Hotznplotzn

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/52949972

China imposed sanctions on Monday on Japanese lawmaker Keiji Furuya, a close ​aide of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, due to his "collusion with ‌Taiwan independence" forces, in its latest move in a diplomatic row over Taiwan.

Beijing will bar Furuya's entry into China and freeze his property and other assets in the country effective ​immediately, China's foreign ministry said.

[...]

Furuya, as the head of a cross-party Japan-Taiwan ​lawmakers group, has visited Taiwan many times accompanying Japanese political ⁠leaders, most recently earlier this month to meet its President Lai Ching-te ​in Taipei.

The Chinese ministry accused Furuya of colluding with "separatist forces" in Taiwan, ​as he made trips to the island "in defiance of China’s strong opposition".

[...]

Furuya said visiting Taiwan is a natural function of the parliamentary group he leads, ​adding he had not ​visited mainland ⁠China in decades and had no assets there, according to Kyodo.

Furuya has also been a close aide of Japanese ​Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, supporting her election as the ​ruling Liberal ⁠Democratic Party leader last year.

Ties between Tokyo and Beijing have deteriorated since Takaichi suggested last November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger ⁠a ​Japanese military response.

Earlier last year, Beijing also sanctioned China-born ​Japanese lawmaker Seki Hei for his remarks on issues including Taiwan.

China imposed sanctions on Monday on Japanese lawmaker Keiji Furuya, a close ​aide of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, due to his "collusion with ‌Taiwan independence" forces, in its latest move in a diplomatic row over Taiwan.

Beijing will bar Furuya's entry into China and freeze his property and other assets in the country effective ​immediately, China's foreign ministry said.

[...]

Furuya, as the head of a cross-party Japan-Taiwan ​lawmakers group, has visited Taiwan many times accompanying Japanese political ⁠leaders, most recently earlier this month to meet its President Lai Ching-te ​in Taipei.

The Chinese ministry accused Furuya of colluding with "separatist forces" in Taiwan, ​as he made trips to the island "in defiance of China’s strong opposition".

[...]

Furuya said visiting Taiwan is a natural function of the parliamentary group he leads, ​adding he had not ​visited mainland ⁠China in decades and had no assets there, according to Kyodo.

Furuya has also been a close aide of Japanese ​Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, supporting her election as the ​ruling Liberal ⁠Democratic Party leader last year.

Ties between Tokyo and Beijing have deteriorated since Takaichi suggested last November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger ⁠a ​Japanese military response.

Earlier last year, Beijing also sanctioned China-born ​Japanese lawmaker Seki Hei for his remarks on issues including Taiwan.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/52948584

Archived

[...]

In 2023, Lyndon Li, an activist with political connections, was followed by a Chinese man to his London church. The man had previously befriended Hong Kong activists and collected personal information on some of them. In a pub in the capital, Li says the man, who was called Harrison Chan, offered him money to infiltrate the Conservative party.

“He said China will be the future,” Li recalled. “Britain will fall.”

[...]

Since 2020, China has ramped up a campaign of intimidation, infiltration, harassment and violence against free speech activists operating in the UK. China experts warned that the programme is a part of a global project to stamp out dissent. “It’s widespread,” Laura Harth, the China director at human rights NGO Safeguard Defenders, said. “The aim is to try and control the entire overseas Chinese community.”

[...]

More than a dozen UK-based dissidents [...] say they have been the victims of so-called transnational repression. They include a former elected politician, an exiled lawmaker, several student activists and journalists, a trade union organiser, a policy researcher, two artists, a musician and a young asylum seeker rebuilding his life.

Almost all the dissidents said they believed that repression in the UK has increased sharply in the last few years.

“If you said to the Hong Kong community 10 years ago: ‘Are you being repressed?’, the answer would have been no,” said Labour MP Alex Sobel, the joint author of a cross-party report on transnational repression. “That is completely different now.”

[...]

Hong Kong claims its economic and trade offices promote commerce but dissidents believe the Communist party also uses them as a base to track dissidents. In addition to its outpost in London, Hong Kong maintains HKETOs in New York City, San Francisco and Washington DC.

Anna Kwok, of the Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council, warned that Beijing can use these diplomatic outposts to carry out transnational repression in the US. In 2024 a bipartisan bill passed giving the president authority to shut the HKETOs down.

[...]

Many activists who fled to the UK have continued to criticise China’s communist leadership, leaving them open to ongoing targeting. A recent parliamentary report, co-written by Sobel, concluded that China runs “the most comprehensive transnational repression campaign of any foreign state operating in the UK”.

Hong Kong Watch, a UK NGO, shared a survey of 1,000 Hong Kongers exclusively with The Observer. The survey found that almost one-fifth had experienced some form of transnational repression, such as being photographed at protests or seeing sensitive information about them published online.

“China doesn’t need to [assassinate people],” Laura Harth said. “That activity creates international backlash, and the cost is much higher. You can achieve your objectives by grey-zone tactics that evade the scrutiny of local authorities.”

[...]

Finn Lau, the activist who was beaten up, said there were “more and more concerns that the Hong Kong community could be sacrificed in exchange for economic benefits”.

The government has said that its policy on China is to “cooperate where we can, compete where we need to and challenge where we must”. It has said intelligence agencies had concluded that threats stemming from the planned embassy were being “appropriately managed”.

[...]

Chloe Cheung, the young Hong Kong activist, was followed by two men who appeared to be of Chinese origin as she left a 2024 [protest] event in London. She reported the incident to the Met but received no response. On Christmas Eve 2024, Cheung, who had just finished her A-levels, had a bounty placed on her head by Chinese authorities: a £94,000 reward for anyone who could assist in her arrest and capture.

[...]

Another female dissident was offered a fake doorbell camera after her family was sent letters threatening that she would be raped if she didn’t stop her advocacy work.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/52948969

Over the past decade, China has significantly expanded its influence in the Caribbean, including within the media sectors of Grenada, Jamaica and Guyana. Journalists in these countries report being invited on Chinese government-funded trips presented as training programs, while local newsrooms face pressure to publish ready-made opinion pieces and articles produced by Chinese authorities without editorial oversight.

Archived

[...]

“Our passports were taken by the handlers as soon as we arrived, and they made it clear they didn’t want us reporting on anything we saw during the trip. I think they knew that once we were back home, they wouldn’t be able to control the narrative,” one journalist [said]. He was one of several Jamaican reporters who accepted a free trip to Beijing paid for by the Chinese government in 2018. “I believe it was a great opportunity to take, since China is such a significant part of the Jamaican economy, " he said.” He described the experience as “beautiful,” but acknowledged that it also gave him insight into China’s “significant restrictions in the media.”

The strict limitations placed on the visiting journalists gave them a small taste of the repression their Chinese counterparts face every day. The state subjects media workers to harassment, pressure, and mistreatment and the only newsrooms permitted to operate are those working under the close supervision of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), disseminating its propaganda.

[...]

In a white paper published in 2016, the Chinese government outlined its policy on media and press freedom in the Caribbean, which included facilitating “the signing of bilateral agreements” on radio, film and television, “encouraging exchanges” and the “co-production” of press-related programmes and festivals in both countries, and strengthening media technologies in the region. The document also placed particular emphasis on supporting “the exchange of resident journalists,” joint interviews, and staff training sessions. Seven years later, another white paper published in 2023 that reflected back on a decade of the Belt and Road Initiative, noted that “media and think tank cooperation has yielded fruitful results.”

[...]

One journalist from Grenada — who, like all the journalists interviewed in this article, remains anonymous to protect their privacy — told RSF that they had been invited to visit China several times but had refused out of personal conviction. Such resistance appears unusual. The same journalist believes “probably 90 or 95 percent of all working journalists [in Grenada] have now visited China.” The Chinese government may be taking advantage of a lack of educational opportunities for young journalists. “In Grenada, many people who enter this profession come straight out of secondary school, with no experience, no knowledge, no theoretical training in international relations, etc.” Another factor is likely the low pay and lack of professional and economic opportunities that have long plagued the island’s journalism industry. Free travel and training may simply be too attractive to pass up.

[...]

The Chinese government is also exporting its own media to the region. Guyana’s government was criticised in 2013 for granting spectrum licenses to the Chinese state media China Central Television (CCTV). “I sincerely believe that this is another type of war in global politics, but they are trying to change perceptions of the Chinese political system and ideology,” a Guyanese journalist said. "It starts with how the media presents their policies and ideology to their own people” Despite all this, the journalist says they would not rule out visiting China if given the opportunity.

[...]

Representatives from Chinese embassies have published numerous opinion pieces in Caribbean media. These embassies have also organised seminars on the media, which have been reported on by local outlets, demonstrating the value of the Chinese government at the local level. Government officials even try to impose their content on journalists.

“[The Chinese government] wants you to publish the articles it writes itself,” concluded the journalist. “So when it sends them to you, it simply wants them to be published word for word, without you using them as a source of information, nothing else.”

[...]

China ranks 178th out of 180 countries in the RSF 2025 World Press Freedom Index, placing it third to last.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/52948584

Archived

[...]

In 2023, Lyndon Li, an activist with political connections, was followed by a Chinese man to his London church. The man had previously befriended Hong Kong activists and collected personal information on some of them. In a pub in the capital, Li says the man, who was called Harrison Chan, offered him money to infiltrate the Conservative party.

“He said China will be the future,” Li recalled. “Britain will fall.”

[...]

Since 2020, China has ramped up a campaign of intimidation, infiltration, harassment and violence against free speech activists operating in the UK. China experts warned that the programme is a part of a global project to stamp out dissent. “It’s widespread,” Laura Harth, the China director at human rights NGO Safeguard Defenders, said. “The aim is to try and control the entire overseas Chinese community.”

[...]

More than a dozen UK-based dissidents [...] say they have been the victims of so-called transnational repression. They include a former elected politician, an exiled lawmaker, several student activists and journalists, a trade union organiser, a policy researcher, two artists, a musician and a young asylum seeker rebuilding his life.

Almost all the dissidents said they believed that repression in the UK has increased sharply in the last few years.

“If you said to the Hong Kong community 10 years ago: ‘Are you being repressed?’, the answer would have been no,” said Labour MP Alex Sobel, the joint author of a cross-party report on transnational repression. “That is completely different now.”

[...]

Hong Kong claims its economic and trade offices promote commerce but dissidents believe the Communist party also uses them as a base to track dissidents. In addition to its outpost in London, Hong Kong maintains HKETOs in New York City, San Francisco and Washington DC.

Anna Kwok, of the Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council, warned that Beijing can use these diplomatic outposts to carry out transnational repression in the US. In 2024 a bipartisan bill passed giving the president authority to shut the HKETOs down.

[...]

Many activists who fled to the UK have continued to criticise China’s communist leadership, leaving them open to ongoing targeting. A recent parliamentary report, co-written by Sobel, concluded that China runs “the most comprehensive transnational repression campaign of any foreign state operating in the UK”.

Hong Kong Watch, a UK NGO, shared a survey of 1,000 Hong Kongers exclusively with The Observer. The survey found that almost one-fifth had experienced some form of transnational repression, such as being photographed at protests or seeing sensitive information about them published online.

“China doesn’t need to [assassinate people],” Laura Harth said. “That activity creates international backlash, and the cost is much higher. You can achieve your objectives by grey-zone tactics that evade the scrutiny of local authorities.”

[...]

Finn Lau, the activist who was beaten up, said there were “more and more concerns that the Hong Kong community could be sacrificed in exchange for economic benefits”.

The government has said that its policy on China is to “cooperate where we can, compete where we need to and challenge where we must”. It has said intelligence agencies had concluded that threats stemming from the planned embassy were being “appropriately managed”.

[...]

Chloe Cheung, the young Hong Kong activist, was followed by two men who appeared to be of Chinese origin as she left a 2024 [protest] event in London. She reported the incident to the Met but received no response. On Christmas Eve 2024, Cheung, who had just finished her A-levels, had a bounty placed on her head by Chinese authorities: a £94,000 reward for anyone who could assist in her arrest and capture.

[...]

Another female dissident was offered a fake doorbell camera after her family was sent letters threatening that she would be raped if she didn’t stop her advocacy work.

[...]

Over the past decade, China has significantly expanded its influence in the Caribbean, including within the media sectors of Grenada, Jamaica and Guyana. Journalists in these countries report being invited on Chinese government-funded trips presented as training programs, while local newsrooms face pressure to publish ready-made opinion pieces and articles produced by Chinese authorities without editorial oversight.

Archived

[...]

“Our passports were taken by the handlers as soon as we arrived, and they made it clear they didn’t want us reporting on anything we saw during the trip. I think they knew that once we were back home, they wouldn’t be able to control the narrative,” one journalist [said]. He was one of several Jamaican reporters who accepted a free trip to Beijing paid for by the Chinese government in 2018. “I believe it was a great opportunity to take, since China is such a significant part of the Jamaican economy, " he said.” He described the experience as “beautiful,” but acknowledged that it also gave him insight into China’s “significant restrictions in the media.”

The strict limitations placed on the visiting journalists gave them a small taste of the repression their Chinese counterparts face every day. The state subjects media workers to harassment, pressure, and mistreatment and the only newsrooms permitted to operate are those working under the close supervision of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), disseminating its propaganda.

[...]

In a white paper published in 2016, the Chinese government outlined its policy on media and press freedom in the Caribbean, which included facilitating “the signing of bilateral agreements” on radio, film and television, “encouraging exchanges” and the “co-production” of press-related programmes and festivals in both countries, and strengthening media technologies in the region. The document also placed particular emphasis on supporting “the exchange of resident journalists,” joint interviews, and staff training sessions. Seven years later, another white paper published in 2023 that reflected back on a decade of the Belt and Road Initiative, noted that “media and think tank cooperation has yielded fruitful results.”

[...]

One journalist from Grenada — who, like all the journalists interviewed in this article, remains anonymous to protect their privacy — told RSF that they had been invited to visit China several times but had refused out of personal conviction. Such resistance appears unusual. The same journalist believes “probably 90 or 95 percent of all working journalists [in Grenada] have now visited China.” The Chinese government may be taking advantage of a lack of educational opportunities for young journalists. “In Grenada, many people who enter this profession come straight out of secondary school, with no experience, no knowledge, no theoretical training in international relations, etc.” Another factor is likely the low pay and lack of professional and economic opportunities that have long plagued the island’s journalism industry. Free travel and training may simply be too attractive to pass up.

[...]

The Chinese government is also exporting its own media to the region. Guyana’s government was criticised in 2013 for granting spectrum licenses to the Chinese state media China Central Television (CCTV). “I sincerely believe that this is another type of war in global politics, but they are trying to change perceptions of the Chinese political system and ideology,” a Guyanese journalist said. "It starts with how the media presents their policies and ideology to their own people” Despite all this, the journalist says they would not rule out visiting China if given the opportunity.

[...]

Representatives from Chinese embassies have published numerous opinion pieces in Caribbean media. These embassies have also organised seminars on the media, which have been reported on by local outlets, demonstrating the value of the Chinese government at the local level. Government officials even try to impose their content on journalists.

“[The Chinese government] wants you to publish the articles it writes itself,” concluded the journalist. “So when it sends them to you, it simply wants them to be published word for word, without you using them as a source of information, nothing else.”

[...]

China ranks 178th out of 180 countries in the RSF 2025 World Press Freedom Index, placing it third to last.

Archived

[...]

In 2023, Lyndon Li, an activist with political connections, was followed by a Chinese man to his London church. The man had previously befriended Hong Kong activists and collected personal information on some of them. In a pub in the capital, Li says the man, who was called Harrison Chan, offered him money to infiltrate the Conservative party.

“He said China will be the future,” Li recalled. “Britain will fall.”

[...]

Since 2020, China has ramped up a campaign of intimidation, infiltration, harassment and violence against free speech activists operating in the UK. China experts warned that the programme is a part of a global project to stamp out dissent. “It’s widespread,” Laura Harth, the China director at human rights NGO Safeguard Defenders, said. “The aim is to try and control the entire overseas Chinese community.”

[...]

More than a dozen UK-based dissidents [...] say they have been the victims of so-called transnational repression. They include a former elected politician, an exiled lawmaker, several student activists and journalists, a trade union organiser, a policy researcher, two artists, a musician and a young asylum seeker rebuilding his life.

Almost all the dissidents said they believed that repression in the UK has increased sharply in the last few years.

“If you said to the Hong Kong community 10 years ago: ‘Are you being repressed?’, the answer would have been no,” said Labour MP Alex Sobel, the joint author of a cross-party report on transnational repression. “That is completely different now.”

[...]

Hong Kong claims its economic and trade offices promote commerce but dissidents believe the Communist party also uses them as a base to track dissidents. In addition to its outpost in London, Hong Kong maintains HKETOs in New York City, San Francisco and Washington DC.

Anna Kwok, of the Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council, warned that Beijing can use these diplomatic outposts to carry out transnational repression in the US. In 2024 a bipartisan bill passed giving the president authority to shut the HKETOs down.

[...]

Many activists who fled to the UK have continued to criticise China’s communist leadership, leaving them open to ongoing targeting. A recent parliamentary report, co-written by Sobel, concluded that China runs “the most comprehensive transnational repression campaign of any foreign state operating in the UK”.

Hong Kong Watch, a UK NGO, shared a survey of 1,000 Hong Kongers exclusively with The Observer. The survey found that almost one-fifth had experienced some form of transnational repression, such as being photographed at protests or seeing sensitive information about them published online.

“China doesn’t need to [assassinate people],” Laura Harth said. “That activity creates international backlash, and the cost is much higher. You can achieve your objectives by grey-zone tactics that evade the scrutiny of local authorities.”

[...]

Finn Lau, the activist who was beaten up, said there were “more and more concerns that the Hong Kong community could be sacrificed in exchange for economic benefits”.

The government has said that its policy on China is to “cooperate where we can, compete where we need to and challenge where we must”. It has said intelligence agencies had concluded that threats stemming from the planned embassy were being “appropriately managed”.

[...]

Chloe Cheung, the young Hong Kong activist, was followed by two men who appeared to be of Chinese origin as she left a 2024 [protest] event in London. She reported the incident to the Met but received no response. On Christmas Eve 2024, Cheung, who had just finished her A-levels, had a bounty placed on her head by Chinese authorities: a £94,000 reward for anyone who could assist in her arrest and capture.

[...]

Another female dissident was offered a fake doorbell camera after her family was sent letters threatening that she would be raped if she didn’t stop her advocacy work.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/52805078

Archived

[Canadian] MP Michael Ma, who left the Conservatives to join the Liberals, has apologized after appearing to cast doubt on reports of human rights abuses in China.

Ma said he regretted making a mistake with his remarks ... The misunderstanding about where Ma had been talking about lasted hours, consuming the rest of the parliamentary committee hearing where he made the remarks, spilling into question period and dogging Ma around Parliament Hill.

He had asked an expert during the hearing ... whether she'd seen forced labour with her own eyes.

"Have you witnessed forced labour in Shenzhen? Have you witnessed forced labour? Just a short answer — have you witnessed forced labour in Shenzhen, yes or no?" Ma said while questioning Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a senior fellow at the University of Ottawa.

"So did you get that from hearsay?" he added.

[...]

Ma was seen walking away from reporters and did not answer questions about his views on the matter.

In his apology, issued several hours after his original remarks, Ma said he "inadvertently came across as dismissive of the serious issue of forced labour."

[...]

Ma crossed the floor to the Liberals in December and joined Prime Minister Mark Carney's caucus and his official trip to Beijing in January.

The House industry committee is examining a decision Carney made during that trip to lower Canadian restrictions on Chinese electric vehicles and clear some of those cars for sale in Canada.

McCuaig-Johnston told the committee Thursday that Chinese vehicles are made with products that come from slave labour performed by members of the Uyghur minority.

[...]

Ma's suggestion that reports of forced labour amounted to "hearsay" prompted outrage from Conservatives on the committee, one of whom apologized on Ma's behalf.

Ma, in turn, demanded an apology from the MP who offered the apology.

Ma told the committee he had asked "very legitimate questions" and had not expressed an opinion.

"I had made no assertion of either support or deny it — I just asked whether she had witnessed it," Ma said.

Tory MP Michael Guglielmin moved a motion at the committee to condemn forced labour practices in China.

"It's just unclear if MP Ma's remarks are at odds with the Liberal party's position and the government's position, or if he's soft-launching for the prime minister's new position on the Communist Party of China and their permissive view on enslavement," Guglielmin said.

The Prime Minister's Office referred queries to Ma's statement, when asked whether Ottawa no longer believes Beijing uses slave labour in Xinjiang.

[...]

McCuaig-Johnston, who is a former senior public servant, told The Canadian Press in an interview she was "kind of dumbfounded" by Ma's line of questioning, but is glad the issue is getting more attention.

"I looked around the committee as if to say, 'Is he kidding?' Because no westerner can go to China and see forced labour. They would never let you anywhere close to that," she said.

She said Ma seemed to be employing a tactic meant to downplay the issue of forced labour.

"Certainly he was trying to undermine my credibility," she said. "I think he failed at that."

[...]

McCuaig-Johnston said after the meeting wrapped, she offered Ma her copy of the Human Rights Watch report on forced labour.

"And he said, 'I don't believe in reports, I only believe in things that I can see with my own eyes,'" she said, adding that Ma suggested the two of them could take a trip to China to see if there is forced labour in Xinjiang.

Ma did not address McCuaig-Johnston's account of their conversation, when The Canadian Press asked his office for comment.

She noted that she has been sanctioned by China and will not travel to the country.

[...]

The United Nations reported in 2022 that China had committed serious human rights violations in Xinjiang against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities that "may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity."

A report issued that same year by Global Affairs Canada found China "is using otherwise legitimate programs for retraining and relocation of unemployed workers as instruments of a broader campaign of oppression, exploitation and indoctrination of the Uyghur Muslim population into Han (majority) Chinese culture."

[...]

A June 2021 [Canadian] government response to a committee report decried "the mass, arbitrary detention of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in internment camps" in Xinjiang.

On Monday, Carney's office said public servants "submitted in error" a report to Parliament that suggested Carney did not raise human rights with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his January visit to Beijing.

The Privy Council Office, which serves the prime minister, wrote this month that "human rights and foreign interference were not brought up proactively" by Carney when he met with Xi. His office later said a corrected document has been sent to Parliament.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/52805078

Archived

[Canadian] MP Michael Ma, who left the Conservatives to join the Liberals, has apologized after appearing to cast doubt on reports of human rights abuses in China.

Ma said he regretted making a mistake with his remarks ... The misunderstanding about where Ma had been talking about lasted hours, consuming the rest of the parliamentary committee hearing where he made the remarks, spilling into question period and dogging Ma around Parliament Hill.

He had asked an expert during the hearing ... whether she'd seen forced labour with her own eyes.

"Have you witnessed forced labour in Shenzhen? Have you witnessed forced labour? Just a short answer — have you witnessed forced labour in Shenzhen, yes or no?" Ma said while questioning Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a senior fellow at the University of Ottawa.

"So did you get that from hearsay?" he added.

[...]

Ma was seen walking away from reporters and did not answer questions about his views on the matter.

In his apology, issued several hours after his original remarks, Ma said he "inadvertently came across as dismissive of the serious issue of forced labour."

[...]

Ma crossed the floor to the Liberals in December and joined Prime Minister Mark Carney's caucus and his official trip to Beijing in January.

The House industry committee is examining a decision Carney made during that trip to lower Canadian restrictions on Chinese electric vehicles and clear some of those cars for sale in Canada.

McCuaig-Johnston told the committee Thursday that Chinese vehicles are made with products that come from slave labour performed by members of the Uyghur minority.

[...]

Ma's suggestion that reports of forced labour amounted to "hearsay" prompted outrage from Conservatives on the committee, one of whom apologized on Ma's behalf.

Ma, in turn, demanded an apology from the MP who offered the apology.

Ma told the committee he had asked "very legitimate questions" and had not expressed an opinion.

"I had made no assertion of either support or deny it — I just asked whether she had witnessed it," Ma said.

Tory MP Michael Guglielmin moved a motion at the committee to condemn forced labour practices in China.

"It's just unclear if MP Ma's remarks are at odds with the Liberal party's position and the government's position, or if he's soft-launching for the prime minister's new position on the Communist Party of China and their permissive view on enslavement," Guglielmin said.

The Prime Minister's Office referred queries to Ma's statement, when asked whether Ottawa no longer believes Beijing uses slave labour in Xinjiang.

[...]

McCuaig-Johnston, who is a former senior public servant, told The Canadian Press in an interview she was "kind of dumbfounded" by Ma's line of questioning, but is glad the issue is getting more attention.

"I looked around the committee as if to say, 'Is he kidding?' Because no westerner can go to China and see forced labour. They would never let you anywhere close to that," she said.

She said Ma seemed to be employing a tactic meant to downplay the issue of forced labour.

"Certainly he was trying to undermine my credibility," she said. "I think he failed at that."

[...]

McCuaig-Johnston said after the meeting wrapped, she offered Ma her copy of the Human Rights Watch report on forced labour.

"And he said, 'I don't believe in reports, I only believe in things that I can see with my own eyes,'" she said, adding that Ma suggested the two of them could take a trip to China to see if there is forced labour in Xinjiang.

Ma did not address McCuaig-Johnston's account of their conversation, when The Canadian Press asked his office for comment.

She noted that she has been sanctioned by China and will not travel to the country.

[...]

The United Nations reported in 2022 that China had committed serious human rights violations in Xinjiang against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities that "may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity."

A report issued that same year by Global Affairs Canada found China "is using otherwise legitimate programs for retraining and relocation of unemployed workers as instruments of a broader campaign of oppression, exploitation and indoctrination of the Uyghur Muslim population into Han (majority) Chinese culture."

[...]

A June 2021 [Canadian] government response to a committee report decried "the mass, arbitrary detention of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in internment camps" in Xinjiang.

On Monday, Carney's office said public servants "submitted in error" a report to Parliament that suggested Carney did not raise human rights with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his January visit to Beijing.

The Privy Council Office, which serves the prime minister, wrote this month that "human rights and foreign interference were not brought up proactively" by Carney when he met with Xi. His office later said a corrected document has been sent to Parliament.

[...]

Archived

[Canadian] MP Michael Ma, who left the Conservatives to join the Liberals, has apologized after appearing to cast doubt on reports of human rights abuses in China.

Ma said he regretted making a mistake with his remarks ... The misunderstanding about where Ma had been talking about lasted hours, consuming the rest of the parliamentary committee hearing where he made the remarks, spilling into question period and dogging Ma around Parliament Hill.

He had asked an expert during the hearing ... whether she'd seen forced labour with her own eyes.

"Have you witnessed forced labour in Shenzhen? Have you witnessed forced labour? Just a short answer — have you witnessed forced labour in Shenzhen, yes or no?" Ma said while questioning Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a senior fellow at the University of Ottawa.

"So did you get that from hearsay?" he added.

[...]

Ma was seen walking away from reporters and did not answer questions about his views on the matter.

In his apology, issued several hours after his original remarks, Ma said he "inadvertently came across as dismissive of the serious issue of forced labour."

[...]

Ma crossed the floor to the Liberals in December and joined Prime Minister Mark Carney's caucus and his official trip to Beijing in January.

The House industry committee is examining a decision Carney made during that trip to lower Canadian restrictions on Chinese electric vehicles and clear some of those cars for sale in Canada.

McCuaig-Johnston told the committee Thursday that Chinese vehicles are made with products that come from slave labour performed by members of the Uyghur minority.

[...]

Ma's suggestion that reports of forced labour amounted to "hearsay" prompted outrage from Conservatives on the committee, one of whom apologized on Ma's behalf.

Ma, in turn, demanded an apology from the MP who offered the apology.

Ma told the committee he had asked "very legitimate questions" and had not expressed an opinion.

"I had made no assertion of either support or deny it — I just asked whether she had witnessed it," Ma said.

Tory MP Michael Guglielmin moved a motion at the committee to condemn forced labour practices in China.

"It's just unclear if MP Ma's remarks are at odds with the Liberal party's position and the government's position, or if he's soft-launching for the prime minister's new position on the Communist Party of China and their permissive view on enslavement," Guglielmin said.

The Prime Minister's Office referred queries to Ma's statement, when asked whether Ottawa no longer believes Beijing uses slave labour in Xinjiang.

[...]

McCuaig-Johnston, who is a former senior public servant, told The Canadian Press in an interview she was "kind of dumbfounded" by Ma's line of questioning, but is glad the issue is getting more attention.

"I looked around the committee as if to say, 'Is he kidding?' Because no westerner can go to China and see forced labour. They would never let you anywhere close to that," she said.

She said Ma seemed to be employing a tactic meant to downplay the issue of forced labour.

"Certainly he was trying to undermine my credibility," she said. "I think he failed at that."

[...]

McCuaig-Johnston said after the meeting wrapped, she offered Ma her copy of the Human Rights Watch report on forced labour.

"And he said, 'I don't believe in reports, I only believe in things that I can see with my own eyes,'" she said, adding that Ma suggested the two of them could take a trip to China to see if there is forced labour in Xinjiang.

Ma did not address McCuaig-Johnston's account of their conversation, when The Canadian Press asked his office for comment.

She noted that she has been sanctioned by China and will not travel to the country.

[...]

The United Nations reported in 2022 that China had committed serious human rights violations in Xinjiang against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities that "may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity."

A report issued that same year by Global Affairs Canada found China "is using otherwise legitimate programs for retraining and relocation of unemployed workers as instruments of a broader campaign of oppression, exploitation and indoctrination of the Uyghur Muslim population into Han (majority) Chinese culture."

[...]

A June 2021 [Canadian] government response to a committee report decried "the mass, arbitrary detention of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in internment camps" in Xinjiang.

On Monday, Carney's office said public servants "submitted in error" a report to Parliament that suggested Carney did not raise human rights with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his January visit to Beijing.

The Privy Council Office, which serves the prime minister, wrote this month that "human rights and foreign interference were not brought up proactively" by Carney when he met with Xi. His office later said a corrected document has been sent to Parliament.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/52743751

Archived

A case of suspected surveillance targeting Uyghur activists was reported during a Uyghur human rights symposium held on February 25 at Japan’s House of Representatives Members’ Office Building in Tokyo.

The event was organized by the Japan Uyghur Association and co-sponsored by the World Uyghur Congress.

According to reports, a suspicious man was observed repeatedly photographing participants inside the venue, drawing the attention of organizers and Japanese security authorities. Upon questioning by police, the individual admitted he had been paid to take photos and had no personal interest in the symposium itself.

Japanese media, including Sankei Shimbun, reported that the man was a Chinese student studying at a university in Tokyo. He stated that he had been asked by an acquaintance to attend the event and photograph participants in exchange for a payment of 6,000 yen. He also admitted to attending a similar Uyghur-related event at the same venue in September of the previous year, where he had engaged in comparable activities.

Organizers expressed concern that images of attendees could be shared with Chinese authorities, potentially placing the families of Uyghur participants in danger back in their homeland. Some Uyghurs involved in organizing such events reportedly avoid revealing their identities for this reason.

This incident is not considered isolated. According to the World Uyghur Congress, many Uyghurs living abroad fear ongoing surveillance and intimidation. Reports indicate that individuals posing as students or attendees have repeatedly monitored Uyghur, Tibetan, Mongolian, and Chinese dissident communities, photographing participants at public gatherings.

[...]

Observers say such actions reflect broader patterns of “transnational repression,” where individuals and communities are monitored or pressured beyond national borders. The case has also raised concerns in Japan about the lack of a strong legal framework to address such activities, particularly as the incident occurred within a parliamentary facility.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/52743346

Detained artist Gao Zhen on trial on March 30 with the trial hearing be held behind closed doors, according to a report by the right group Chinese Human Rights Defenders.

Authorities will not allow Gao’s family to attend, in violation of Chinese law.

Before announcing the trial date, Sanhe City Court held a pre-trial hearing on March 24, less than two weeks after it had postponed the start of his trial for the third time.

“Gao Zhen has the right to freedom of artistic expression. The use of a contrived, retroactively applied law and a closed trial underscores serious due process violations,” said Shane Yi, researcher at Chinese Human Rights Defenders. “The charges should be dropped and Gao Zhen released immediately.”

[...]

Gao Zhen, who will turn 70 in May 2026, has a number of pre-existing medical conditions, including lumbar spine disease, knee effusion, an eye disease, and chronic hives. His health has deteriorated during detention and he has been deprived of food at the Sanhe City Detention Center. These conditions may amount to torture or ill-treatment under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which China ratified in 1988.

In addition to detaining Gao, authorities have arbitrarily banned his wife, Zhao Yaliang, and their seven-year-old son, a citizen of the United States, from leaving China, a form of collective punishment to penalize them by family association.

[...]