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The woman who appeared before the Munich Labor Court earlier this year was once considered a star of German scientific research. The researcher, whose name we are shortening to Z., was celebrated, honoured, and in high demand. She revolutionised an entire field; her lectures filled halls, she was showered with praise and prestigious awards. She was among the most frequently cited researchers in Germany and gained international attention as a top talent.

The new Pope, Leo XIV, should direct an urgent review of the Vatican’s 2018 agreement with the Chinese government that allows Beijing to appoint bishops for government-approved houses of worship, Human Rights Watch said today. He should also press the government to end the persecution of underground churches, clergy, and worshipers.

*[This is an op-ed by **Tenzin Dorjee*, senior researcher and strategist at the Tibet Action Institute and lecturer in the discipline of political science at Columbia University, and *James Leibold*, professor of politics and Asian studies at La Trobe University in Melbourne, specializing in Chinese ethnic policy, nationalism, and authoritarian governance.]

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Cross posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/34329849

Cross posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/34330409

German public prosecutors in Dresden have initiated a probe against an AfD politician over allegations of bribery and money laundering. The investigation is reportedly focused on Maximilian Krah, following the arrest of his former aide for spying for China. Krah has not publicly commented.

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As China continues to tighten information flows in and out of the country, how reliable are statistics from official Chinese sources? Recent media pieces have highlighted the deepening lack of government transparency and accuracy when it comes to important data, and its implications for research related to China. The latest example is from Rebecca Feng and Jason Douglas at The Wall Street Journal, who wrote this week about how “Beijing has stopped publishing hundreds of statistics, making it harder to know what’s going on in the country”:

Three Danish political parties have called for a government probe into China’s repression campaign against dissidents living in the Nordic country following the China Targets investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the Danish newspaper Politiken and 41 other media outlets.

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Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, has compared his nation to the European countries heading for conflict with Nazi Germany in the 1930s, in a punchy speech commemorating the end of the second world war in Europe.

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Hong Kong authorities’ unjust arrests of the father and brother of the prominent US-based activist Anna Kwok is an escalation of the Chinese government’s use of cross-border repression, 87 international and diaspora rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, said today in two joint statements.

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[This is an op-ed by Tin Pak, visiting academic at the National Defense University and a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research in Taiwan, and Chen Yu-cheng, an associate professor at the National Defense University.

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While attention in Central Europe has often centered on Russian propaganda, China has been quietly cultivating its own influence operations through unexpected channels – from Czech radio stations to TikTok influencers and all-expenses-paid trips to China. These efforts reveal a growing sophistication in Beijing’s strategy to shape perceptions abroad, leveraging entertainment, travel, and digital culture to mask deeper political objectives. What appears at first glance to be harmless cultural exchange may, in fact, form part of a broader, state-driven influence campaign with far-reaching implications for public discourse and (social) media integrity in the Czech Republic and beyond.

Police in Hong Kong have arrested the father and brother of US-based pro-democracy activist Anna Kwok for allegedly helping with her finances, according to media reports.

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Podcast episode associated with this op-ed available on Ezra Klein Show feed or here.

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China has approved the construction of ten new nuclear reactors, making 2025 the fourth consecutive year that it has endorsed the construction of at least that number, as reported by Bloomberg.

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Several of Europe’s biggest funders of scientific collaboration with China, in fields such as viruses and air quality, have put bilateral research programmes on hold due to concerns over Chinese data protection laws, funding agencies said.

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In a case that has drawn international attention, renowned Chinese human rights lawyer Lu Siwei was sentenced to 11 months in prison following a closed tribunal in Chengdu, Sichuan province. Lu, charged with 'illegally crossing the border,' was initially detained in Laos while attempting to join his family in the United States, despite having legal travel documents.

BASF said in a statement it had completed the sale of its shares in Markor Chemical Manufacturing and Markor Meiou Chemical to the Singaporean group Verde Chemical.

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Online dissent is a serious crime in China. So why did a Weibo censor help me publish posts critical of the Communist party?

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A campaign started in 2018 by Safeguard Defenders, a human rights organization focused on China, revealed how the Chinese police use threats and fear to coerce scripted confessions for television. In 2021, it led to a ban on broadcasts of the international arms of China’s state TV (CGTN and CCTV-4) in several countries, including the UK, Australia and a number of European nations.

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Packed with stats, well-written, pretty convincing.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/32890522

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[This is an op-ed by Valentin Weber, senior research fellow with the German Council on Foreign Relations. He is the author of the International Forum for Democratic Studies report “Data-Centric Authoritarianism: How China’s Development of Frontier Technologies Could Globalize Repression.” His research covers the intersection of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and technological spheres of influence.]

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"José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, an old friend of the Chinese people, has played a prominent role in politics, both in Spain and internationally. During his administration, he actively promoted structural adjustment and internal reform, improving Spain's competitiveness in the global economic landscape." This was the introduction made by officials from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the city of Guiyang, in the south of the Asian giant, when the former Spanish president visited them at the end of last year to participate in a symposium. Zapatero praised the successful policies of the Chinese government to improve the lives of its people, such as those that had lifted half a million people out of poverty in record time in the region where he was.

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Chinese president Xi Jinping has declared a monopoly on narratives not only about today's China but also about its ancient and more recent past. In that process, any diverging narrative or piece of historical testimony that could contradict the grand official narrative is erased and censored. Yet, historical memory has managed to survive in Chinese society to this day.

Western intelligence agencies warned on Tuesday of an increasing threat from Beijing's security services to use malicious mobile phone applications to surveil Taiwanese independence activists, Tibetan rights advocates and others opposed by the Chinese government.

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China’s government has arrested dozens of people in Tibetan areas since 2021 for politically motived phone and internet-related offenses, Human Rights Watch said today. Tibetan journalists in exile report that these arrests typically target Tibetans accused of keeping “banned content” on their phone or contacting people outside China, including relatives.

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A Liberal Democrat MP barred from entering Hong Kong has told the BBC she believes it was to "shut me up and to silence me".

China recently approved the construction of the world’s largest hydropower dam, across the Yarlung Tsangpo river in Tibet. When fully up and running, it will be the world’s largest power plant – by some distance.

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China is looking to mend a strained trading relationship with the European Union, the last open major market for its products, to weather a trade war with the United States. But diplomats and analysts say breaking a prolonged stalemate won't be easy.

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Palau would not cave to diplomatic pressure from China and would remain an ally of Taiwan “until death do us part,” Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr said yesterday.

The videos are across Chinese social media. Some are slickly produced Russian propaganda about being “tough” men; some sound more like influencer advertisements for a working holiday. Others are cobbled-together screenshots by regular citizens about to leave China. But they all have one thing in common: selling the benefits of becoming a Chinese mercenary for Russia.

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Hong Kong national security police have taken away the parents of wanted US-based activist Frances Hui Wing-ting for questioning, the Post has learned, after Washington imposed a new round of sanctions on local officials for what it called "transnational repression".

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Two spyware variants are targeting Uyghur, Taiwanese and Tibetan groups and individuals, the U.K.’s National Cyber Security Centre warned in a joint alert (opens pdf) Wednesday with Western allies.

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A Swedish court on Wednesday ordered the detention of a man suspected of spying on ethnic Uyghurs for China, Sweden's prosecution authority said on Wednesday.

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Ukrainian forces have captured two Chinese nationals who were fighting for the Russian army in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

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The Chinese authorities should urgently quash the conviction and free the Taiwan publisher Li Yanhe (李延賀), known by his pen name Fu Cha (富察), Human Rights Watch said today. Fu Cha, who has been detained in China since 2023, was secretly sentenced in February 2025 to three years in prison on charges of “inciting secession.” The government has provided little information about his trial or his condition in detention.

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If someone picks up a newspaper in China, there's a good chance it contains some government propaganda masquerading as news, according to a new study co-led by a University of Oregon expert.

Wang Yan vividly recalls the last time she heard her husband’s voice, more than five years ago.

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Beijing’s cross-border crackdown on Taiwanese independence supporters is expected to escalate, extending beyond China and its territories to “China-friendy” countries and those with Chinese police stations, a Taiwanese national security officials said yesterday.

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