@manyapan
Remarkable incident. Local law enforcement came to locked-down Nanning community to remove & confiscate an illegal vegetable stall. Residents interfered, told them that in accordance with the strict epidemic rules, they were not to leave. You should now isolate together with us!

@manyapan
Faced with a very determined crowd (no way to bend the rules!), the result was that if the cops could leave, so could everyone else. Lockdown was magically lifted. They got a send-off with cheers and applause. Well played, people, well played.

Environ les deux tiers des 376 membres du comité central, environ la moitié des 25 membres du bureau politique et plus de la moitié des sept membres du comité permanent seront des nouveaux venus, marquant qu’un changement générationnel au sein du leadership du Parti est en cours.

« Notre pays sera confronté à des risques et à des défis, ainsi qu’à des contractions et à des problèmes plus compliqués qu’auparavant. Tout le Parti doit aiguiser sa vigilance contre les risques éventuels même quand il est en temps de paix, considérer toutes les éventualités en se préparant au pire. » Un ton martial qui ne laisse pas entrevoir le moindre changement de ligne au cours des cinq prochaines années.

Chinese thinktank makes rare public call for Beijing to ease zero-Covid policy
In report since taken off social media, Anbound Research Center said preventing ‘economic stall’ should take priority over virus elimination

A Chinese thinktank has issued a rare public disagreement with the ruling Communist party’s severe “zero-Covid” policy, saying curbs that shut down cities and disrupt trade, travel and industry must change to prevent an “economic stall”.
 
The Anbound Research Center gave no details of possible changes but said on Monday that Xi Jinping’s government needed to focus on shoring up sinking growth. It noted the US, Europe and Japan were recovering economically after easing anti-disease curbs.
 
“Preventing the risk of economic stall should be the priority task,” the thinktank said in a report titled: It’s Time for China to Adjust Its Virus Control and Prevention Policies.

The report, dated Sunday, was posted on the Anbound Research Center’s accounts on the popular WeChat messaging platform and the Sina Weibo microblog service, but was deleted from both on Monday afternoon.

A Shanghai physician with 3 million followers on social media, Zhang Wenhong, was shut down by official criticism and targeted by a plagiarism investigation in 2021 after he suggested China’s strategy could change and the world “needs to learn how to coexist with the virus”.

Founded in 1993, Anbound says it has served the Communist party’s central financial and economic leading group and provided research to government agencies and financial institutions.

@StuartKLau
 
#BREAKING: UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet's office calls China's treatment of the Uyghur minority as constituting "serious human rights violations" in a report issued just minutes before the end of her tenure.

@StuartKLau
The UN office says it is "reasonable to conclude that a pattern of large-scale arbitrary detention occurred" in Xinjiang, "at least during 2017 to 2019, affecting a significant proportion of the Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minority community."

Serious human rights violations have been committed in XUAR in the context of the Government’s application of counter-terrorism and counter-“extremism” strategies. The implementation of these strategies, and associated policies in XUAR has led to interlocking patterns of severe and undue restrictions on a wide range of human rights.  
 
These patterns of restrictions are characterized by a discriminatory component, as the underlying acts often directly or indirectly affect Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim communities.
 
These human rights violations, as documented in this assessment, flow from a domestic “anti-terrorism law system” that is deeply problematic from the perspective of international human rights norms and standards. It contains vague, broad and open-ended concepts that leave wide discretion to officials to interpret and apply broad investigative, preventive and coercive powers, in a context of limited safeguards and scant independent oversight.  

The information currently available to OHCHR on implementation of the Government’s stated drive against terrorism and “extremism” in XUAR in the period 2017- 2019 and potentially thereafter, also raises concerns from the perspective of international criminal law. The extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim groups, pursuant to law and policy, in context of restrictions and deprivation more generally of fundamental rights enjoyed individually and collectively, may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.

China Locks Down Megacity Chengdu as Covid Zero Intensified
City of 21 million is biggest to be locked down since Shanghai
Electronics, automaker supply chains at risk of disruption

The Chinese metropolis of Chengdu will lock down its 21 million residents to contain a Covid-19 outbreak, a seismic move in the country’s vast Western region that has largely been untouched by the virus.
 
The capital of Sichuan province, Chengdu will be the biggest city to shut down since Shanghai’s bruising two-month lockdown earlier this year. The move -- which will upend the lives of millions of people and businesses, with repercussions for China’s economy and beyond -- shows the country’s commitment to the Covid Zero approach espoused by President Xi Jinping, despite the disruption it’s causing.

@USAmbChina-United States government official
排队做核酸 Lining up for the regular Covid test in Shanghai.

@Byron_Wan
 
Kinmen Defense Command confirmed they shot down a chinese civilian drone that had entered airspace over restricted waters at Shihyu (獅嶼) at 12:03pm today (Sep 1).

Chinese EV stocks tank after Li Auto and Xpeng report plunge in August deliveries; Nio ekes out growth

The carmakers have been impacted by a weaker Chinese economy and supply chain disruptions caused by a resurgence of Covid-19 in China and subsequent lockdowns.

Nio was the only company to grow on a monthly basis in August but U.S.-listed shares of the EV start-up fell more than 8%. Li Auto shares fell around 4% while Xpeng was down more than 6%.

If Taiwan is dragged into a cross-strait conflict, Japan is likely to join, Aso Taro, vice president of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said on Wednesday (Aug. 31).
 
Speaking at a Liberal Democratic Party seminar in Yokohama, Aso said that if Taiwan responds to a Chinese attack, it is likely that Yonaguni Island in Okinawa Prefecture and Yoronjima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture will become combat zones and there is a high possibility of war in these areas, according to The Nikkei.

@GerAmbChina
 
Very substantial #OHCHR report on #Xinjiang. Clearly states that the extent of detention “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity”. This is not a domestic issue. Fighting terrorism cannot excuse #humanrights violations.

US says China must be held to account on Uighur 'genocide' after UN report

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that a long-awaited UN report reaffirmed the US view that China is committing "genocide" against the Uighurs and called for Beijing to be held responsible.

"This report deepens and reaffirms our grave concern regarding the ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity that PRC government authorities are perpetrating against Uighurs," he said in a statement, referring to the People's Republic of China.
"We will continue to hold the PRC to account and call on the PRC to release those unjustly detained, account for those disappeared, and allow independent investigators full and unhindered access to Xinjiang, Tibet and across the PRC," he said.