China Hires Foreign Influencers to Counter Abuse Accusations
China is hiring foreign social media influencers to travel to Xinjiang and create vlogs of content residents in the region, posted on Western sites such as Twitter, to counter accusations of genocide of the Uyghur ethnic minority, Radio Free Asia reported.
Chinese Authorities Warn Uyghurs Not to Reveal 'State Secrets'
Local government officials in Xinjiang warned the public not to divulge "state secrets" in a video posted on Chinese social media. Radio Free Asia reported Uyghurs were told not to answer questions from the U.N. team without government approval.
US Ambassador to UN to Raise Uyghur's Case with Counterparts
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the American relatives of retired Uyghur doctor Gulshan Abbas that she would bring up the case with her Chinese counterparts. Abbas was detained in Xinjiang after her Uyghur American sister spoke in September 2018 on a panel at Hudson Institute in Washington about the Chinese government's treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
News in brief
U.S. lawmakers introduced a resolution on Tuesday, World Press Freedom Day, that named countries including China, Russia and Belarus as nations that committed "repressive and brutal actions" against journalists, citing a report released by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in 2021. Of the journalists detained in China, 22 are Uyghurs, according to the report. That number is 44% of all jailed journalists in China and 7.5% of imprisoned journalists globally. Bahram Sintash, a Uyghur American, said his father is one of the journalists detained in China. "The U.S. government should speak up for many Uyghur journalists like my father who are arbitrarily detained and imprisoned by the Chinese authorities," Sintash, who lives in Virginia, told VOA.
44% of China's Imprisoned Journalists Are Uyghurs
Quote of note
"We are increasing our efforts to combat this transnational repression and PRC actions to coerce Uyghur Americans into silence by wrongfully detaining their family members. We continue to press for the release of high commissioner (Michelle) Bachelet's report on human rights issues in Xinjiang."
— Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, speaking to Axios
