Chinese news on non-coronaviruses | MONDIAL News Group

While headlines related to China have focused on the new coronavirus epidemic in the past month and a half, you may have missed other breaking news that reveals China's continuing trend to relax its control inside and outside the country.

Swedish bookseller sentenced to 10 years

Chinese agents first kidnapped Swedish bookseller Gui Minhai in Thailand in 2015 for publishing and selling gossip about Chinese political leaders (a book explores the alleged affairs of President Xi Jinpings). The authorities then imprisoned him and forced him to make a televised confession. In 2017, they claimed to release him although he is still under house arrest and a few months later he was again abducted while on a train with two Swedish diplomats.

Authorities last week sentenced him to 10 years in prison for illegally providing information to foreigners, even though Gui had no access to any information except his. treatment experience in Chinese prisons.

The Chinese authorities also claimed that Gui had renounced his Swedish nationality and asked to recover his Chinese nationality in 2018. However, the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has received no notification of his renunciation. China has also banned Swedish consular officials from visiting him, making it impossible to verify the allegations.

Daughter of Guis, Angela, wrote in an editorial on Sweden and European unions, weak response to condemnation: It should be impossible to pursue normal diplomatic relations with a state that claims ownership of anyone, regardless of nationality. Governments must recognize that their relationship with China actively exposes their citizens to the risk of having all their rights and protections removed at any time.

Meanwhile in Hong Kong

Police arrested three veteran democracy leaders in Hong Kong on February 28 for participating in an unauthorized prayer march last August. The trio's best known is Jimmy Lai, outspoken government critic and owner of the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily. 71-year-old self-made millionaire also faces bullying from journalist Oriental daily June 4, 2017.

Police also arrested Lee Cheuk-yan, 63, vice-chairman of the Labor Party, and Yeung Sum, 72, former chairman of the Democracy Party, for participating in the same demonstration. Authorities released the trio on bail a few hours later. They will appear at Eastern Court on May 5.

Yeung noted that the August 31 rally was peaceful: participants sang hymns and chanted slogans. Freedom of procession is a fundamental right, especially when we do not have full democracy, Told Hong Kong South China Morning Post. I thought the government should focus on fighting the epidemic, but it looks like it will not let go of what happened last year.

In another sign by Beijing tightening the screws on Hong Kong, in February, the authorities appointed Xia Baolong, a close ally of President Xi Jinping, director of the Office of Hong Kong and Macao Affairs. Xia demolished thousands of crosses and closed churches while he was Zhejiang party secretary. He will likely take a hard line on the treatment of Hong Kong, which has been involved in protests since June.

As the coronavirus epidemic weakened pro-democracy protests, violent clashes returned on Saturday as protesters marked the sixth anniversary of the police attack on Prince Edward station. Molotov cocktails, burning barricades and tear gas re-invaded the streets of Hong Kong's Mong Kok district as police arrested 115 people that evening.

Uyghur oppression continues

Lacoste gloves, Nike sneakers and Apple iPhones all include components made by Uyghurs, probably against their will report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute found. As international condemnation against China's detention of more than one million Uighurs in Xinjiang re-education camps has increased, Chinese officials have said many have come out of what they claim. be professional training camps. The next phase of government control of the ethnic minority apparently involves sending them to work in factories far from their homes while continuing their surveillance and ideological training.

Government officials transferred around 80,000 Uighurs to factories in China between 2017 and 2019, according to the report, and 83 global brands depend on these factories to create their clothes, tech devices and cars. Workers are not able to refuse their work assignments.

For the Chinese state, the goal is to sinise the Uyghurs; for local governments, private brokers and factories, they get a sum of money per capita in these labor transfers, Vicky Xiuzhong Xu, the main author of the studies, Told The Washington Post.

The Xinjiang government has announced the hiring of Uighur workers, claiming that they have semi-military management. Watchtowers and barbed wire surround a factory in Qingdao where hundreds of Uighurs make Nike shoes, according to the Publish. After work, they take courses in Mandarin and patriotic education. They can no longer practice Islam. The report also found that government agents monitor workers and limit their freedom of movement.