Tag: 人權

Uyghur campaign progress


Local group features in today’s action

August 2026

We are pleased to report that the activities of the Salisbury group feature in part of today’s (16th August) action by the campaign team. We have put up a post on most days of the campaign using material provided by the team and we have a letter published in the local paper.

What has been remarkable however, is the numbers viewing the posts from China itself. China rarely appears in our viewing figures, we suspect because our posts are blocked. We reported the latest figures – accessed yesterday (15th August) – i.e. half way through the month and these are reproduced in the newsletter:

“The Salisbury group has experienced considerable interest in the Uyghur campaign on its website with a record number of views from China itself. The numbers are high for the site and the month looks as though it is heading for a record number of hits likely to exceed 3,000 for the first time led by the Uyghur campaign although there is other material posted.

“No less than 88% of the hits were posts on the campaign partly because we have posted something on almost every day. Around 70% were from China and Hong Kong SAR a figure we have never seen before. Usually, views from China seldom reach double figures. And it is not just China as a country, further analysis reveals it is cities all over China which are viewing. There were 88 from Hong Kong, 31 from Beijing and 15 from Shanghai. A total of 56 cities throughout China are represented.

“One might expect the CCP to monitor posts about their country but the fact that views are coming from all over suggests that ordinary people may be evading the tight controls over access to foreign sites such as ours. Views from nine cities in China even exceeded the views of people from Salisbury. The group also managed to get a letter published in the Salisbury Journal which sees itself as very much a local paper and does not usually publish material on topics outside the area.

“Sadly, this interest was not reflected on Salisbury Amnesty’s Facebook page with only twenty or so views for each of the posts. Almost none were in the 18-24 age group. We are pleased to note the Uyghur Crisis Response Team thanked us for our posts on Bluesky @ucrt.bsky.social.

“Altogether a satisfactory response and we are of course not at the end of the month. The group is proud to have played a small part in this campaign. Salisbury group’s website: https://salisburyai.com and Bluesky: @salisburyai.bsky.social. We no longer post on X.”

The campaign continues …

Image: Observe Algerie

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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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