Han ble sendt til grenseland for å arrestere minoriteter. Det han ble vitne til, sjokkerte ham.

Han lever i eksil i Tyskland og har tatt kallenavnet Wang Leizhan. Hans virkelige identitet må være skjult.  – Hva som skjer med meg, er opp til skjebnen. Men jeg vil ikke at familien min i Kina skal bli straffet for mine handlinger, sier han til Aftenposten.

De siste årene er det kommet stadig flere fortellinger om hvordan uigurer og andre minoriteter blir undertrykket og internert i det nordøstlige Kina.  Alle historiene har kommet fra ofrene. Ingen av fangevokterne deres har fortalt sin side av saken. Ikke før nå.

I 2018, forteller Wang, ble han sendt til Xinjiang etter et tiår som politimann andre steder i landet. Han var ikke alene om å bli sendt vestover.  Året før hadde nemlig lokale myndigheter startet en voldsom opptrapping av tiltak rettet mot uigurer og andre minoriteter. Fangeleirer ble bygget og utvidet bak høye murer over hele regionen.

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China Pushes Back Against Threat of Inflation

China’s government has suffered a setback in its campaign against inflation as consumer prices accelerated last month despite pressure on producers to keep commodity costs down. On June 9, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported that the consumer price index (CPI) for May rose 1.3 percent from a year earlier, quickening from the 0.9-percent pace the month before.

The increase was a sign that the government has had only partial success in keeping the surge in commodity prices from spilling over from production into the consumer market. While consumer price growth remained relatively mild, the producer price index (PPI) soared 9 percent in May after climbing 6.8 percent in April. The May mark was the highest monthly jump in factory gate prices since September 2008, reflecting a run-up in costs for commodities including oil, iron ore, copper and coal, the NBS said.

The bureau sought to downplay the PPI increase, arguing that one-third of the May rise was due to a "carryover effect" from April's results, so that only 6 percentage points of the May figure was actually "new." But the month-to-month gain in the PPI more than doubled in May from April to 1.6 percent, suggesting continued pressure from commodity costs.

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Covid 19 coronavirus: Top Chinese spy defects to the US, reveals Wuhan lab leak secrets

A top Chinese spy has reportedly defected to the US and offered up intelligence about how the Covid pandemic began. Vice Minister of State Security Dong Jingwei is believed to have secretly flown from Hong Kong to the US on February 10, according to reports that have surfaced on Chinese media sites and Twitter. He travelled alongside his daughter Dong Yang, outlet Spy Talk reported.

Rumours are swirling that Jingwei has passed on important information about the Wuhan Institute of Virology at the centre of the Covid lab leak theory which had been dismissed by many over the past 18 months but is now being reignited. If the rumours are true, Dong would be the highest level defector ever from the People's Republic of China. His evidence may have even sparked US President Joe Biden's U-turn on the country's Covid probe. Biden announced in late May a new review into the origins of Covid, after having shut down a previous probe.

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Robert Reich: America’s Greatest Danger Isn’t China; It’s Much Closer To Home

I don’t mean to downplay the challenge China represents to the United States. But throughout America’s postwar history it has been easier to blame others than to blame ourselves. The greatest danger we face today is not coming from China. It is our drift toward proto-fascism. We must be careful not to demonize China so much that we encourage a new paranoia that further distorts our priorities, encourages nativism and xenophobia, and leads to larger military outlays rather than public investments in education, infrastructure, and basic research on which America’s future prosperity and security critically depend.

The central question for America – an ever more diverse America, whose economy and culture are rapidly fusing with the economies and cultures of the rest of the globe – is whether it is possible to rediscover our identity and our mutual responsibility without creating another enemy.

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China offers the promise of growth and a more-connected Asia, but brings with it fears of Chinese dominance

As China rises as an economic and military power, so does its reach beyond its borders. China's influence is expanding in ways that shape the policies of governments and touch the lives of ordinary citizens in neighboring countries. China offers the promise of growth and a more-connected Asia, but brings with it fears of Chinese dominance.

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US-China rivalry is extending from Earth into space

When it comes to the intensifying rivalry between the United States and China, the sky is by no means the limit. As the two countries jockey for economic, technological, geopolitical and even ideological superiority on Earth, space has become a natural extension -- and crucial frontier -- in their great power competition.

And due to the inherent dual-use nature of space technologies, what's at stake extends far beyond mere scientific prestige and global standing. In addition to national defense, so much of our life on Earth -- from digital communications to navigation -- depends on satellites in space. Following the demise of the Soviet Union's space program, the US has enjoyed a period of unparalleled leadership in space. But in recent years, US observers and politicians have warned that America's dominance could soon be challenged by China's fast-growing space capabilities.

That concern has only deepened with a series of important and high profile Chinese achievements: In 2019, it became the first country to land on the far side of the moon; last year, it successfully put into orbit its final Beidou satellite, setting the stage to challenge the US Global Positioning System (GPS); and last month, it became the only country after the US to put a functioning rover on Mars.

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China has administered more than 1 billion Covid-19 vaccine doses

China has administered more than 1 billion Covid-19 vaccine doses, an astonishing milestone that comes as the country rolls out an unrivaled inoculation drive. A total of 1,010,489,000 doses have been given as of Saturday, China's National Health Commission (NHC) said in a statement. Those doses are almost 40% of the 2.5 billion shots administered globally.

The NHC said 100 million doses were given in the five days up to and including Saturday, according to state media outlet Xinhua. The 1 billion number is all the more remarkable given that China's rollout had a stuttering start.  China only reached its first million administered doses on March 27 -- two weeks behind the US. But the pace picked up significantly in May, with more than 500 million shots given over the past month, according to data from the NHC.

"It took China 25 days to climb from 100 million doses to 200 million doses, 16 days to increase from 200 million to 300 million, and six days from 800 million to 900 million," Xinhua reported.

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Hanne Skartveit: Et senter kontrollert av det kinesiske kommunistpartiet er i ferd med å bli etablert ved Universitetet i Oslo. Det er naivt.

Etter at dagens president i Kina, Xi Jinping, for nær ti år siden kom til makten, har friheten blitt strammet inn. Overalt, også på universiteter og i forskningsinstitusjoner. Rett før jul i fjor bestemte Universitetet i Oslo seg for å bli vertskapet for den europeiske avdelingen av det kinesiske Fudan-universitetet.

Vedtektene ved dette universitetet ble oppdatert for to år siden. I følge oversettelsen av de nye vedtektene, gjengitt i avisen Khrono, har avdelingen av kommunistpartiet ved Fudan-universitetet ansvar for å lede det ideologiske og politiske arbeidet, og videreformidle Xi Jinpings sosialisme og syn på Kina. Punktet som opprinnelig sto om tankefrihet ved universitetet i Fudan, er også fjernet.

Kinesiske myndigheter legger sterkt press på sine universiteter. Målet, både i Kina og ute i verden, er å «skape en mer nyansert og balansert forståelse for Kina». Propaganda, med andre ord. Det motsatte av kritisk og uavhengig forskning og undervisning.

Kommunistregimet kontrollerer kinesisk virksomhet i utlandet, også innen forskning og utdanning. Norske sikkerhetstjenester har advart mot Kina. En kinesisk lov pålegger landets borgere å bistå staten når de oppholder seg i utlandet. Spionere, med andre ord. Det blir også rapportert om kinesiske studenter som ikke våger å ta ordet under forelesninger og seminarer, fordi de frykter at andre kinesiske studenter rapporterer om dem til hjemlandets myndigheter.

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Rektor Svein Stølen: Samarbeid med Kina må være bevisst og gjennomtenkt

Forsker Harald Bøckman: Beijing på Blindern

Universitetet i Oslo åpner omstridt Kina-senter

Biden’s Multilateral Approach to China Is Paying Off

The G-7 may not have evolved into a permanent Democratic 10 (D10), but last weekend’s summit in Cornwall demonstrated the value of U.S. President Joe Biden’s multilateralist approach to China. Not only are liberal democracies more united, but the now have before them a practical initiative to rival Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

In the runup to this year’s G-7 meeting, there was speculation that the meeting of leaders from the world’s leading democracies would be the launch pad for a D10 grouping. With the United Kingdom hosting, Prime Minister Boris Johnson took the initiative to invite fellow democracies Australia, India, and South Korea to the summit (subsequently, South Africa was also invited to join). The D10, as envisioned by Johnson’s team, would address issues relating to supply chains and 5G telecommunications.

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Poll Shows Increasing Transatlantic Convergence on China

On both sides of the Atlantic, China is getting increasingly greater attention. The G-7 Leaders Communique signed in Cornwall last week endorsed cooperating with China on global challenges such as climate change. At the same time, the leaders of the world’s leading democracies called out Beijing for its non-market policies and practices, as well as its transgressions against human rights in Xinjiang and its failure to live up to its pledge to uphold a high degree of autonomy in Hong Kong. That agenda reflects the priorities and concerns of their publics, which hold increasingly negative views about China and its influence in global affairs. New polling confirms this trend and reveals an emerging convergence among American, Canadian, and European publics on China, which is good news for U.S. President Joe Biden and others who seek to strengthen transatlantic cooperation.

Between March and April this year, Transatlantic Trends 2021conducted by the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Bertelsmann Foundation surveyed people in 11 countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The survey results paint a detailed picture of transatlantic public opinion and attitudes on a host of issues including international security and defense, trade and technology policies, global challenges, and perhaps on the most important question for transatlantic ties, relations with China.

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Tibetan exile leader hopes to resume talks with Beijing

The new president of the Tibetan exile government said on Thursday he will do his best to resume a dialogue with China after more than a decade, and that a visit by the Dalai Lama to Tibet could be the best step forward. The Buddhist spiritual leader “has expressed his wish to go to Tibet to his birthplace, Lhasa and some other places depending on his physical condition,” Penpa Tsering said in an interview with The Associated Press. The Dalai Lama lives in the northern Indian town of Dharmsala, where the exile government is based.

Penpa Tsering, 53, said the Dalai Lama is eager to settle the China-Tibet dispute and he “will leave no stone unturned” to achieve that. China doesn’t recognize the Tibetan government-in-exile and hasn’t held any talks with representatives of the Dalai Lama since 2010. Beijing accuses the Buddhist leader of seeking to separate Tibet from China, which he denies. Penpa Tsering supports the Dalai Lama’s position.

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Tibetan Exile MPs Sworn in Amid Political Controversy

Newly elected members of Tibet’s India-based exile parliament were sworn into office in two separate groups on June 8, with each group now denouncing the other’s oaths as invalid, Tibetan sources say. During the oath-taking ceremony, 21 MPs took their oath of office from a temporary speaker of the parliament while 22 took their oath before a portrait of Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

All had been elected in an April 11 election held in Tibetan communities worldwide that saw former parliamentary speaker Penpa Tsering voted in as political leader, or Sikyong, of the Dharamsala, India-based Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), Tibet’s government in exile. Following the ceremony, though, the CTA’s Election Commission disqualified the oaths taken by the second group, with that group still refusing to take its oaths before the pro-tem speaker, Dawa Tsering, saying Tsering had taken his own oath of office before a formerly ousted Chief Justice now occupying his post, they said, unlawfully.

Speaking on June 15 in an RFA TV talk show, Dawa Phunkyi—a member representing Tibet’s historical region of U-Tsang who took his oath before the pro-tem speaker Dawa Tsering—said that a solution to what is now being called a constitutional crisis in the Tibetan exile community remains uncertain.

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This giant prehistoric rhino was the biggest land mammal to walk the Earth

Paleontologists working in China have discovered a new species of giant rhino, the largest land mammal ever to have walked the earth. Giant rhino, Paraceratherium, were mainly found in Asia, according to a press release from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, published Friday.

The new species, Paraceratherium linxiaense, or Linxia Giant Rhino, was named by a Chinese and US team led by Deng Tao from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) at the academy, which analyzed fossils found in 2015. "Usually fossils come in pieces, but this one is complete, with a very complete skull and a very complete jaw, which is rare," Deng told CNN.

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South Korea citizenship law change proposal sparks anti-China backlash

South Korea is trying to increase its future working population by making it easier for children of foreign residents to become citizens, but its plans have run into trouble in the face of rising anti-China sentiment. A measure proposed by the Ministry of Justice -- first made public in April -- called for easing the pathway to citizenship for children born to long-term foreign residents, by simply notifying the ministry.
But a presidential petition opposing the revision has gathered over 300,000 signatures. The chatroom of an online hearing held to discuss the proposal in May was overwhelmed with expletive-laced complaints by tens of thousands of viewers.

The justice ministry has said it is still taking into account public opinion and the advice of experts before submitting the proposal to the Ministry of Government Legislation. "Given the strong backlash, I would say the ministry has already lost much of the momentum to push ahead with the proposal," said Jang Yun-mi, an attorney who specializes in issues related to children.

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The US triples its vaccine donations to Taiwan as the island battles an outbreak

The United States is more than tripling its vaccine allocation to Taiwan, as the island battles a Covid-19 outbreak and resists pressure from Beijing to take China's homegrown inoculations. Washington has shipped 2.5 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to Taipei, the US State Department spokesperson Ned Price tweeted on Saturday. The Moderna shots are set to arrive Sunday evening local time in Taiwan, according to the island's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

After a wildly successful initial run of keeping case numbers down, Taiwan is now battling its first major outbreak and scrambling to combat its low vaccination rate: just 6 doses have been administered per 100,000 people.

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For første gang sier PST at Kina står bak et dataangrep

PST mener Kina står bak et omfattende angrep på statsforvalterne i Norge. Samtidig er det klart at dataangrepet mot statsforvalterne blir henlagt, selv om PST mener de har funnet etterretningsspor som peker mot Kina. 

Litt over 2,5 år etter at Politiets sikkerhetstjeneste (PST) startet en etterforskning av dataangrep mot flere statsforvalterembeter går de nå ut med ny informasjon om hvem som kan stå bak. – Vi har i denne konkrete saken etterretningsinformasjon som peker i en tydelig retning mot at det er aktøren APT31 som står bak operasjonen mot statsforvaltningsembetene, sier sjef for kontraetterretning Hanne Blomberg i PST til NRK. APT31 er en aktør som vi knytter til kinesiske etterretningstjenester, svarer Blomberg.

APT31 er en hackergruppe som er kjent for å ha gjennomført dataangrep både i Norge, Finland, USA og andre steder i verden.

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China Policies Could Reduce Millions of Uyghur Births in Xinjiang: Researcher

China appears to be taking measures to sharply reduce ethnic minority population growth in the southern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) under “population optimization” policies amid its crackdown on Uyghurs and other Muslims, according to a new report by a German researcher.

Adrian Zenz’s report indicates that Chinese birth control and population transfer policies could result in a large drop in births among Uyghurs of 2.6 million to 4.5 million by 2040, based on population projections by Chinese researchers. There are about 12 million Uyghurs in the XUAR.

Official Chinese data presented in the 28-page report titled “End the Dominance of the Uyghur Ethnic Group: An Analysis of Beijing’s Population Optimization Strategy in Southern Xinjiang,” indicate that birth rates in the southern XUAR have dropped by 48.7 percent between 2017 and 2019, writes Zenz, an independent researcher with the Washington-based non-profit Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. The report on China’s policy to reduce population growth in the Uyghur heartland comes at a time when Western nations and rights groups have called for a probe into Beijing’s policies in the XUAR — internment camps, forced labor, and coercive birth control — to determine whether they constitute genocide.

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Tibetan Scholar Arrested for His Writings Has Been Held Without Trial for Three Years

A Tibetan writer arrested on unspecified charges three years ago has still not been brought to trial, and family members are being kept in the dark about his fate, Tibetan sources say. Lobsang Lhundup, who goes by the pen name Dhi Lhaden, was taken into custody in June 2018 while working at a private cultural education center in Chengdu, the capital of western China’s Sichuan province, a source living in Tibet told RFA.

“It appears that someone told the owner of the cultural center about the teaching materials he was using, and so he was arrested,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity for reasons of personal safety. “Lhundup is a friendly person and known to many people, and his friends have avoided talking about him till now in the hope that he might be released,” the source said. “But his trial is still pending. No further information about him has been released, and no one has been allowed to meet with him at all.”

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