Category: China

China successfully threatens university


China forces a British university to stop Uyghur research

November 2025

UPDATE 4 November. Police reported to be investigating to see if the University was assisting a foreign power.

There is considerable evidence that around one million Uyghurs in China are subject to forced labour and people trafficking on a massive scale. It is thought that around one fifth of all textiles are now the product of coercive practices. Garment firms show little inclination to check sources beyond what is called the ‘first tier’ even though they could do so easily. Australian research shows that approximately 100 major consumer brands are sourcing their materials from this region. There are some 380 camps surrounded by razor wire and armed guards. The treatment of such large numbers of people in ways almost amounting to slavery is a matter of major concern. The complicity of many Western garment firms in these crimes is a disgrace.

One of the centres producing the research is based in Sheffield Hallam under prof. Laura Murphy. She has produced many reports and her work has been widely cited. The University congratulated her on this work and her research. Until that is the Chinese complained when everything changed. Her website was taken down and it decided not to publish her latest research. It amounted to a flagrant example of a breach of academic freedom. University staff based in China received threatening visits from security services.

The university said they stopped publication because they could not gain the indemnity insurance for her work mindful of possible lawsuits. Documents released under freedom of information laws showed that the University ‘had negotiated directly with a foreign intelligence service to trade [her] academic freedom for access to the Chinese student market‘. The point being that universities are so cash-strapped these days they have to recruit foreign students to balance their books. In other words, we (China) will not allow our students to come to your University unless you stop publishing material about the Uyghurs. China denies all claims but will not allow foreign observers into the region.

Clearly embarrassed the University has apologised and restored her work.

The story reveals how easy it is for China to intimidate those it dislikes or who comment negatively on their various activities. It also reveals how quickly and tamely a British University agreed to censor an academic’s work. Troubling is that this is an example of something which has come to light. Which other universities are quietly agreeing not to rock the boat and not even allow researches to get underway for fear of losing a contingent of Chinese students? The last two weeks have seen the government tie itself in knots over two alleged Chinese spies and whether or not to prosecute them. China’s increasing power is more and more troubling. Meanwhile, a million or so Uyghurs are virtual slaves.

Detailed work produced by Prof Murphy can be accessed here. It will be interesting to see if China’s heavy-handed efforts to threaten a British University will backfire.

Sources: BBC, China Star, Guardian, Sheffield Hallam University.

Photo: satellite picture of one of the Uyghur camps.

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Trade Talks with China: Ethical Dilemmas Ahead


Government has to decide: rights or trade?

June 2025

It is reported today that the government is engaged in a range of talks with Chinese officials to improve trade and political relations. The Chinese Embassy is quoted as saying that relations have ‘positive momentum’. Elsewhere, relations are described as ‘warming’. Of course both countries are suffering from the Trump tariff war and so a degree of mutual comfort is to be expected.

The fact remains that human rights in China are dire across a very wide spectrum, almost too long to describe in fact. They include no freedom of expression; atrocious and genocidal behaviour towards the Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples; Human Rights defenders who face long prison terms and torture; continuing repression in Tibet; the crackdown in Hong Kong and the execution of large numbers of its citizens – possibly equal to all the rest of the world put together. It is also aggressively pursuing overseas Chinese who criticise the country and persecutes any of their family members in China. Restrictions are getting steadily worse over time.

Azeem Ibrahim, speaking at the Humanist Convention this month, described the multi-pronged approach

adopted by the Chinese. It was a talk about the rising threat of autocracies which included Russia and Turkey. He pointed out that the country leads the world in surveillance and it has a massive programme using facial recognition technology. It is also working hard to gain access and control to international agencies in the UN for example. The Warsaw Institute describes how they use their commercial power and investments to shut down any Security Council criticisms of their human rights infringements. His basic message was that China in particular has an organised and well-funded programme to attack western values by any and all means available. He added that the West has been complacent in thinking that western values are a settled state of affairs.

So where does that leave the Labour government? It is reported to be softening its position now it is in government. Nine individuals have travel restrictions placed on them including 5 Conservatives: Ian Duncan Smith being one and Tom Tugendhat another. All because they criticised the treatment of Uyghurs. These restrictions might be lifted. The concern is that the government is desperate to achieve growth and seems willing to abandon all principles to achieve it although a trade deal is not on the cards. This site is concerned with human rights but the wider issue is western governments – like the UK – who seem very slow to wake up to the organised threat posed by autocracies like China who are determined to pursue their view of the world by all means possible.

Sources include: Human Rights Watch, Amnesty, Guardian, US Department of State, New China Human Rights.

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Big increase in executions in Iran


This year has seen a further increase in executions in Iran

May 2025

The BBC reported that in 2024, 901 people were believed to be executed in Iran representing a 6% increase over 2023 when 853 were put to death. 31 were women. The chosen method is hanging often in public. The main reasons are murder, rape and drug crimes but also the vague ‘corruption on earth’ used to describe people opposed to he theocracy. Minority groups are also hard hit.

There seems no let up with 343 put to death in the first four months of this year representing a significant increase over the same period in 2024.

Iran joins other countries like China, North Korea and Vietnam which use the penalty extensively. Details of numbers are a secret in those countries. In China it is believed to be thousands. The killing spree has been widely condemned by a range of agencies.

Sources: BBC, Death Penalty Information Center, France 24, Amnesty International.

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Amnesty publishes Death Penalty report


Report for 2024 published

April 2025

The report highlights a sharp increase in numbers executed – the highest level since 2015 – but the number of countries holds steady. Amnesty has recorded 1,518 executions in 2024 a 32% increase over the previous year. A problem with producing statistics of this nature is that countries who are major users of the penalty, keep their figures a secret. China for example, believed to be the world’s largest executioner with thousands of its citizens executed each year – does not publish figures regarding them as a state secret. Another secretive nation is Vietnam where, similarly, the numbers are a state secret, and Belarus and Laos who release limited information. The figures are accordingly a minimum estimate of the actual numbers executed. The full report can be accessed here (pdf).

The penalty is not solely used to put to death people who have committed serious crime, but is used as a repressive tool. Saudi Arabia (image), and Iran, for example use the penalty to stifle dissent, targeting human rights defenders, protestors, dissidents and political opponents. There is also a disproportionate use of the penalty against minorities particularly religious minorities. Iran, which executed no less than 972 individuals last year, uses the penalty to execute those who challenge, or who are perceived to challenge, the Islamic Republic. It is also noted that these regimes have poor levels of justice. Defendants are often tortured to secure confessions and are denied access to lawyers. It is highly likely, not to say probable, that many wholly innocent people lose their lives.

Another trend is the use of the penalty as part of drugs programmes against dealers and users.

There is little sign, and very little evidence, that the penalty is some kind of deterrent, an argument frequently put forward for its retention or return. The leader of UK’s Reform party for example recently called for its reintroduction following the dreadful murder of three little girls which took place in Southport*. YouGov surveys show mixed views among Britons about the penalty. Generally, people are opposed but there is more support for its use among Conservative voters. The strongest support comes from the 65+ age group. Attitudes do change however, following a particularly unpleasant murder of a child, a policeman or as a result of terrorist activity. It was last used in 1964, suspended in 1965, abolished in 1969 and completely abolished in 1998 when treason was removed (different dates in Northern Ireland).

The group publishes a report on its use each month and last month’s report is available here.

*Town in northern England

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Exeter event


Film being hosted by the Exeter Amnesty group subject: China

On Saturday 18th January at 1pm, Exeter Amnesty group hosts the film, All Static and Noise, at Exeter Phoenix, followed by a Q&A session with Nabila Hanson, AIUK China Coordinator. The plight of Uyghurs in China does not receive the attention it deserves. Governments are keen to forge relationships with the country for commercial reasons. Little attention is paid for example to the scandal of cotton produced using forced or slave labour in the region which finds its way into clothes sold on our high streets.

In the film, All Static & Noise, by David Novack, survivors and their families risk everything to expose the truth of China’s Uyghur detention and ‘re-education’ camps. Jewher, a Uyghur teen from China, lands in the US after she is violently separated from her father at the Beijing airport. Abduweli, a linguist and poet imprisoned and tortured for teaching Uyghur language, leaves for Istanbul upon his release. Together, they join survivors of China’s “re-education camps” and their families, in Turkey, Kazakhstan, Europe and the United States to expose atrocities with the hope that global awareness brings change.

Saturday 18th January 2025 1pm Tickets £7 www.exeterphoenix.org.uk 01392 667080 https://exeterphoenix.org.uk/events/all-static-and-noise/

Image from the film site.

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Rights Lawyers in China: 9 Years after 709 Crackdown


China: 9th Anniversary of 709 Crackdown on Rights Lawyers and Defenders: 10 Notable Events Over Past Year
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Uyghurs win important case


World Uyghur Congress wins important Appeal Court case concerning cotton produced in Xinjiang

June 2024

The dreadful treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang province in China is well established and around one million of them are kept in 380 internment camps. They are also used as forced labour in the production of cotton and 85% of China’s cotton comes from this region. This cotton finds its way into western markets and is used to produce clothing on sale in UK shops and elsewhere.

The WUC tried to get the National Crime Agency to carry out an investigation which the declined to do saying that they needed details of specific contracts. This was overturned at the Appeal Court in what is being described as a ‘watershed moment‘ ([2024] EWCA Civ 715). The court said the decision by NCA was ‘illegal’. The cotton produced using forced labour infringes the Proceeds of Crime Act. This is the first successful action in the world and is being regarded as a landmark decision. If a company knowingly uses, or which they suspect to be using, forced labour, then a prosecution can be initiated under POCA.

Needless to say the Chinese are angry and the Chinese Embassy said it was ‘an enormous lie by anti-Chinese elements to smear China’. The problem for the Chinese is that it is a closed region and journalists are not allowed in. Footage that has emerged has been shot clandestinely. There seems little doubt however that the scale of the repression, the attempted destruction of the Uyghur culture including banning the language, and the demolition of hundreds of mosques, represents a major crime taking place in the twenty first century. It is variously described as a crime against humanity and genocide.

A lawyer from the Global Legal Action Network said ‘this litigation has been critical in recognising the mass atrocities being committed against Uyghur and other Turkic Muslim people by the Chinese government, and holding to account those complicit in, or profiting from, these crimes.’ Producers of clothes using Chinese cotton will now have to take extra care that it does not use forced labour. Major high street names are involved.

Sources: Binman’s, Reuters, The Guardian, Law Society Gazette

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UN alleges possible ‘crime against humanity’ in China


September 2022

Un report published on 1 September 2022 suggests that China may be committing genocide in Xinxiang province

The BBC today discussed the UN report which describes in great detail, the use of torture, sexual violence and arbitrary detention of the Uyghur population in China. This abuse, which they believe is a possible crime against humanity, has been widely reported around the world and is a huge stain on the Chinese state. Around a million Uyghurs are held in so-called re-education centres and are forced to work picking cotton for example, some of which is believed to used in garments in the UK. Photographs show these establishments surrounded by barbed wire with watchtowers. The release of files last year revealed instructions to the guards should a Uyghur try to escape: if the warning shots did not work then the instructions were shoot to kill.

The Chinese government refutes the allegations and a lengthy report is attached to the UN report. It is described as ‘disinformation’ and a ‘farce’. The BBC interviewed someone representing the Chinese point of view. It was not very enlightening and consisted of a flat denial of the allegations. He also claimed, falsely, that delegations have visited the area and this was not picked up by the interviewer. Allow unfettered access could do a great deal to answer the allegations if they were untrue. The main claim for the actions the government is taking is that it is to tackle ‘terrorism, extremism and radicalisation’. These claims are extremely exaggerated and do not justify the scale of abuse foisted on the Uyghur people.

The World Uyghur Congress welcomed the report but claims it does not go far enough. They urge western governments to do more to challenge the Chinese for their activities in Xinjiang. Amnesty described the report as a ‘game changer’.

One interesting aspect to the BBC interview was the fact that several countries sought to stop the report being published. The Chinese interviewee was vague about this matter and the interviewer wondered if the UK government was one of them. The question was left hanging.

Attitudes towards China have changed in recent years. In the UK, the desperate desire by the then prime minister David Cameron and the Chancellor, George Osborne to forge close relationships with the country now look a little forlorn. Predictions that China was imminently due to overtake the USA economically also look rather silly. The country’s banks and property market are in a parlous state and the economy does not look as strong as it once was. Politically, the crushing of dissent in Hong Kong, their actions in the South China Sea and bullying actions around Taiwan have forced countries to reappraise their approach. The mass abuse of almost an entire nation and the destruction of religious buildings hardly adds to their reputation.

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UN visit to China criticised


Michelle Bachelet’s visit to China and the Uyghurs severely criticised

June 2022

The treatment of the Uyghurs in China has been the subject of criticism for some time and in September 2021, the UN were said to be finalising its report into the matter. Eight months later it still has not appeared and human rights organisations including Amnesty International have urged it to be published immediately.

Bachelet visited China recently and this itself has been severely criticised. She was not given unfettered access to the area nor able to interview individual Uyghurs in private. The World Uyghur Conference has voiced its serious dissatisfaction with the UN visit claiming it was a ‘propaganda victory for the Chinese enabling them to whitewash its activities’.

A previous post detailing some of the treatment the Chinese are meting out to Uyghurs was described. We add our voices to those calling for the report to be published.

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Let us not forget the Uyghurs


The focus on Ukraine risks us forgetting other abuses around the world

One of the problems with crises such as that in Ukraine following the Russian invasion, is that other terrible events can risk being forgotten. It is as though we can only cope with one crisis at a time which may well be true enough. As we watch the horrific events unfold in Ukraine, we must not forget that millions suffer in Syria, Myanmar, Yemen and in China.

In a recent edition of the New Statesman magazine (18 – 24 February 2022), there were several articles under the general heading of The Silencing focusing on the plight of the Uyghurs in China. There were pieces by Katie Stallard, John Simpson, Elif Shafak, Rian Thum and Musapir. Some of the points made are repeated below.

The opening ceremony of the recent Winter Olympics which was described as ‘jarring and banal’. A Uyghur skier stood on a podium with a member of the Han community (the dominant one in China) in an attempt to show harmony and to send the message ‘genocide, what genocide?’ Unfortunately she could not be interviewed as she failed to appear in the media zone. It was denounced by the Uyghur Human Rights Project as a ‘political stunt meant to deflect international criticism as though parading a Uyghur athlete around somehow disproves the party state’s well document atrocity crimes’.

The state has implemented a ‘devastating system of collective punishment that targets the Muslim population of Xinjiang’. Attending a mosque or growing a beard is considered suspect. Hundreds of internment camps and a suffocating network of surveillance technology have been built and between 10% and 20% of the adult population has been detained.

John Simpson notes that ‘the 12 million Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China are suffering one of the most intense policies of collective punishment since the end of the Second World War: a campaign designed to change them as a people, remould their beliefs and limit their numbers.’

Satellite images examined by the Australian Strategic Policy Unit (ASPI) have identified at least 380 detention centres ranging from low-security installations to fortified prisons complete with watch towers, high walls and barbed wire. Some of these were seen in a recent Channel 4 documentary.

Perhaps the most shocking revelation is that they estimate 83 Chinese and foreign brands have allegedly benefitted from the forced labour of Uyghur prisoners and they name Apple, Amazon, Marks and Spencer, Nike and Adidas among others. There have been repeated claims that much of China’s cotton, which is grown in Xinjiang, is produced by slave labour.

Elif Shafak bemoans the shear number of crises around the world and the difficulty we have in coping with it all. She quotes the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, attacks on abortion rights in USA and the ethnic cleansing of Tigrayans in Ethiopia as well as Myanmar. She says one thing that dictators and demagogues know is that numbness is transmissible – that is our indifference and detachment as global citizens.

Every time we fail to investigate a gross human right violation, every time we turn a blind eye to atrocities because we have trade deals or financial engagements, we are closely observed not only by that particular country’s government but also be the authoritarian regimes across the world. for they know that when one of them is met with numbness it will benefit them all. This is how democracy loses. Not only “there” but here and everywhere.

New Statesman 18 – 24 February 2022

As we are learning with Russia and Ukraine, financial interests have dominated our policy and there is now, belatedly, an attempt to control the flow of Oligarch money following the invasion.

UPDATE 8 March 2022: The full ASPI report on Uyghur oppression. Other reports can be found on the ASPI site. More companies listed in the appendix include: Microsoft, Google, Samsung, Electrolux, Gap, Diesel, Zara, Rover, Mercedes-Benz, VW, Nintendo, Nokia, Levi’s, Victoria’s Secret, Gap, Calvin Klein, Adidas and many more [accessed 10 March 2022]. NB: the appendix has been updated to include denials by some of the companies named (not included in this list) and other less well-known companies in the UK have not been included.

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