At least six people have died and more than 80,000 people were evacuated from their homes after floods inundated China’s Guizhou province, state media reported, as a tropical depression made landfall in the island province.

State broadcaster CCTV reported on Thursday that “exceptionally large floods” had swept through Guizhou’s Rongjiang county since Tuesday.

[...]

“Many low-lying areas in the county were flooded, and the infrastructure of some towns was seriously damaged, resulting in traffic obstruction, communications blackouts, and some people being trapped,” the broadcaster said.

“The water level in the county has now retreated below the warning level,” it added, saying “post-disaster recovery and reconstruction and investigation of trapped people are under way.”

[...]

Archived

This is an op-ed by Benedict Rogers, founder of rights group Hong Kong Watch and member of the advisory group of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) and an advisor to the World Uyghur Congress.

Four years ago today, June 24, the printing presses of Hong Kong’s largest and most successful mass-circulation Chinese language pro-democracy daily newspaper, the Apple Daily, fell silent and its newsroom shut its doors.

When the lights were switched off in the Tseung Kwan O building, they were turned off not only for the newspaper founded by media entrepreneur and pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai, but for media freedom itself in Hong Kong.

Since the forced closure of Apple Daily, almost all other independent media in the city — particularly Stand News and Citizen News — have shut down.

[...]

Meanwhile, dozen of rights groups released an open letter urging UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to meet the son of jailed British publisher Jimmy Lai.

The Chinese defense chief called for SCO countries – which, in addition to China and Russia, include India, Iran, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus – to enhance coordination and “defend international fairness and justice” and “uphold global strategic stability.”

Attending countries “expressed a strong willingness to consolidate and develop military collaboration,” according to China’s official news agency Xinhua.

Archived

• BYD has reportedly sued 37 influencers in China, claiming they have made defamatory comments.
• The manufacturer has a News Anti-Fraud department where people can send tips about possible defamation and get rewards.
• Companies suing influencers for potentially damaging their image is far more common in China than it is in the West.

The relationship between automakers and the people who create content with their vehicles can sometimes be tense. However, it seldom results in legal action taken against them, and requests to change or remove content are usually about as extreme as it gets.

But not if you’re covering the world’s fastest-growing automaker over the last few years, BYD, which is reportedly taking 37 influencers to court over things they said that it deems defamatory.

CarNewsChina says BYD has also added 126 content creators to an internal watch list, and they will be monitored in the future, potentially also facing legal action from the automaker if they say something that the company sees as damaging to its image. The carmaker created a “News Anti-Fraud Office” a few years ago and it’s encouraging people to send tips about potentially damaging content.

[...]

To encourage tip-offs about potential smear campaigns, BYD is offering substantial bonuses—50,000 to 5 million yuan ($6,900 to $690,000)—for credible leads. The source lists several examples of why BYD sued influencers. In one instance, a person accused the company of manipulating content creators to say negative things about rival brands.

The court concluded that the influencer was required to make a public apology and pay a fine of 100,000 yuan (around $13,800). Another influencer was fined after making claims that BYD was financially unstable and on the verge of bankruptcy.

All of these fines pale in comparison to the August 2023 lawsuit launched by Nissan Dongfeng against an influencer who had posted over 50 videos on TikTok denigrating the automaker’s vehicles. He was asked to pay 5 million yuan in reparations to the manufacturer. In 2022, Tesla also took a Chinese influencer to court, demanding 5 million yuan in reparations, but eventually settled for a lot less.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37453666

Archived

AChinese asylum seeker has been allowed to stay in Britain because he “cannot be expected to lie” about his support for Taiwanese independence.

The unnamed man had claimed his attendance at pro-Taiwan rallies meant he would be persecuted by the Beijing government if he had to go back.

An asylum judge ruled in his favour, concluding that the risk to pro-Taiwanese activists was “far greater” than in 2022, when the refugee came to the UK.

Judge Christopher Hanson said that the man would face questioning by officials if he was returned to China. “If he is asked about what he has done in the UK, or in relation to any political activities, he cannot be expected to lie,” he said.

Taiwan, which lies just off the coast of the mainland, was occupied by the nationalist government following the communist victory in 1949. Beijing regards it as a breakaway state that will eventually come under Chinese control, and tensions between the two have escalated in recent years.

The case, disclosed in court papers, is the latest example [...] in which illegal migrants or convicted foreign criminals have been able to remain in the UK or halt their deportations after claiming returning them to their home countries would breach their human rights.

[...]

The Chinese citizen, known as BK, claimed asylum in the UK in January 2022, but his case was dismissed by a lower-tier immigration tribunal because he was deemed not high-profile enough to warrant protection. The 39-year-old then appealed to an upper-tier tribunal in March this year.

The hearing in Birmingham was told that BK had stated that he had been arrested twice because of his pro-Taiwanese beliefs. Since moving to the UK, he had attended pro-Taiwanese events, the last of which was in 2022.

[...]

This was mainly down to international tensions and other separatist movements in Xinjiang and Tibet, prompting crackdowns by China. Last year, China launched military drills around Taiwan and even simulated a full-scale attack on the island nation. ‘Credible risk of harm’

Despite being a low-level activist, the tribunal believed that BK, who is also a Christian, could be prosecuted if he returned to China.

Judge Hanson concluded: “The risk of arrest for worshippers in unlicensed churches is also greater now than it was when BK was last in the country, and greater than it was in certain decisions and documents cited in his First-tier Tribunal hearing.

“I do conclude with a great degree of confidence that the risk to pro-Taiwanese activists in general is far greater than it was when he was last in China.

“Even if the authorities in China have no knowledge of BK’s activities in the UK it is likely that on return he will be interviewed by the Chinese authorities. If he is asked about what he has done in the UK or in relation to any political activities he cannot be expected to lie.

“If he continues to express his pro-Taiwanese separatist beliefs, there is a real risk that the authorities in China will become aware.

[...]

“I conclude that whilst BK may be able to be returned to China as he does not have the type of profile indicated in the report that will give rise to a real risk at this stage, there is a credible risk of harm sufficient to amount to persecution if he continues with his pro-Taiwanese activities in China, and is entitled to a grant of international protection.”

[Edit to insert the archived link.]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37452848

Archived

China has begun construction of a new structure in waters between China and Japan in the disputed East China Sea, the Japanese foreign ministry said on Tuesday, adding it has lodged a protest with China.

The ministry said in a statement "it is extremely regrettable" that China is pressing ahead with unilateral development when the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf in the East China Sea have not yet been delimited.

Japan requests that China cease its unilateral development and to resume talks on the implementation of a 2008 agreement, in which the two countries agreed to cooperate on natural resources development in the East China Sea, it also said. Asked about Japan's protest, China's foreign ministry said on Wednesday that its oil and gas development activities in the East China Sea were located in undisputed waters under Chinese jurisdiction.

[...]

Japan's ties with China have been plagued by a territorial dispute over a group of Japanese-administered islands in the East China Sea, called the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, as well as the legacy of Japan's past military aggression.

China’s AI industry has drawn increasing media attention as its progress generates excitement and trepidation about a global future fueled by Chinese AI. One dimension of this success is the ability of Chinese actors, such as DeepSeek, to circumvent U.S. restrictions on the export of critical technology. According to Reuters, a U.S. official claimed this week that DeepSeek had evaded export controls to gain access to American AI chips. Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese engineers transported hard drives with hundreds of gigabytes of AI training data in suitcases to Malaysia in order to bypass U.S. restrictions by using American chips outside of China. But the flipside to this story is how U.S. export controls have encouraged the flourishing of China’s domestic AI ecosystem.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37385162

Archived

• Despite international sanctions, Russia's strategic missile plant was able to import complex machinery to dramatically increase missile production.
• The Kyiv Independent has identified the equipment supplied to the plant, as well as the supply chains, mostly from China.
• We located the plant's new premises, built to house the new machinery.
• We obtained a document confirming that the plant received an order to produce intercontinental missiles capable of reaching the U.S. shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

[...]

The Votkinsk Plant, also known as the Votkinskiy Plant, — a strategic, state-owned facility serving Russia’s nuclear forces — has hired thousands of new workers, added new buildings, and brought in advanced machinery to significantly increase its missile production.

Ukrainians have felt it firsthand. Iskander-M ballistic missiles, with a range of up to 500 kilometers and assembled at Votkinsk, have been increasingly hitting Kyiv and other cities.

But the plant’s core mission is even more threatening: manufacturing intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) capable of delivering nuclear warheads across continents.

[...]

Full-scale war has been a boon for Votkinsk: Since its start, the plant has expanded and increased output.

In 2024, Russia produced nearly three times more Iskander-M ballistic missiles than in 2023 — 700 compared to 250, according to RUSI, a London-based defense and security think tank.

[...]

Russian authorities planned the expansion of the Votkinsk missile hub in 2022, after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The process began the following year, from 2023 to 2024, during which the arms manufacturer built new premises, renovated existing ones, hired additional staff, and procured new equipment for missile production.

Using satellite imagery provided by Planet Labs, we identified the location of the plant’s largest new facility: a sheet metal fabrication shop.

In 2023, the site was bare ground; by 2024, a new workshop had risen to house additional machinery.

[...]

Simultaneously, the missile producer launched a recruitment drive, hiring an additional 2,500 employees during the first 2.5 years of Russia’s full-scale war, according to the plant’s director general.

The total number of employees now exceeds 12,000.

[...]

Imported equipment came primarily from mainland China. Of the 10 contracts we identified, eight involved products supplied from China. In one of them, the goods came from a Chinese factory owned by a Taiwanese manufacturer.

[...]

Taiwan-branded equipment intended for the missile plant was shipped to Russia by a Chinese company named Zhangzhou Donggang Precision Machinery Company, also known as Zhangzhou Dong Iron Precision Machinery Co.

This company operates as a subsidiary of the Taiwanese manufacturer Ecom — effectively, its Chinese production facility.

[...]

China provides more than machines

It is no secret that China is the largest supplier of equipment, electronic components, and materials that Russia seeks for weapons production.

The Kyiv Independent has reviewed the latest non-public report by the Ukrainian think tank Economic Security Council of Ukraine (ESCU) on the production of Iskander missiles, which are assembled at the Votkinsk Plant.

The report examined the supply of titanium, carbon fiber, and missile fuel components for Iskander production in 2024.

“Titanium is used to make the aerodynamic rudders that control a missile at launch, as well as for the body, nozzles, and combustion chambers of the engine,” explained Denys Hutyk, ESCU’s executive director.

The organization’s researchers found that the main flow of titanium products reached the Votkinsk Plant through a supply chain originating in China.

Russia’s largest titanium producer, VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation, operates a subsidiary in Beijing — VSMPO Tirus Beijing Metallic Materials — which imports titanium ore from major Chinese manufacturers.

In addition, the Russian producer purchased primary titanium products through China’s Tianjin Chengan International Trading Company and India’s DCW. It then supplied Russian military plants, including Votkinsk, through a subsidiary trading house in Russia.

[...]

In a process akin to "dumping" to gain market share, China's EV manufacturers are pocketing government sales bonuses, then dumping "sold" EVs in foreign markets at low prices.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37347322

Archived

Despite public statements about seeking dialogue with the US, the Kremlin is quietly expanding military cooperation with China. According to Kyiv Post sources in Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate (HUR), Moscow is set to host around 600 Chinese military personnel in 2025 for training at Russian Armed Forces bases and military centers.

“The Kremlin has decided to allow Chinese military personnel to study and adopt the combat experience Russia has gained in its war against Ukraine,” a HUR source told Kyiv Post.

The Chinese servicemen will be trained to counter Western weaponry, with a focus on preparing tank operators, artillerymen, engineers, and air defense specialists.

The intelligence source said this underlines the fact that “such decisions by Moscow and Beijing clearly illustrate the Russian regime’s intention to align with China in a course of global confrontation with the West.”

[...]

A China Coast Guard ship used water cannons on Philippine government vessels distributing aid to Filipino fishermen in Bajo de Masinloc on Friday, June 20.

Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesperson on the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela said in a post on X on Friday that Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources’ (BFAR) BRP Datu Tamblot, BRP Datu Taradapit, BRP Datu Bankaya, and BRP Datu Daya, with Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) personnel went to Panatag Shoal (also called Scarborough Shoal and Bajo de Masinloc) that morning to distribute fuel subsidies to over 20 local fishing boats.

“However, at approximately 10:00 AM, BRP Datu Taradapit faced aggressive maneuvers from the Chinese Coast Guard vessel CCG-4203, which approached within 600 yards and fired a water cannon from 15.6 nautical miles southwest of Panatag Shoal,” Tarriela said.

[...]

Archived

On 14 May 2025 the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s legislative body, published its 2025 work plan, including plans to deliberate draft amendment to the 2017 Cybersecurity Law proposed by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC). ARTICLE 19 warns that the proposed amendment doubles down on China’s repressive digital norms, further illustrating the human rights concerns inherent in China’s model of cybersecurity governance.

[...]

The most concerning changes proposed by the amendment involve significant increases in penalties, including greater liability for management personnel, and the reinforcement of censorship and surveillance as core elements of cybersecurity governance.

[...]

Revised Article 59 increases fines for network and CII operators’ non-compliance with varied cybersecurity duties. It doubles the maximum penalty for actions that impact local CII, or cause other vaguely worded consequences to network security, to 2 million yuan ($278,186 USD) and introduces a new penalty for causing CII to ‘lose its main function and other particularly serious consequences for cybersecurity’, with a maximum fine of 10 million yuan ($1,390,930 USD).

Directly responsible personnel will face stricter liability, arguably as a means of outsourcing tighter oversight. In the 2017 Law, the harshest penalty for responsible personnel is 200,000 yuan ($27,818 USD). The amendment introduces a new fine for responsible management personnel carrying a maximum penalty of 1 million yuan ($139,093 USD).

[...]

A newly proposed Article 64 expands on the enhanced penalties for network or CII operators who fail to prevent certain prohibited acts. This includes activities vaguely deemed to endanger cybersecurity, or providing software, other technical support, or expenses for prohibited activities. This could impact cybersecurity researchers and digital security practitioners, and –considering the emphasis on controlling information as part of China’s approach to cybersecurity – could be extended to those who provide VPNs and other circumvention tools, already effectively criminalised in China.

Because the law in China is often weaponised in service of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), increased penalties signal that non-compliance with Party priorities in digital governance will be met with ever-harsher penalties.

[...]

Unsurprisingly, the draft explicitly reiterates requirements on preventing ‘prohibited’ information from outside of China – a reminder that the epitome of internet fragmentation, the Great Firewall of China, is synonymous with the Party’s approach to CII governance. This in turn raises serious concerns around the dissemination of China’s model for cybersecurity governance.

[...]

The draft goes on to outline that, should network operators fail to block ‘prohibited’ content leading to further unspecified ‘particularly serious’ impacts or consequences, they will be subjected to a maximum fine of 10 million yuan ($1,390,930 USD), and administrative penalties. Directly responsible personnel will be fined upwards of 1 million yuan.

Moreover, the draft combines the language in previous provisions into a new Article 71, further citing obligations of strict control over ‘permissible’ expression and data localisation requirements.

[...]

The operation of network and critical information infrastructure requires provisions to prevent and respond to cyber-attacks. At the same time, cybersecurity measures must not infringe on human rights, and information infrastructure security cannot be conflated with the surveillance and control of information. The draft amendment to the Cybersecurity Law, rather than addressing new and emerging cybersecurity vulnerabilities, doubles down on existing freedom of expression concerns in the 2017 Law. These concerns are only magnified by China’s own stated ambition to expand its cyber power through the development and dissemination of cybersecurity governance norms around the world.

[...]

• Myanmar is one of the world’s largest suppliers of rare earth production, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
• Experts say that most of those rare earths are sent to China, especially the less abundant heavy rare earth elements.
• “Its production has significantly strengthened China’s dominant position, effectively giving Beijing a de facto monopoly over the global heavy rare earths supply chain,” said CSIS’s Gracelin Baskaran.

Archived

[...]

Beijing’s strategy to silence regime critics also relies on right-wing social media groups in foreign countries, professional hackers, staff of Chinese nongovernmental organizations with access to United Nations proceedings and members of China’s diaspora connected to the CCP-linked United Front Work Department.

[...]

“If somebody is collecting information for the Chinese government, they join our conference and get all the information, who was there, who is the main host,” [one exiled Chinese activist] said. “The Chinese government wants to know everything.”

Several governments, including the U.S., New Zealand, Sweden, Turkey and Australia, have investigated dozens of suspects allegedly involved in Chinese covert operations targeting dissidents in recent years. In some cases authorities found that the targets of espionage later ended up in prison or had family members threatened.

[...]

Last week, the leaders of the Group of Seven meeting in Kananaskis, Canada, issued a joint statement condemning transnational repression “as an important vector of foreign interference” and pledged to boost cooperation to protect their sovereignty and the targeted communities.

“It has real life consequences.” [...] “China is effective in destroying opposition, simply because they inspire that type of fear and distrust within those communities.”

[...]

Work for us or ‘we’ll destroy you’

The Chinese government has also turned victims into perpetrators.

Shadeke Maimaitiazezi, a 60-year-old textile trader from Kargılık, Xinjiang, is currently sitting in an isolation cell in Istanbul, where he was recently convicted of spying on fellow Uyghurs on behalf of the Chinese state. He has denied the allegations and accused Turkish authorities of forcing him to give a statement under duress, his lawyer Fatih Davut Ejder told ICIJ’s media partner Deutsche Welle Turkey.

Maimaitiazezi, a Muslim, has five children, including three who still live in Xinjiang, the Chinese province where many Uyghurs live and where Beijing has implemented mass-detention and other repressive policies targeting the local minority which may constitute “crimes against humanity,” according to the United Nations.

[...]

Maimaitiazezi claimed that the two Chinese officers then told him there was an international arrest warrant against him, but it could be voided if he returned to Turkey to spy on dissidents involved in activities related to East Turkistan, the name Uyghurs use for Xinjiang. According to the indictment, in the following months, they allegedly paid him more than $100,000 through intermediaries to provide information on activists. One of the alleged surveillance targets was Abdulkadir Yapchan, a Uyghur rights advocate who’s wanted by China on terrorism charges — allegations that a Turkish court has dismissed as politically motivated. The officers also asked Maimaitiazezi to find information on Uyghurs who had joined terrorist groups in Syria; he didn’t find any, he said.

[...]

Confidential domestic security guidelines reviewed by ICIJ as part of China Targets also revealed that the use of what Chinese authorities called the “covert struggle” is part of security officers’ strategy to control and stop any individuals deemed a threat to the Chinese Communist Party rule — regardless of whether they are inside or outside China.

Now advocates fear that the government’s use of informants in the Uyghur diaspora has become common overseas.

Swedish authorities recently arrested a Uyghur advocate who worked for the World Uyghur Congress, accusing him of spying on fellow Uyghurs for the Chinese government. The man denied the allegations and was released pending trial; the case is ongoing. It is the second time since 2009 that Swedish prosecutors have brought such charges against a Uyghur refugee.

[...]

ICIJ and its media partners have interviewed 105 people in 23 countries who have been targeted by Chinese authorities in recent years for criticizing the government’s policies publicly and privately. The targets included Chinese and Hong Kong political dissidents as well as members of oppressed Uyghur and Tibetan minorities.

Forty-eight targets of China’s transnational repression said they believe they have been spied on, were asked to spy on others or know of people in their communities who were asked to become informants.

[...]

Archived

Frequent TikTok users in Taiwan are more likely to hold certain political views aligned with Beijing's narratives, according to a recent survey by Taiwan-based NGO DoubleThink Lab.

Conducted in March and released on June 5, the survey compared "active" TikTok users - defined as those who use the app several times a week for over 30 minutes per session or several times a day with shorter sessions - with "inactive" users who spend less time on the platform. It explored their views on a range of issues including cross-strait relations, democracy and U.S. support for Taiwan.

[...]

PS: Why would people downvote this? What is wrong with you people? It's from a highly reputable source, it's super interesting and well-written, and it concerns the subject of this community.

Do you want this community to succeed, or do you just want to talk to each other - all 6 of you - in an echo chamber?? I don't get it. You're stopping this community from succeeding and wasting your own time.

Words of the Week: “Being Traveled” (被旅游, bèi lǚyóu)

On June 4, Safeguard Defenders published a new report on the practice of "forced travel," by which politically targeted individuals are removed from their home regions during sensitive periods. The report, Holidays in Handcuffs, is presented satirically in the form of a glossy travel magazine.

"Bei Zi Yuan" or "being volunteered" is one example which is used to ridicule some government departments that force people to do something while alleging they "do it out of their own will."

Archived

[...]

[An investigation] can reveal for the first time that global brands [like LG, Apple, Samsung] directly own factories receiving workers from China’s so-called labour transfer scheme, exposing how some have a hand in the oppression and exploitation of ethnic minorities in the country.

[...]

Major Chinese companies, including some of the world's leading appliance manufacturers, also operate factories taking Xinjiang workers.

These businesses, as well as some of the lesser-known factories further back in the supply chain, are financed by state pension funds from Europe and North America, as well as a string of other major financial institutions. Taken together, the investigation brings to the fore the deep connection between global capital and the forced labour that is woven throughout much of China’s manufacturing economy.

[...]

In many cases, international investors need to set up a joint venture with a local partner in order to access the lucrative Chinese consumer market or to run a factory.

It’s an arrangement, research shows, that helps the government exercise control over foreign companies. Kirsten Asdal, a China risk advisor for investors and corporations, said that joint ventures are about embedding Communist Party leverage over foreign investments, through measures like requiring committees of party members in companies, acquiring board seats and controlling licensing.

Beijing has “built up arms of control into these foreign companies systematically over the last 20 years,” Asdal said. “They can no longer say no.”

International companies have far more questions to answer about forced labour in their own assembly lines. Reports connecting Chinese companies to the Xinjiang labour transfer programme have up to now only focused on supplier factories, not the plants owned by the brands themselves.

[...]

After all, China is no longer just the world’s factory. Home-grown companies have matured into global heavyweights, and appliance brands were among the earliest wave of Chinese labels to gain recognition in overseas markets.

“We’ve never seen the direct involvement of global brands in the Xinjiang government transfer program before,” said Laura Murphy, a professor focusing on labour and human rights. She previously advised the Biden administration on trade enforcement.

TBIJ’s investigation uncovered evidence of forced labour at plants owned by Hisense, Midea, Haier, and TCL. One of the five TCL facilities with Xinjiang workers is co-owned by Italy’s De’Longhi. Factories owned by Chinese footwear and car brands were also implicated.

More than 150 people were sent to Hisense in Guangdong from the infamous Xinye internment camp in Hotan, southern Xinjiang in 2018, according to Chinese state media. Operating under a “semi-militarised” system, with ideological assessments and “punishments”, the camp transforms farmers into factory workers, according to a government report on local labour transfer efforts. In 2018, state media claimed that “extremist ideas previously poisoned the minds of many trainees” at the camp.

Archived

[...]

Human rights advocates [say] that in recent years China had flooded Geneva [the Swiss city where the U.N. is located] with dozens of “fake” NGOs — so-called “GONGOs,” short for “government-organized nongovernmental organizations.” While NGOs are expected to be independent, GONGOs instead hold close ties to governments or political parties. Many of the GONGOs identified by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) parroted the Chinese state’s positions during U.N. sessions.

GONGOs often seek to occupy as many speaking slots as possible, blocking the opportunities for representatives of other NGOs to speak. GONGOs also surveilled and intimidated human rights activists, many of whom have given up attending U.N. sessions, ICIJ and its partners learned. Our investigation sought to quantify the scale of the issue and the growing number of Chinese GONGOs at the U.N.

[...]

At the 27th Shanghai International Film Festival, the China Film Foundation and partners launched two major AI-driven initiatives under the Kung Fu Film Heritage Project: a large-scale effort to restore 100 classic martial arts films using artificial intelligence, and the unveiling of a brand-new animated feature, “A Better Tomorrow: Cyber Border,” billed as the world’s first fully AI-produced animated feature film.

Archived

The documentary can be watch using the YT link in the article, here is an alternative Invidious link: https://yewtu.be/watch?v=tiDFQ1lMefc

A new documentary on Sky News Australia (and also posted on YouTube) offers a rare and important glimpse inside the Communist Party of China’s secret RSDL prison system.

The documentary, Cheng Lei: My Story, reveals what happened to Australian journalist Cheng Lei after she was disappeared by China’s state security police in 2020, as relations between the two countries were at a low point. She was later falsely accused of illegally supplying state secrets overseas and eventually released in 2023.

For the first six months Lei, who is also a mother of two young children, was held in incommunicado detention under Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location (RSDL).

RSDL, often used on rights defenders and political prisoners, is a system so secretive that you will not find RSDL facilities marked on maps. Neither will you see any photos of RSDL on official web pages. When you’re in RSDL, no one knows where you are except your guards and interrogators.

RSDL is basically a system of legalized black jails.

In the documentary, Lei leads the viewer on a tour of her RSDL cell (reconstructed in Australia from Lei’s memory) interspersed by powerful scenes where actors reenact the extreme surveillance she was subjected to.

[...]

A sea of pain

RSDL is no ordinary detention. UN experts have described it as tantamount to torture and to enforced disappearance.

Prolonged solitary confinement is mental torture. RSDL typically lasts six months. And sometimes beyond.

Quietly weeping, Lei relates her experience of the mental torture she endured in RSDL.

“How did they come up with this? Just nothingness. Nothingness. And also a sea of pain. I had no idea what was happening or how long I would be here.”

In the film, Lei provides some key facts about how the CCP has designed RSDL:

The RSDL Cell

“The RSDL cell is about 4m by 4m. The windows are always covered by curtains. The bathroom has no door. The light stays on 24 hours a day.”

Surveillance

“You are guarded and watched at all times by two guards. One stands in front of me, one sits next to me. And they take turns with the standing and sitting.”

Rules

“I have to sit on the edge of the bed and have my hands on my lap. Not allowed to cross the ankles or cross the legs. Not allowed to close the eyes. No talking. No laughing, No sunshine. No sky. No exercise. No exercise. No colour. Just fear. Desperation, isolation and utter boredom. That’s it. Probably 13 hours a day.”

“They watch you shit, shower and sleep. You’re not allowed to talk. To make the slightest movement, you must ask for permission.”

Archived

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has raised serious concerns over "ongoing infringements" on the rights of people living in Tibet and called to align legislation and policies with international human rights law.

Addressing the 59th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the UN Human Rights Commissioner (OHCHR) detailed a grave assessment of the current global landscape.

He asserted that he has continued to engage directly with China on a wide range of issues.

Raising concerns about the human rights violations in China, Turk highlighted the lack of progress on much-needed legal reform to ensure compliance with international human rights law.

"In Tibet, there are ongoing infringements on cultural and other rights. I call for the release of all individuals detained for exercising their rights and to align legislation and policies with international human rights law," the UN human rights chief stated.

[...]

In his speech, Mr. Turk also emphazised "worrying reports" of violations in Xinjiang, including undue prison sentences, incommunicado detention, and restrictions on fundamental rights.

"In Hong Kong, the continued application of national security laws raises serious concerns about the shrinking of civic space," he added.

[...]