It was a great honor to be invited on @mattlewis& #39;s podcast to speak about China!

But Matt asked some open-ended, big picture questions (such as “What should Americans know about China?”)– which I’ve reflected on a bit since.

So, here’s a THREAD to complement what I said. https://twitter.com/mattklewis/status/1247174456348418050">https://twitter.com/mattklewi...
First, important to know that the human rights situation in China remains fairly grim.

A few prominent examples of this:

- Suppression of human rights lawyers
- Tightened space for civil society
- Violations of freedom of religion
- Situation in #HK
- The crackdown on #Uyghurs
In July 2015, China began a massive crackdown on some of the bravest human rights lawyers, which, in the end, targeted nearly 250 human rights lawyers and activists.

This was a massive blow to China’s effort to build itself into a “rule of law” country. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2015/07/china-lawyers-targeted/">https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest...
And see this brave campaign by @allisongrabbit

This Woman Is Running To Save The Love Of Her Life

Zheng Churan’s husband disappeared four years after she was arrested for protesting sexual harassment on public transportation. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/nishitajha/zheng-churan-feminist-five-china-running">https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/n...
In #HongKong, in response to numerous street protests, the HK gov has used aggressive policing and prosecution tactics to enforce China’s vague definition of national security, even when it violates international human rights laws and standards. https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa17/0944/2019/en/">https://www.amnesty.org/en/docume...
Finally, the situation for Uyghurs, and other predominantly Muslim minorities, has really become terrible over the past few years. Up to a million people have been subjected to “re-education” facilities. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/China_hidden_camps">https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/reso...
Many #Uyghur intellectuals – people with no plausible links to terrorism or extremism – have been given absurdly long prison sentences in unfair trials.

See the case of, @SamiraImin’s father, historian and publisher Iminjan Seydin https://www.amnesty.org.uk/urgent-actions/uyghur-academic-jailed-inciting-extremism">https://www.amnesty.org.uk/urgent-ac...
Worryingly, Uyghurs are now being sent off to work in factories in eastern China, where they are continue to be controlled and where the products they produce enter global supply chains.

(Amnesty will be campaigning on this issue later this year). https://www.aspi.org.au/report/uyghurs-sale">https://www.aspi.org.au/report/uy...
With all this said, human rights are only one component of the US-China relationship. My impression is that the trend lines in other fields have also been negative.

While it’s important to recognize the facts, people can have disagreements over what to do & theories of change
But, as I mentioned in the podcast, it’s more important now than ever –- when US-China ties are at an all-time low -- for people to pay attention to China, not to demonize Chinese people due to actions of the gov, work together, and disavow racism. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/us/chinese-coronavirus-racist-attacks.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/2...
In any case, I’d like to thank Matt once again for the opportunity to be on the show. Matt provides great longform conversations that are intelligent & avoid toxic partisanship.

I’ve learned so much from his various guests over the years so I hope I didn’t disappoint too badly!
You can follow @williamnee.
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