Edit title for clarity. Thanks.

Germany says ‘blackmail’ of Ukraine will bring more war

Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock says Europe must put pressure on the US to stand by its European allies and warned against forcing Kyiv to surrender […] Baerbock’s statements were similar to those of other European leaders discussing how to approach likely changes to transatlantic relations during Trump’s second term.

A person being “detained” could literally just be a traffic stop or any other interaction with a police officer.

No, a traffic stop or an interaction with a police officer isn’t a detention. We are talking here about people who are wrongfully imprisoned for several years.

The vast majority of these people are wrongfully detained after what is called a “closed door trial”. Essentially, this means that often not even their lawyers know what they are accused of. Very often, for example, authorities say it is for “espionage”, though it remains fully unclear what this alleged espionage would have been.

You’ll find a lot of credible reports from very reliable sources. During the pandemic, the situation in China regarding this practice is said to have worsened.

[Edit typo.]

Just read the article and about China’s new ‘guidelines.’

Btw, there are around 10,000 foreigners wrongfully detained in China, most of them are not officially named by their countries.

Could be, I read ‘slams’, but it’s not much difference anyway :-)

Not sure if I understand you right, but unless they do some A/B testing my headline above is the original one. I didn’t edit.

I’d be careful to produce new drugs in China.

‘Ineffective’ generic drugs fuel rare public anger in China

Public anger in China over concerns raised by doctors that generic drugs used in public hospitals are increasingly ineffective has led to a rare response from the government.

Doctors say they believe the country’s drug procurement system, which incentivises the use of cheap generic drugs over original brand-name pharmaceuticals, has led to costs being cut at the expense of people’s safety.

A lot of local political leaders in the Balkans are aligned with China and Russia. This has nothing to do with the fact that China and Russia spread disinformation.

There is no slavery-like labour as is in China which is a major reason why cars are that cheap.

I don’t understand this language. If you read the quotation out of context, you are right, but the article clearly refers to Tibet and the environmental impact there - and only there. The whole case is about Tibet. I honestly don’t understand why you make that such a big deal.

Tim Karr, a senior director at Free Press, a U.S.-based organization that advocates for more just and democratic media, wrote in August 2023:

Working With China to Censor Critics

As Musk began rolling out sales of Tesla in China in 2021, he and company colleagues became unnerved by a number of consumers who had taken to Chinese social media to complain about issues with the company’s malfunctioning electric cars. Rather than fix the problems, Tesla called on the Chinese government to use its censorship powers to block its critics online.

By the end of the year, the company filed defamation claims against at least two Chinese citizens who raised concerns about the safety and quality of its vehicles …

Addition:

Here’s a look at free speech absolutist Elon Musk’s ties to Chinese censorship – (2022)

Consumers began to stage increasingly visible anti-Tesla protests [over reported vehicle malfunctions, such as brake failures, unexpected acceleration, and battery fires], leading Tesla to undertake an effort to better control public perception of the brand. The plan it devised reportedly involved the company “complain[ing] to the government over what it sees as unwarranted attacks on social media,” according to insiders who spoke to Businessweek at the time, then “ask[ing] Beijing to use its censorship powers to block some of the posts.”

I agree that the title may be a bit misleading as it could be understood as to comparing the two technologies, although this isn’t what the authors want to say. But, yes, it could easily be misunderstood. (Just don’t want to edit the original version now unless the community and/or mods wish me to do so.)

@copacetic@discuss.tchncs.de

@rbn@sopuli.xyz

One report from 2023 already discusses the issue. A brief summary of the report can be read in the article China’s Greed for Lithium is Killing the Tibetan Plateau:

The report further stressed that this large-scale exploitation of Tibet has been initiated and supported by Xi Jinping himself under his “Made in China 2025” campaign. During his visit to Qinghai Province in 2021, Xi called for the escalation of lithium extraction on a large scale. Apart from lithium, Tibet is home to the world’s largest deposits of critical minerals used in various technologies in critical industries like pharmaceuticals and electronics …

However, the continuous mining in the area has had a devastating impact on the ecology of the Tibetan Plateau, raising the pollution level. It not only polluted rivers and streams but, in several cases, even diverted their flow. This has severely affected the flora and fauna of the region. The government in Beijing seems least concerned about the negative effect of continuous mining across the Tibetan Plateau. Its whole focus is on making money …

Rivers have been affected the most, and they are far from recovery. The Tibetan Plateau is the origin of mighty rivers like Mekong and Yarlung Tsangpo (known as Brahmaputra in the Indian sub-continent). These rivers have been the living force for millions of people in Southeast Asia and South Asia …

Another problem is the contamination of soil. During lithium extraction, several chemicals come into contact with soil. Rivers and floods further aid this contaminated soil to reach agricultural fields, affecting the growth of crops. Apart from poisoning the nearby surface water, it also has severe effects on the groundwater …

China has made false promises at platforms like the Conference of Parties (CoP) summits and other environmental protection summits. Little has been achieved in maintaining ecological biospheres around Tibet.

On the contrary, Tibet has become a dumping ground for Beijing. Glaciers are melting, tens and hundreds of small rivers and streams have dried up, the air is polluted, and floods have become normal occurrences. Many critically endangered species are on the verge of extinction. The “roof of the world” is going through the biggest turbulence while Beijing is busy extracting “white gold.”

The report goes on with a lot more of devastating pollutions. And this is just one among many, see, for example, here. You’ll find more on the web.

As an addition:

Modern slavery in China

Since 2018, evidence of forced labour of Uyghur and other Turkic and Muslim majority peoples has emerged in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (Uyghur Region). […] Forced labour imposed by private actors is also reported, in addition to forced marriage and organ trafficking, with vulnerability primarily driven by discriminatory government practices. While China demonstrated some efforts to tackle modern slavery through sustained coordination at the national and regional levels – including by adopting a new national action plan for 2021 to 2030[…] – its overall response is critically undermined by the use of state-imposed forced labour.

Yeah, the European Union is also good. For the first time in 2024, solar energy in the EU surpassed coal in generating electricity across all 27 EU member states, while natural gas production of electricity fell for the fifth year running.

In the European Union (EU), 47% of electricity now comes from renewable sources like wind and solar, a new record according to a report from the think tank Ember. This is a far higher percentage than in other countries, including the United States and China, where about two-thirds of energy comes from fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and gas.

As I said, tthe narrative that China as leading the path to a better climate is simply wrong. China’s track record regarding the fight against climate change is -very much as those of most other larger countries- an absolute disaster: https://climateactiontracker.org/countries/china

That’s an oversimplification of the article. It’s not that “we should burn fossil fuels.” China should rather stop burning them.

China’s measures to fight climate change are highly insufficient as per practically all independent metrics, and the Chinese government doesn’t appear to be even willing to reduce its emissions. It keeps on to produce a massive amount of overcapacity to to flood the world (and especially the global south) with cheap products for geopolitical and economic gains.