China has intensified a crackdown on Uyghur and Kazakh Muslims. There have been mass arrests and detentions ahead of this week’s 20th national congress of the Chinese Community Party (CCP). Bitter Winter, a magazine covering human rights and religious liberty, says the dozens of detainees include religious figures and imams who had been arrested and Read more
A court in Hong Kong has adjourned the trial of outspoken Catholic activist Cardinal Joseph Zen and four co-defendants until October 26. Retired Catholic bishop and Cardinal Joseph Zen and five co-defendants pleaded not guilty at the West Kowloon Magistrates Court to failing to properly register their 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which offered financial, legal Read more
A Pacific Island multinational military training exercise involving the US, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji has concluded in Fiji. The 11-day Exercise Cartwheel 2022 drew criticism from China which has been seeking to expand influence in the South Pacific. The exercise, named after Operation Cartwheel – a major military operation for the Allies Read more
Cardinal Joseph Zen trial began on Sept. 19, 2022, in Hong Kong for his role as a trustee of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund. This organisation paid legal fees and medical bills for Hong Kongers protesting the Extradition Law Amendment Bill. This 2019 legislation would have allowed extradition to the People’s Republic of China. Many Read more
Pope Francis returned from his brief trip to Kazakhstan, a country nestled between Russia and China, having failed to sit down with his Russian counterpart Patriarch Kirill or the delegation of Chinese President Xi Jinping. With the pope surrounded by empty seats in Kazakhstan, critics questioned the efficacy of his diplomacy of encounter and his Read more
China is exploiting children in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in its cobalt mines. They’re being forced to work under hazardous conditions to mine the cobalt that powers electronic devices and electric cars. “On the backs of trafficked workers and child labourers, China exploits the vast cobalt resources of the DRC to fuel its Read more
The Bishop of Hong Kong has likened the existence of the Church in the former British colony to plants growing in pavement cracks. Bishop Stephen Chow commented in the Sunday Examiner that these plants “are proofs of the amazing power of life that comes from the Creator. How can they grow up in such a Read more
In late April, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, two ethnic Uyghur women sat behind a tiny mesh grate, underneath a surveillance camera, inside the compound of what had long been the city’s largest place of worship. Reuters could not establish if the place was currently functioning as a mosque. Within minutes of reporters Read more
The Greater Wellington Regional Council is investigating whether the 98 electric buses it is on the verge of leasing were made by forced Uyghur labour in China. The potential links highlight the challenges in buying goods made in China, where the supply chains are often opaque, and come amid a broader effort to ensure New Read more
Australia and New Zealand have raised deep concerns about human rights abuses against Muslim minorities in China. Citing “the growing number of credible reports” of severe violations, both countries’ foreign ministers say the abuses are occurring in the Xinjiang region. The violations include “restrictions on freedom of religion, mass surveillance, large-scale extra-judicial detentions, as well Read more