Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 217

Torbjørn Færøvik: Mens Vesten feiret Jesu fødsel, feiret Kina formann Mao

Mens vi har feiret jul, har det kinesiske kommunistpartiets snart hundre millioner medlemmer feiret 130-årsdagen for formann Maos fødsel. I Beijing har partisjef Xi Jinping bukket dypt for Maos balsamerte legeme, og i resten av landet har lokale ledere markert jubileet med taler, sang og fyrverkeri. «Formann Mao vil for alltid leve i våre hjerter», fastslår partiorganet Folkets Dagblad, som

Report: East Turkestan is one of the most policed regions in the world

East Turkistan is one of the most heavily policed regions in the world. There are policing agendas in East Turkistan generally not seen elsewhere in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) or certainly not to the same scale, including most notably what the Chinese authorities define as “the three evils” of religious extremism, terrorism, and separatism, which has provided the impetus for decades of

Modern slavery in China: Global Slavery Index 2023 Country Study

China’s central role in global production is a cause for concern as exports from China are increasingly at risk of being tainted by state-imposed forced labour. Since 2018, evidence of forced labour of Uyghur and other Turkic and Muslim majority peoples has emergedin the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (Uyghur Region). Forced labour imposed by private actors is also reported, in addition to

US Department of Defense: Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China

China’s continued pursuits of space technologies as a way to gain military superiority are once again highlighted in the Pentagon’s latest annual report on “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China.” The congressionally mandated report articulates why DoD considers the People’s Republic of China its “pacing challenge.” While this year’s report does not

Torbjørn Færøvik: Henry Kissinger - statsmann eller krigsforbryter?

Hvem var han, denne hemmelighetsfulle diplomaten som i årevis skapte avisoverskrifter over hele verden? Statsmann eller krigsforbryter? I Laos, Vietnam og Kambodsja taler gravene sitt altfor tydelig språk. Flere hundre tusen menneskeliv kunne ha vært spart om Henry Kissinger hadde våget å snakke president Nixon til fornuft. Men det gjorde han ikke. Denne uken tar amerikanerne farvel med

Torbjørn Færøvik: Bloody news from the battlefield in Myanmar

Daily reports of killed and wounded, villages set on fire, and thousands of homeless people fleeing in all directions. "Parts of the country are like an inferno," says a UN envoy. In the shadow of the tragedies in Ukraine and Gaza, the civil war in Myanmar continues. More than two years have passed since the country's military leaders canceled a free election and once again took the reins. For

Tibetan Children: Separated from their families, hidden from the world (report)

The Chinese government has established a vast network of colonial boarding schools in Tibet where students live separated from their families and are subjected to highly politicized education, primarily in Chinese. Touted by the Chinese government as a means of providing education to a sparse and far-flung population, the schools are the cornerstone of an assimilationist agenda advanced by

United Nations: Assessment of human rights concerns in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

In late 2017, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) began receiving increasing allegations by various civil society groups that members of the Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minority communities were missing or had disappeared in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China (hereafter “XUAR” and “China”). In 2018, the UN Working

Torbjørn Færøvik: Blodet flyter på slagmarken i Myanmar

Daglige meldinger om drepte og sårede. Landsbyer som stikkes i brann, og tusener av hjemløse som flykter i alle retninger. «Deler av landet er som et inferno», sier en FN-utsending. I skyggen av tragediene i Ukraina og Gaza fortsetter borgerkrigen i Myanmar. Mer enn to år er gått siden landets militære ledere annullerte et fritt valg og igjen tok tømmene. Myanmar er i flere tiår blitt styrt av et

Torbjørn Færøvik: En silkevei til ruin

Det nye supertoget suser gjennom Laos, et av verdens fattigste land, i 160 kilometer i timen. I rismarkene står bøndene og måper. «Det er et mirakel. Vi har aldri sett noe sånt før», sier en av dem til avisen Laotian Times. Toget kommer fra Kina og ender sin reise på den flunkende nye jernbanestasjonen i Vientiane, landets hovedstad. Men for den laotiske finansministeren er situasjonen alt annet