News From Other Sites

U.S. Universities Shut Down Confucius Institutes

China Digital Times, 16 January 2019 Read original news here Amid rising concerns of curtailed academic freedoms, U.S. universities are increasingly closing down Confucius Institutes, which are Chinese government-funded centers offering Mandarin-language and cultural courses that at one point numbered over 100 in … Continued

Brexit: Theresa May’s deal is voted down in historic Commons defeat

BBC, 16 January 2019 Read original news here Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal has been rejected by 230 votes – the largest defeat for a sitting government in history. MPs voted by 432 votes to 202 to reject the … Continued

Huang Qi, Online Dissident and Rights Advocate in China, Faces Trial

By Ian Johnson, New York Times, 14 January 2019 Read original news here BEIJING — One of China’s most prominent human rights activists, the blogger Huang Qi, went on trial on Monday on charges of leaking state secrets, and American diplomats … Continued

Canada issues China travel alert as tensions escalate

Al Jazeera, 15 January 2019 Read original news here Canada has warned its citizens of the risk of “arbitrary enforcement” of local laws in China after a Canadian man convicted of drug trafficking was suddenly retried and sentenced to death, … Continued

Politics of Tourists Visits Figures in Tibet

On January 10th 2019, at the opening day of the 2nd session of the 11th Tibetan People’s Congress in Lhasa, Chinese officials released an annual report detailing the arrival of 33.68 million tourist to Tibet. The Chinese government refers to the Tibet Autonomous Region … Continued

Globe editorial: For China’s government, the rule of law is a foreign concept

Globe and Mail, 14 January 2019 Read original news here Who knew the Chinese government was so woke. As part of its spat with Ottawa over the arrest of Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver last month, it has accused Canada of … Continued

In China, they’re closing churches, jailing pastors – and even rewriting scripture

China’s Communist party is intensifying religious persecution as Christianity’s popularity grows. A new state translation of the Bible will establish a ‘correct understanding’ of the text Lily Kuo in Chengdu, Sun 13 Jan 2019, The Guardian Rush hour in the centre of … Continued

How the State Is Co-Opting Religion in China

Foreign Affairs, By Ian Johnson, January 7 2019, Read original news here. The message reached me in early December via Signal, an encrypted messaging service that many Chinese use to bypass the closely monitored social media app WeChat. The day that many … Continued

US, China leave next steps for trade talks unclear

By Joe McDonald and Paul Wiseman | AP, January 10 at 5:46 AM BEIJING — The United States and China gave no indication of their next step after wrapping up talks aimed at resolving a tariff fight that threatens to chill global … Continued

‘This is sacred space’: An open letter to Xi Jinping from the the indigenous peoples of Taiwan

Hong Kong Free Press, 9 January 2019, Read original news here Taiwan’s unification with the mainland is “inevitable”, China’s President Xi Jinping said on January 2. Xi warned against efforts to promote the island’s independence, adding that Beijing would not … Continued

Ignoring climate change in the Himalayas

The Third Pole.net, Climate change has already made the mountain communities in the Tibetan Plateau and the Nepali villages in the west that border it very vulnerable, and new infrastructure adds to the risk. This is the second part in … Continued

Taiwan announces drills ‘against a possible Chinese invasion’

Economic Times, 9 January 2019, Read original news here BEIJING: Taiwan’s military has announced a series of newly designed large-scale military drills for this year in response to China’s continuing threat to use force to gain control over the island. … Continued

Contact is taking a holiday!