Exiled pro-democracy activist on being Uyghur during Tiananmen Square protests
In 1989, a young Uyghur named Örkesh Dölet was a student leader in the Tiananmen Square protests. Throughout the protests, Dölet represented students in televised negotiations with Chinese Communist Party leaders. After the massacre, the 21-year-old was put on China's list of most wanted student leaders and so he fled the country. He now lives in exile in Taiwan. 'For every important choices I make in my life, my Uyghur-ness has always came in and played an important role,' he says. 'That we do the right thing, not the safe thing.'
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The Guardian
7 hours ago
- The Guardian
Taiwan's vice-president undeterred after Czech reports of alleged Chinese car collision plot
Taiwan's vice-president has said she will not be intimidated after reports by Czech intelligence that Chinese officials planned to stage a car collision when she was in Prague last year. Hsiao Bi-khim visited the Czech Republic in March 2024, in the first overseas visit by her and president Lai Ching-te after winning the election in January. It was reported at the time that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following her car – under police escort – from the airport. This week Prague intelligence officials told local media that the incident was part of a much larger and escalatory plan by Chinese diplomats and intelligence officers working out of the embassy in Prague, which included preparing to stage an apparent car collision. On Saturday, Hsiao thanked Czech authorities for ensuring her safety during the visit. 'The CCP's unlawful activities will NOT intimidate me from voicing Taiwan's interests in the international community,' she said in a social media post. The new details of the plan against Hsiao were revealed by Czech public radio service, Irozhlas, on Thursday. Petr Bartovský, director of the Czech military intelligence service, told Irozhlas that the driver stopped by police was only following Hsiao, but that the service had also identified plans, run out of the Chinese embassy, to 'demonstratively confront Ms Hsiao'. Jan Pejšek, spokesperson for the service, said the plan involved an 'attempt by the Chinese civil secret service to create conditions to perform a demonstrative kinetic action against a protected person, which however did not go beyond the phase of preparation'. The Czech reporting team said this was understood to be a collision with Hsiao's car. Pejšek said the other activity of the Chinese actors went 'to the point of endangering' Hsiao. 'These activities, which flagrantly breach the obligations arising from the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations, were conducted, amongst others, by individuals holding diplomatic posts at the Chinese embassy in Prague,' Pejšek said. Taiwan's China-focused Mainland Affairs Council on Friday condemned the Chinese actions, which it said 'seriously threatened the personal safety of vice-president Hsiao and her entourage'. It demanded an explanation and public apology. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Guo Jiakun, said Chinese diplomats 'always observe the laws and regulations of host countries', and that the Czech government had 'grossly interfered in China's internal affairs' by allowing Hsiao to visit, calling her a 'diehard Taiwan independence separatist' – a designation for which China has threatened the death penalty. Sign up to Headlines Europe A digest of the morning's main headlines from the Europe edition emailed direct to you every week day after newsletter promotion 'China urges the relevant party to avoid being incited or used by 'Taiwan independence' forces, and refrain from creating troubles, spreading rumours, and disrupting and undermining the bilateral relations.' The Czech Foreign Ministry said it had summoned the Chinese ambassador over the incident at the time but did not comment further on Friday. Beijing intends to annex Taiwan under a claim that it is a Chinese province currently run by separatists, and vociferously objects to other governments acting in any way which lends legitimacy to Taiwan's democratically elected government.
The Guardian
14 hours ago
- The Guardian
US attacks on Iran redraw calculus of use of force for allies and rivals around globe
For US allies and rivals around the world, Donald Trump's strikes on Iran have redrawn the calculus of the White House's readiness to use force in the kind of direct interventions that the president said he would make a thing of the past under his isolationist 'America First' foreign policy. From Russia and China to Europe and across the global south, the president's decision to launch the largest strategic bombing strike in US history indicates a White House that is ready to employ force abroad – but reluctantly and under the extremely temperamental and unpredictable leadership of the president. 'Trump being able to act and being willing to act when he saw an opportunity will definitely give [Vladimir] Putin pause,' said Fiona Hill, a former Trump national security adviser and one of the principal authors of the UK's strategic defence review. While Trump has pulled back from his earlier warnings about potential regime change in Iran, going from tweeting 'UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER' to 'NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE!' within 72 hours, he has nonetheless reinforced Russian perceptions of the United States as an unpredictable and aggressive rival that will not unilaterally abandon its ability to use force abroad. 'It has some pretty dire warnings for Putin himself about what could happen at a time of weakness,' Hill said. 'It will just convince Putin even more that no matter what the intent of a US president, the capability to destroy is something that has to be taken seriously.' It also shows a shift in the calculus in Washington DC, where hawks – along with Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu – were able to convince Trump that launching a strike on Iran was preferable to pursuing negotiations that had not yet failed. That could have knock-on effects for the war in Ukraine, where Republicans and foreign policy hardliners have grown more vocal about Putin's attacks on cities and the need for a tougher sanctions strategy. Although he hasn't changed his policy on resuming military support to Ukraine, Trump is publicly more exasperated with Putin. When Putin offered Trump to mediate between Israel and Iran, Trump said he responded: 'No, I don't need help with Iran. I need help with you.' In the immediate term, however, the strikes on Iran are unlikely to have an impact on Russia's war in Ukraine. 'I don't see it as having a big impact on the Ukraine war, because although Iran was very helpful at the beginning stages in providing Russia with [Shahed] drones, Russia has now started manufacturing their own version and have actually souped them up,' said Max Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, during a roundtable discussion. More broadly, Trump's attacks could undermine a growing 'axis of resistance' including Russia and China, given the pair's reluctance to come to Iran's aid beyond issuing strong condemnations of the attacks during security discussions under the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) being held in China this week. 'It also shows that Russia is not a very valuable friend, because they're not really lifting a finger to help their allies in Iran and returning all the help that they've received,' Boot added. The strike could also have implications for China, which has escalated military pressure around Taiwan in recent months and has been holding 'dress rehearsals' for a forced reunification despite US support for the island, according to testimony from Adm Samuel Paparo, the commander of US Indo-Pacific Command. Trump had promised a tough line on China, and many of his top advisers are either China hawks or believe that the US military should reposition its forces and focus from Europe and the Middle East to Asia in order to manage China as a 'pacing threat'. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion Yet his previous hesitancy to use US force abroad could have emboldened Beijing to believe that the US would not come to the direct aid of Taiwan if a military conflict would break out – the one wild card in what would otherwise probably be a lopsided conflict between China and Taiwan. Experts cautioned that the stakes were far different, and the conflicts too far removed, to draw direct conclusions about Trump's readiness to intervene if a conflict broke out between China and Taiwan. Trump's administration appears further embroiled in Middle East diplomacy than it wanted and its pivot to focus on China has been delayed as well. And while some close to the military say the strikes have regained credibility lost after some recent setbacks, including the withdrawal from Afghanistan, others have said that it won't send the same message for military planners in Moscow or Beijing. 'We shouldn't conflate willingness to use force in a very low risk situation with deterring other types of conflicts or using force when it's going to be incredibly costly – which is what it would be if we were to come to the defence of Taiwan,' said Dr Stacie Pettyjohn of the Center for a New American Security during an episode of the Defense & Aerospace Air Power podcast. Around the world, US rivals may use the strikes to reinforce the image of the US as an aggressive power that prefers to use force rather than negotiate – a message that may break through with countries already exhausted with a temperamental White House. 'The fact that it all happened so fast, there wasn't much multilateral involvement or chance for diplomacy, I think, is something Russians can point to as an indication of, you know, imperialism to the global south,' said Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, a fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings during a conference call. 'But also in their talking points to United States and western allies, they will definitely make a point of highlighting this as something great powers do, and in a way that normalizes Russia's language on its own [conflicts].
The Sun
21 hours ago
- The Sun
World Health Organisation admits they STILL have no idea what caused Covid pandemic – but refuses to rule out lab leak
A LEADING theory that the Covid pandemic originated from a lab leak in China cannot be ruled out, the World Health Organisation said. A team of experts set up by the WHO in 2021 to investigate Covid's origins said 'all hypotheses remain on the table' - while also accusing Beijing of not giving up critical information. 7 7 7 The Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (Sago) said on Friday that most data suggests the idea that the virus jumped from animals to humans. This is the same conclusion the WHO came to in 2021. Watch the documentary in full on our YouTube channel here Their new report made the bombshell claim that a lab leak theory should "not be ruled out". But they added: "Nor can it be proven until more information is provided." Group chair Marietjie Venter said after three years of investigating, they were unable to come to a certain conclusion of the pandemic's origins. They blasted China for not releasing all necessary data to determine Covid's creation - despite hundreds of requests for genetic sequences and biosecurity information to the government. She Venter: "Therefore, this hypothesis could not be investigated or excluded. "It was deemed to be very speculative, based on political opinions and not backed up by science." Venter said the 27-member group could not reach a unanimous conclusion on Covid's origins, following one member's resignation earlier this week. Three other scientists also asked for their names to be removed from the new report. I was in Oval Office with Trump at start of pandemic - no one was closer to Chinese officials than me & I believe Covid was engineered in lab Covid-19 emerged just eight miles from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Scientists there had been importing and manipulating bat coronaviruses and had been filmed handling animals with inadequate protection. Venter added that there was no evidence proving Covid was created in a lab, nor was there any indication it was spreading before December 2019 anywhere outside of China. She said: "Until more scientific data becomes available, the origins of how SARS-CoV-2 entered human populations will remain inconclusive." Beijing has consistently refused to release full details about the lab in Wuhan, despite repeated requests for information from multiple countries. 7 7 7 It comes after The Sun's explosive Covid lab leak documentary laid bare the mounting evidence and disturbing questions surrounding the virus's emergence in Wuhan - home to China's most secretive bio-research facility. In April, the US unveiled a bombshell new web page on the origins of Covid, blaming the Wuhan Institute of Virology for unleashing the killer virus. And in a fresh propaganda push, Beijing insisted "substantial evidence" showed Covid "might have emerged in the United States earlier than its officially-claimed timeline, and earlier than the outbreak in China". The document - titled Covid-19 Prevention, Control and Origins Tracing: China's Actions and Stance - was released via China's official Xinhua news agency. It unashamedly accused the US of "indifference and delayed actions" during the global Covid fight - and of scapegoating China to deflect from its own "mismanaged" response. It wrote: "The US has made China the primary scapegoat for its own mismanaged COVID-19 response." The report added that America was 'spreading misinformation' and wasted 'precious time China had secured for the global fight against the pandemic". It revived Beijing's long-standing claims that it shared information with the world in a "timely manner". The paper added: 'The US should not continue to 'pretend to be deaf and dumb', but should respond to the legitimate concerns of the international community.' In May Donald Trump banned all US funding for risky virus research in China and beyond, five years after Covid-19 upended the planet. The US President said in the Oval Office last month: 'I said that right from day one it leaked out — whether it was to the girlfriend or somebody else, [a] scientist walked outside to have lunch with the girlfriend or was together with a lot of people — but that's how it leaked out in my opinion." The Sun's investigation into the origins of Covid 'Smoking gun' docs show US scientists planned to make viruses in Wuhan with SAME features of Covid year before outbreak Pentagon was told SIX times that Covid was lab leak at start of pandemic – but buried the truth, ex-intel official says US government backed shock Wuhan lab plan to collect 500,000 viruses months before Covid… and KNEW it was dangerous Wuhan Covid 'lab leak' firm given $60m US taxpayer funding for MORE virus tests Covid was 'perfectly adapted' to infect humans when virus emerged in Wuhan which 'proves' lab leak Bombshell clues that 'prove' China hid Covid lab leak in 'cover up of the century worse than Watergate' Crumbling sewers, no PPE, & filthy cages – Inside 'chaotic & crowded' Wuhan labs which may have unleashed Covid Wuhan Covid 'lab leak' scientists were 'bitten by bats & sprayed with blood' China's OWN scientists discussed 'problems' with Wuhan lab days after Covid outbreak Secret memo shows how panicked China ordered labs to destroy Covid samples Wuhan lab chief 'ordered scientists not to talk about Covid origins ' in leaked email France 'warned Wuhan lab could be turned into a 'biological arsenal' by Chinese military four years before Covid 'leak'
