“All ethnicities are united as one family.” -China

-Beijing

3-2-20   Government censors are stepping up their war on any online content not previously approved by the ruling Chinese Communist Party.  Large numbers of social media accounts were being shut down on Monday by content providers, who are obliged to police content published on their platforms, RFA has learned.  Much of the content deemed "improper" by the authorities relates to unapproved information about the coronavirus epidemic. ...
"If we could solve our country's problems by keeping our mouths shut, and set it on the path to better development, then we would be willing to do this," Zhang said.  "But this is clearly not the case."

Content producers are forbidden to produce, copy, or publish content containing "illegal" information including "endangering national security," "leaking state secrets," "subverting state power," or "undermining national unity."  They are also forbidden to allow content that smears or mocks the names of revolutionary heroes and martyrs or contemporary public figures.

Social media user Dong Qin said she has had her account shut down 11 times, and counting.  "I am now on my 12th account. The last time I was blocked, I only wrote a couple of words," Dong said.  "I was also blocked another time when I said two words during an audio call.  It's a huge hassle to try to get an account again," she said. "I only managed to get my 12th account after trying for three days."

Sichuan-based social media user He Xi said online censorship is part of China's "stability maintenance" system of pre-emptive law-enforcement that protects Communist Party rule.  "This is the way that they maintain stability," He said. "Nobody has any privacy at all in mainland China.  Everything is subject to big data controls. You can start your own business, but your assets won't be protected ... they just don't run the country according to law."

Instead of allowing "rumors" and "negative news" onto their sites, content providers are urged to "Propagate Xi Jinping's thinking on socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era," and the Party's "theoretical line, policies, and major central decision-making arrangements."   https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/deletions-03022020114458.html
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2-27-20

 from undated video footage run by China's CCTV, Muslim trainees work in a garment factory at the Hotan Vocational Education and Training Center in Hotan, Xinjiang.

 CCTV via AP Video        Authorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) are sending hundreds of ethnic Uyghurs to other parts of China to work in factories affected by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), drawing criticism from observers who say the move shows “Uyghur lives don’t matter” in the country....

Memet Imin, a Uyghur medical researcher based in New York, said that Uyghurs represent an ideal workforce for companies in other parts of China that are struggling to meet their targets amid the outbreak.

“China is sending Uyghurs because they have no means to oppose the authorities, they can be forced to work as cheap labor, and the companies that employ them won’t be held accountable, even if they get sick or die due to the coronavirus,” he said.

“Because the situation Uyghurs face is highly precarious, it would be rather easy for the Chinese government to explain away the death [of one of these workers] to their parents.”  https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/work-02272020160853.html

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posters on the wall alongside the Qingdao Taekwang Shoes Co. factory — the side where the Uighur workers enter and exit, and live in dorms — feature Communist Party propaganda extolling “China dream” and “Uphold national spirit to unite and make all of China strong.” Another says: “All ethnicities are united as one family.” (Anna Fifield/The Washington Post)

2-29-20   LAIXI, China — workers in standard-issue blue jackets stitch and glue and press together about 8 million pairs of Nikes each year at Qingdao Taekwang Shoes Co., a Nike supplier for more than 30 years and one of the American brand's largest factories.  They churn out pair after pair of Shox, with their springy shock absorbers in the heels, and the signature Air Max, plus seven other lines of sports shoes.

But hundreds of these workers did not choose to be here:  they are ethnic Uighurs from China’s western Xinjiang region, sent here by local authorities in groups of 50 to toil far from home.  “We can walk around, but we can’t go back [to Xinjiang] on our own,” said one Uighur woman in broken Mandarin as she browsed the street stalls at the factory gate on a recent afternoon. Nervous about being seen talking to a reporter, she quickly scurried away.

When their shifts end, the Uighur workers — almost all women in their 20s or younger — use hand gestures and rudimentary Mandarin to buy dried fruit, socks and sanitary pads at the stalls.  Then they walk around the corner, past the factory’s police station — adorned with Uighur writing telling them to “stay loyal to the party” and “have clear-cut discipline” — to dormitories where they live under constant supervision.

The Uighur workers are afraid or unable to interact with anyone in this town, north of Qingdao, beyond the most superficial of transactions at the stalls or in local stores, vendors say.  But the catalyst for their arrival here is well understood.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/china-compels-uighurs-to-work-in-shoe-factory-that-supplies-nike/2020/02/28/ebddf5f4-57b2-11ea-8efd-0f904bdd8057_story.html

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Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's  Press Conference 

2020/03/02

Q: Two questions.  The first one, the annual report of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China found that working conditions for foreign journalists in China have declined. Do you have any response to this report?  And the second question, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said China is transferring Uighurs out of vocational education and training centers and into factories to serve as forced labor. Do you have any response to this?

A: Regarding your first question, I need to stress that we never recognize the organization you mentioned. It is so inappropriate and unwise for it to take sides at this particular time. 

We always welcome foreign media’s objective and comprehensive coverage of China and have always supported and facilitated their work in accordance with laws and regulations. At the same time, permanent offices of foreign media and foreign journalists in China must abide by Chinese laws, regulations and decrees and observe their professional ethics. This is the same everywhere in the world.

As to your second question, the relevant allegation is simply baseless. It is just another fabricated and biased accusation on Xinjiang by this institution to show its allegiance to the anti-China forces in the US and smear China’s counter-terrorism and de-radicalization measures in Xinjiang.

Such measures are taken in accordance with law and have produced good outcomes and won approval and support of all ethnic groups living in Xinjiang. By far, all the students receiving education and training for de-radicalization purposes have graduated, found stable jobs with the help of the government and are living a happy life.

I need to point out that the institution you mentioned, as revealed by an article written by some in Australia, is funded by the US government and arms dealers and enthusiastic about cooking up and sensationalizing anti-China topics. It is so imbued in ideological prejudice that it can be called a “vanguard” in the anti-China campaign and its academic integrity has been called into serious question.

Once again, we urge certain organizations and individuals in Australia to stop hyping up Xinjiang-related issues. We also hope that the news media will stay vigilant, sharpen their eyes, abide by professional ethics and report their stories based on facts.  http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/fyrth/t1751334.htm

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https://www.theepochtimes.com/china-is-still-forcibly-harvesting-organs-for-transplantation-independent-tribunal-finds_3257293.html