RSS Feed

Calendar

March 2024
M T W T F S S
« Feb    
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

Search

Tag Cloud

Archives

The Telegraph (July 1)

2023/ 07/ 01 by jd in Global News

“Twenty-six years ago today, Hong Kong was handed over to China on a promise…. Beijing made the commitment, under an international treaty, to protect Hong Kong’s freedoms, the rule of law, human rights, way of life and autonomy.” China has effectively “ripped up its promises. If there is one lesson from the city’s suffering, it is that China cannot be trusted on any commitments it makes to the West.”

 

The Guardian (May 10)

2022/ 05/ 12 by jd in Global News

“Tensions between Shanghai residents and China’s Covid enforcers are on the rise again, amid a new push to end infections outside quarantine zones to meet President Xi Jinping’s demand for achieving “dynamic zero-Covid.” To express their displeasure with what are increasingly being viewed as violations of human rights and the rule of law, residents are sharing incriminating videos on social media. “Censors have been taking down many of these videos, but determined residents have continued to post them.”

 

Wall Street Journal (March 31)

2022/ 04/ 02 by jd in Global News

“China’s support for Russia is the most serious but far from only reason Europe is losing patience. Beijing has launched an economic war on EU member Lithuania over its upgraded ties to Taiwan. The Chinese Communist Party’s human-rights record remains abysmal. Bullying behavior during the Covid-19 pandemic and stonewalling of the origins investigation hurt China’s credibility. The question is what Europe will do beyond condemnations, token sanctions and the occasional lawsuit.”

 

WARC (May 6)

2021/ 05/ 08 by jd in Global News

With plunging online sales, “Adidas and Nike are the latest western brands to feel the effects of China’s attacks on companies that criticize reported human rights abuses against Uyghurs in the country’s Xinjiang region.” There have also been calls for boycotts of H&M, Burberry and Uniqlo. “The reaction highlights the tension foreign brands face between speaking out, on the one hand, as their domestic customers increasingly demand, and, on the other, risking commercial damage by offending Beijing.”

 

Newsweek (June 4)

2019/ 06/ 06 by jd in Global News

Thirty years ago, “the brutal scenes of troops from the People’s Liberation Army firing live ammunition on civilians peaceably calling for political reforms at Tiananmen Square shocked the world.” The outside world’s response was largely based on the prevailing wisdom that economic development supports human rights. Today, “you’d be hard pressed to find any serious analysts who still believe economic prosperity has led to a more liberated China. Instead, China has been emboldened to infringe on the rights of its own people at home and abroad, cracking down on burgeoning civil society and activists, and undermining international human rights institutions as a means of subjecting its people under its control.”

 

Washington Post (November 14)

2017/ 11/ 16 by jd in Global News

Donald Trump’s “Asia tour has been at times a disaster, at times a farce.” To pick a “most shameful moment” would be challenging. “There was a time when the world looked to the U.S. president to speak clearly in defense of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights. I refer to the entirety of modern U.S. history before January, when Trump assumed the high office he now dishonors.”

 

New York Times (January 6)

2016/ 01/ 08 by jd in Global News

Turkey’s President “had already built a disturbing record as an authoritarian leader willing to trample on human rights, the rule of law and political and press freedoms,” but this week he hit a new low when citing Hitler’s Germany as precedent for expanding his powers. “Erdogan has fallen far from the days when he could be regarded as a respected leader of a Muslim-majority democracy and a trusted partner in the region.”

 

Washington Post (February 22)

2015/ 02/ 23 by jd in Global News

“There is a danger that as other pressing concerns about North Korea accumulate — nuclear weapons, missiles, cyberattacks — the world will lose interest in the human rights disaster.” Ideally, “North Korea’s leaders should be held accountable” and referred “to the International Criminal Court for investigation of crimes against humanity.” At present, however, a Security Council referral looks doomed to veto by China or Russia. For the time being, the UN must continue “to investigate human rights abuses in North Korea, with an eye toward identifying who in the regime’s leadership is responsible for the horrors so that they can eventually be held to account.”

 

Washington Post (December 29)

2014/ 12/ 29 by jd in Global News

In China, rule by law is an “empty promise.” In the years since President Xi Jinping “came to power, hundreds of rights defenders and intellectuals have been thrown into prison for political reasons. Properties have been expropriated or demolished, free speech has been restricted, religion has been suppressed, women have been forced to have abortions, and torture has multiplied. In Xinjiang and Tibet, the authorities have carried out one shocking human rights catastrophe after another. The abuses have never stopped.” The current Government campaign of  “‘governing the country according to law’ is just another attempt by the party to address its crisis of legitimacy. Such slogans may help the party fool people within China and the international community.”

 

Wall Street Journal (November 20)

2014/ 11/ 21 by jd in Global News

“The United Nations rarely leads on human rights, so the General Assembly deserves credit for condemning North Korea on Tuesday. Its Human Rights Committee voted to endorse a report on the North’s abuses issued in February. That report uncovered stomach-turning evidence of atrocities, much of it based on eyewitness testimony.”

 

« Older Entries

[archive]