not answer.

Some people are concerned these technicians here are actually going to collect people's DNA, much like what is being done on Uighurs in Xinjiang.

Lam leaves a radio station after her interview

It's a terrifying thought and the media will be watching this closely.

Meanwhile, Lam continues her repression of Hong Kong's next generation. In a radio interview, she said many young people have got it wrong when they think being anti-government or anti-Beijing is a way out. She warned if they step across the bottom line of "One Country, Two Systems", their future will be doomed.

How encouraging.

As for the six activists who fled Hong Kong and are now on the Hong Kong Police's wanted list, their threats might be empty ones -- for now.

Lawyer Michael Vidler, who specializes in criminal and human rights cases said that just being on a wanted list in Hong Kong doesn't mean much unless that person in question is in the city, but if they've been put on an Interpol wanted list, then "that is a different matter", because that will affect their possibility of traveling elsewhere.

Vidler says wanted list on Interpol more serious

"Firstly, if they've already been granted asylum, and they've got refugee status in wherever they are, then they won't be returned to Hong Kong," said Vidler.

"If they're in a location where there is an existing extradition treaty, then the local courts will have to determine whether it is appropriate under the existing terms of the extradition treaty for those individuals to be returned."

And since some countries like the UK, Australia and Canada have suspended extradition treaties with Hong Kong, then these individuals would not be returned to Hong Kong anytime soon.

The Calm Before the Storm

The last hours before the national security law is enacted

There is a sense of uneasiness in the air... the reality that the national security law is coming down on Tuesday and there isn't much we can do about it without the threat of being arrested hanging over our heads.

The heavy-handed nature of how secretively and quickly this law has come about, encompassing any possible scenario shows the Party's determination of not messing about anymore, let alone depending on pro-establishment elites to get the job done.

The fact that even Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and Justice Secretary Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah don't even know the details of the legislation speaks volumes about the role of the Hong Kong government with regards to governing the city; they are just minions on a need-to-know basis.

Meanwhile the everyone else is hatching their plans. On the weekend my relatives bought a flat in Manchester, a place they have never visited before. They said there were a lot of people in the office in Jordan, snapping up whatever unit they could get their hands on.

Jimmy Lai says he is not fleeing Hong Kong

The flats, part of a new development, are being built and expected to be completed in early next year. While buying property doesn't secure citizenship, it is at least a place they can go to if they wish.

Some expatriate families are leaving, seeing the city in disarray and feeling that this is not a good place to raise children. It's understandable if you don't consider Hong Kong your home, but many of us do.

Apparently Chinese dissident Wang Dan has warned Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and Demosisto's Joshua Wong Chi-fung that the the Communists would get them first. Lai and Wong have stated separately on Twitter they are not going anywhere.

Talk about martyrdom.

Previously at the gym some middle-aged members were gleeful about the incoming legislation, that it would finally stop the protests; today there was not a mention of it. Perhaps they now see the implications of implementing such a law on Hong Kong, that it also applies to them?

Some people are sadly counting down the days until "freedom" is gone, others are defiant and won't let the law defeat them.

It's such a strange time to be here now, with a lot of uncertainty, all of us literally in the same boat.

Xinjiang women subjected to birth control

Hong Kong will now be divided into pre-national security law (pre-NSL) and post-NSL.

Heightening the stress levels today is the publication of a story that proves further repression in Xinjiang. Families with many children are punished, while women are forced to take birth control pills,  have IUDs inserted, or if they are pregnant to have abortions, all against their will. Some women have ended up sterile.

Previously the Chinese policy was that Han Chinese could only have one child, whereas ethnic minorities could have more than one. Now the government has twisted it to punish Muslims in Xinjiang for having more than one child, saying it is unfair for Han Chinese to have less children.

As a result the population of Muslims in Xinjiang has plunged significantly in recent years, in a bid to "control" them and possibly dilute them with more Chinese in the region.

Is this what will happen to Hong Kong?

Tonight's stunning sunset colours

This evening, there was the most amazing sunset. The colours were reflected on the clouds and the sky had a soft pink glow like a Monet painting that gave way to the dark blue night.

I had never understood what the phrase "achingly beautiful" meant until watching that sunset.

Sunsets are simple pleasures, but mean so much more when things are about to change forever.

Tsai's Re-election Poses Challenge to Beijing

Tsai's winning smile after solidifying her re-election for the next four years

As expected, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen was relected by a huge margin with over 8 million votes, while her challenger, Han Kuo-yu the Kuomintang Kaohsiung mayor only mustered 3 million ballots.

"I also hope that the Beijing authorities understand that democratic Taiwan, and our democratically elected government, will not concede to threats and intimidation," Tsai said. She added cross-strait relations should be based in "peace, equality, democracy and dialogue".

Han ran on platform of closer times to China for prosperity

This was not the result Beijing was expecting -- it had pinned its hopes on Han, but the seeing how the Hong Kong protests were handled and the reports on how Uighurs are treated in Xinjiang resulted in a big blow for the motherland hoping to move one step closer towards reunification.

While Xinhua only reported on the result of the elections, Beijing quickly spun the result as seeing Tsai's win as a setback and not a crisis. Therefore Beijing will continue to put pressure on Taiwan, but at the same time will adopt a wait-it-out strategy.

Although China has banned mainland tourists from visiting Taiwan as individual travelers and must join a tour group instead, the election results show the Taiwanese don't seem to mind how this has had a knock-on effect on their economy. In fact the island has had its lowest unemployment in decades and has strong export growth.

The election was a referendum on for or against China

The election was basically a referendum on if people were anti- or pro-China. The former won by a landslide.

So let's see... Hong Kong's district council elections were predominantly yellow and now Taiwan's is a strong green for the Democratic Progressive Party, how does Beijing plan to turn both of them red at this rate?

Ilham Tohti's Award for Humanism

Academic Ilham Tohti was awarded the EU Parliament's top human rights prize

Ilham Tohti, a respected Uighur academic, economist and writer who has been jailed for life since 2014, has been awarded the Sakharov Prize, the European Parliament's top human rights prize.

We wrote about his being charged for separatism and at the time were shocked by this -- he is considered a moderate voice and urged the Chinese government to invest in minority populations, to promote more Uighur cadres to positions of real responsibility, and establish a framework of legal protections for ethnic autonomy.  Instead the Chinese authorities deemed him to be a "separatist" and sentenced to life in prison.

EU Parliament President David Sassoli

The EU Parliament said Tohti, who was a former professor at Minzu University, was awarded the Sakharov Prize for his attempts to "foster dialogue" between Chinese people and Uighurs. "The parliament calls on the Chinese authorities to release him immediately," EU Parliament President David Sassoli said.

"By awarding this prize, we strongly urge the Chinese government to release Tohti and we call for the respect of minority rights in China," Sassoli said.

The Sakharov Prize for free speech is awarded annually by the EU Parliament in memory of Soviet physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov. The award was created in 1988 and awarded to "those who carry the spirit of dissident Andrei Sakharov", who dedicate their lives to the peaceful struggle for human rights.

Andrei Sakharov won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975

It is hard to find out how Tohti is doing. According to liberal EU legislator Phil Bennion, the Uighur academic has been in solitary confinement for years and hasn't seen his family since 2017. Bennison hopes Beijing will allow a delegation of EU legislators to visit him in prison to tell him the news of the award. However, it seems highly unlikely.

Last month Tohti was also awarded the Vaclav Havel Human Rights prize by the Council of Europe, which is not an EU institution, but acts as Europe's human rights watchdog.

The Andrei Sakharov prize will be presented in Strasbourg, France on December 18.

Perhaps his daughter, Jewher Ilham, who is now living in the United States, will accept the award on her father's behalf.

She says the award recognizes the "suffering that Uighurs have gone through.

Tohti's daughter, Jewher Ilham who lives in the US

"Everyday I wake up worrying about my family members in China, and of course, I'm afraid. When my dad first started speaking up for the Uighurs, he knew he could end up in prison. But he decided to take on this fight and continue on for other people's sake."

Sadly, Tohti's imprisonment was a foreshadowing of what was to come. In 2017 China began building "schools" in Xinjiang for Uighurs to undergo "reeducation". Academics have estimated at least 1 million people have been held in these camps where Uighurs are forced to undergo indoctrination programs, like studying Chinese propaganda and learning about Xi Jinping thought.

When will this horrific nightmare end for Uighurs? When will Tohti be free?

The world must continue to press for Tohti to be released, as well as his fellow compatriots who are stuck behind the walls of these camps. The Vaclav Havel Human Rights prize and now the Andrei Sakharov Prize are highlighting Tohti's plight and the need to push China to stop this inhumane treatment of its own people.

Marching Into Kowloon

Organizers were expecting 2,000 people -- 230,000 showed up this afternoon

This afternoon some 230,000 people flooded Salisbury Road in Tsim Sha Tsui to march all the way to the Hong Kong West Kowloon Station in the hopes of explaining to the mainlanders shopping in the area what local residents are fighting for.

The march was supposed to start at 4pm, but the authorities let them go at 3.30pm because there were too many people. They marched down Nathan Road and were orderly, "peaceful and graceful", as organizer and localist Ventus Lau Wing-hong had hoped.

Ventus Lau hoped the march would be "peaceful and graceful"

"I believe the residents who came out today want to tell the government that they are united and won't be split," he said.

In the march, the first one regarding the anti-extradition bill held in Kowloon, were people of all ages wearing mostly black, some holding yellow umbrellas.

By 4.15pm, the front of the procession had reached West Kowloon, and Lau encouraged people to leave the station. However, as of 10pm there is a second march going down Nathan Road, with protesters taking up all six lanes of the busy road, and on the way to Mongkok.

Some marchers spoke in Mandarin to bewildered mainland tourists in the area. They had no idea what was going on and some filmed the event or took pictures. Tourists interviewed by the media said they had just come to Hong Kong to do some shopping for luxury items and said everyone was entitled to their views, though they didn't know what this particular protest was for.

Marchers took over the entire six lanes of Nathan Road

"I think Hong Kong has freedom of speech. They should stand up to defend their vital interests. It's different from the mainland. We can't protest in mainland China," a man in his 30s said with a chuckle.

Are we allowed to know what happened? Or should we know? Know what? I have the right to love my country and they want to speak out. Don't make everything so politicized. Why not care more about other things? Such as adolescent problems, hunger problems, and environment issues. Why don't you care about these more important things," asked another man.

Sounds like the protest was an eye-opener

Also in the march the plight of Uighurs in Xinjiang were highlighted, where over 1 million of them are being held in detention camps and the BBC reported on Friday that children are being separated from their parents.

One marcher had a sign of Ilham Tohti, on the Uighur issue

One marcher held up a sign with academic Ilham Tohti's picture with the words: "He criticized China's ethnic policy/ He promoted ethnic reconciliation/ He was accused of splitting the nation and sentenced to life in prison".

Meanwhile Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and her administration are trying to appeal to young people by posting messages on their blogs.

She, Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, Secretary of Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po, and Secretary of Labour and Welfare, Law Chi-kwong appealed to Hongkongers that the administration's governing style had changed and pledged to listen more to society.

But society isn't going to find their blogs -- blogs are pretty much a one-way street. How is that effective dialogue with kids who have moved onto encrypted instant messaging and effective hand signals?

The kids are way ahead of you, Carrie. Back to the drawing board...

A Year Marking Lots of Anniversaries

Students gathering to mourn reformer Hu Yaobang's death in 1989

 This year, 2019, is full of anniversaries for China, many of them are ones the government would like to avoid. That means spiriting away dissidents on "forced trips" and cleaning streets to get rid of homeless people, and those lovely security checks in subway stations will be stepped up even more.

The Dalai Lama fled to India 60 years ago

Coming up on March 10 is the 60th anniversary of the failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet. Since this month, the government has banned foreign visitors from traveling to Tibet so that they don't even have a chance to cause trouble during this "sensitive time"; they may be allowed back in from April 1.

March 17 is also the 60th anniversary of when the Dalai Lama fled Tibet for India. Will His Holiness come out to say something about what a travesty it is to be exiled from his homeland for six decades?

This year is the 100th anniversary of the May 4 Movement

Then April 15 will be another sensitive anniversary -- 30 years since the death of ousted reformer Hu Yaobang, that sparked students to gather at Tiananmen Square, and then we all know what happened less than two months later.

However, the government will be happy to mark the May 4 Movement -- the 100th anniversary. There will probably be pomp and circumstance to celebrate this event where students led the call for anti-imperialism because at the time China could not or did not stand up to foreign powers. It led to the surge of nationalism and to the founding of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921.

Sad remembrance: It is three decades since June 4, 1989

Hard to believe the June 4 anniversary is 30 years on... the candlelight vigil in Hong Kong's Victoria Park will probably be the same, but the significance is greater. The Chinese government doesn't even want to talk about what happened during the Cultural Revolution, so how can it even begin to touch the subject of 1989? The silence is deafening.

Ten years ago I was in Xian when the Urumqi riots broke out. Suddenly state media turned into overdrive, writing tons of articles of how the Han Chinese in Xinjiang were attacked, how horrible it was, and how those attackers should be punished severely. It was a very tense time. Given the current situation in Xinjiang, the Chinese government may use the anniversary as further justification for putting Uighurs into "education camps"...

Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the PRC 70 years ago

But to cap the year off will be the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1. There will definitely be a lot of fanfare (and cleaning the streets) for that celebration. The government will probably spare no expense to have a stunning fireworks display while enforcing lots of road blocks and security checks...

There won't be a dull moment in China this year!

US Brings Attention to Uyghurs

Academic Ilham Tohti said tensions needed to be reduced in Xinjiang

In a bipartisan effort not often seen these days in the US Senate, 13 lawmakers have signed a letter of nomination this year of Uyghur academic Ilham Tohti to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in Oslo, Norway.

They hope this will put pressure on China to stop its crackdown of the minority group.

Tohti, an ethnic Uyghur economist, writer and professor at Minzu University in Beijing, has been serving a life sentence since 2014 on separatism-related charges.

However, he was vocal about the need to reduce tensions in Xinjiang, and asked Beijing to abide by the region's existing laws, reduce economic discrimination, and establish a legal system.

Tohti was sentenced to life in prison in 2014

"This nomination could not be more timely as the Chinese government and Communist Party continue to perpetrate gross human rights violations with over a million Uyghurs and other ethnic minority Muslims detained in 'political re-education' camps," said Republic Senator Marco Rubio of Florida.

It is believed more than a million Uyghurs are being held in extrajudicial internment camps in Xinjiang, a crackdown that started in 2017, that the government claims is an anti-terrorist measure. The authorities later claimed these camps help the ethnic minority to learn better job skills to make them more employable.

Two weeks ago, representatives Christopher Smith and Thomas Suozzi introduced a bill called the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, that empowers the State Department, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies to hold accountable Chinese officials who intimidate Uyghurs overseas.

"It's encouraging to see that the issue is attracting more interest," said Sean Roberts, director of the International Development Studies Program at George Washington University.

Tohti was recently nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize

"For Congress, this could be a particular opportunity to highlight what's happening inside Xinjiang right now. It could also be used to apply pressure on China to respond why this person [Tohti], who certainly is anything but a separatist, was given a very extreme sentence."

If Tohti does win the Nobel Peace Prize, it would draw attention to his imprisonment and pressure on China to release him.

However, we can probably guess China's reaction with the fate of previous 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo who died in 2017 on medical parole.

We don't even know how Tohti is doing...

Eradicating a "Mental Illness"

Uighurs coming out of Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar, Xinjiang

 The Chinese government is spinning the incarceration of Uighurs in detention centres in Xinjiang,  saying their belief in Islam needs to be treated as a mental illness. As a result they need to be treated multiple times, not just once, and for months at a time.

That's the latest report from The Atlantic, that also says some one million people are being sent to these "reeducation camps" where they are forced to sing propaganda songs and learn Mandarin, and some media reports have even talked about forcing these ethnic minority Muslims to eat pork and drink alcohol.

While the authorities describe the camps are "schools", they are also being described as "hospitals".

Women waking down the street in Kashgar

In a WeChat message to Uighurs, an excerpt of an official Communist Party audio recording says:

Members of the public who have been chosen for reeducation have been infected by an ideological illness. They have been infected with religious extremism and violent terrorist ideology, and therefore they must seek treatment from a hospital as an inpatient... The religious extremist ideology is a type of poisonous medicine, which confuses the mind of the people... If we do not eradicate religious extremism at its roots, the violent terrorist incidents will grow and spread all over like an incurable malignant tumour.

Sounds serious doesn't it? Except the message is making assumptions about people's devotion to their religion.

By calling religious extremism an "ideological illness", it gives the government (in its mind) the moral authority to lock people up for months at a time, and as many as it warrants is necessary.

Police officers have confirmed to Radio Free Asia that they have been ordered to meet specific population quotas in rounding up people for these camps. In one township, 40 percent of the local population was locked up.

"It's being treated as a mental illness that's never guaranteed to be completely cured, like addiction or depression," says Timothy Grose, a China expert at the Rose Hulman Institute of Technology. "There's something mentally wrong that needs to be diagnosed, treated -- and followed up with."

The above mentioned recording from the Communist Party justifies the need for continual treatment:

There is always a risk that the illness will manifest itself at any moment, which would cause serious harm to the public. that is why they must be admitted to a reeducation hospital in time to treat and cleanse the virus from their brain and restore their normal mind... Being infected by religious extremism and violent terrorist ideology and not seeking treatment is like being infected by a disease that has not been treated in time, or like taking toxic drugs... There is no guarantee that it will not trigger and affect you in the future.

There are intimidating police patrols around Xinjiang

Having gone through reeducation and recovered form the ideological disease doesn't mean that one is permanently cured... So, after completing the reeducation process in the hospital and returning home... they must remain vigilant, empower themselves with the correct knowledge, strengthen their ideological studies, and actively attend various public activities to bolster their immune system.

Adrian Zenz, a researcher at the European School of Culture and Theology in Germany equates what is going on in Xinjiang with how the government dealt with Falun Gong practitioners in the early 2000s by reeducating them in labour camps.

"Falun Gong was also treated like a dangerous addiction... But in Xinjiang this [rhetoric] is certainly being pushed to the next level," he says. "The explicit link with the addictive effect of religion is being emphasized possibly in an unprecedented way."

US-based Uighur academic from Xinjiang Tahir Imin isn't surprised by the government equating Islam with mental illness. He believes this is the authorities' way of eradicating ethnic Muslim minorities and forcing them to assimilate with the Han Chinese.

In the end this is the government's way of dealing with extremists -- by eradicating what it thinks is religious extremism through extreme power.

China on the Defensive on Xinjiang

China claims people's rights and freedoms in Xinjiang are respected...

The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Geneva put some tough questions to the Chinese delegation led by Hu Lianhe of China's United Front Work Department.

As expected, his written statement were answers with Chinese characteristics.

He started off by saying: "The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region always respects and guarantees the human rights of people of all ethnic groups, and protects the freedoms and rights of citizens of all ethnic groups in accordance with the law and on an equal footing."

An excerpt from Hu Lianhe's statement to the UN

Has Hu ever been to Xinjiang, more specifically Kashgar, the westernmost city in China?

OK never mind.

He goes on to say: "People of all ethnic groups live and work in peace and contentment, and their freedom of religious belief are fully guaranteed. There is no arbitrary detention or lack of freedom of religious belief. The view that Xinjiang is a 'no rights zone' is completely against the fact."

Again, he is counting on the fact that the vast majority of people on the planet have never been to Xinjiang.

"There are no such things as 're-education centers' or 'counter-terrorism training centers' in Xinjiang," Hu continues in his lengthy statement. He points out it is China who is the victim of terrorism and so to safeguard residents, Xinjiang has executed a number of "special campaigns to crack down on violent terrorist activities according to the law" and imprisoned a number of criminals accused of terrorism.

He says those who have committed minor offenses are sent to "vocational education and employment training centers to acquire employment skills and legal knowledge, with a view to assisting in their rehabilitation and reintegration".

Security is tight all over Xinjiang, with numerous checkpoints

Singing patriotic songs and denouncing Islam are considered vocational training?

Hu also denied the UN estimate that 1 million Muslims of various ethnicities, including Uighurs and Kazakhs were being held in these centres.

Meanwhile the tabloid Global Times published editorials in English and Chinese, saying increased security was necessary to avoid the region from becoming another Syria, adding criticism of the rights record in Xinjiang was aimed at stirring trouble there and destroying hard-earned stability.

"The turnaround in Xinjiang's security situation has avoided a great tragedy and saved countless lives, thanks to powerful Chinese law and the strong ruling power of the Communist Party of China," the paper wrote.

China says it is a victim of terrorism, hence the security

"There is no doubt that the current peace and stability in Xinjiang is partly due to the high intensity of regulations. Police and security posts can be seen everywhere in Xinjiang."

Xinjiang has, "no room for destructive Western public opinions" that have destroyed numerous countries and regions," the Global Times said. "When the same evil influence was spreading in Xinjiang, it was decisively curbed."

Hu's response is classic CPC. Perhaps he will be promoted for standing up to those "western devils".

But the most important thing is the spotlight is shining on this area in China that has up until recently gone without much attention for years. 

However, will this make things worse for Uighurs in China? We can only hope not...