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HRIC Commentary

The Costs of Separating Investment from Human Rights: The EU Comprehensive Agreement on Investment with China as Exhibit A
Originally published by the U.S.-Asia Law Institute . In December 2020 the European Union (EU) announced that it had concluded in principle a Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) with China . In so doing, the EU deliberately segregated its investment negotiations with China from its human...
May 21, 2021
HRIC Commentary
Intervention by Sharon Hom at Exchange of Views on “Comprehensive Agreement on Investment” (CAI) between EU and China Convened by the European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights
Sharon Hom: “An agreement without human rights clauses or obligations in effect provides a blank check for an authoritarian regime and, frankly, leaves the companies to their own devices to address, ignore, or be complicit in human rights violations.”
February 25, 2021
HRIC Commentary
Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Human Rights Defenders in China
Sharon Hom: “Human rights defenders, as well as all users of social media or technology tools, are trapped between a rock and a hard place—between the manipulation for profit of “surveillance capitalism” and the economic and political constraints of party-state authoritarianism.”
January 13, 2021
HRIC Commentary
The Crisis in Hong Kong: Xi Jinping Loots a Burning House
Under siege at home and abroad, Xi Jinping, the helmsman of the Communist Party of China, decided he may as well go all out, wage a war against whatever may come while other countries are preoccupied, and settle the Hong Kong question once and for all…
June 25, 2020
HRIC Commentary
Gao Wenqian
In the Wake of the Pandemic: Enemies on All Sides
Gao Wenqian writes, “The pandemic has severely impacted China's politics, and seriously questioned and challenged Xi’s “almighty” status that he has so painstakingly crafted. This was unimaginable before the outbreak in Wuhan. The image of Xi as a "wise leader" no longer exists, with his true form—...
April 16, 2020
HRIC Commentary
Gao Wenqian
Xi Jinping is the Culprit of the Wuhan Epidemic
No one had expected that the novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan more than a month ago would quickly turn into the disaster of the century, spreading across China and to the world. The authorities first covered up the epidemic, created a flourishing scene of happiness and prosperity,...
February 27, 2020
HRIC Commentary
Gao Wenqian
Talking Out of Both Sides of the Face Mask: Propaganda and Practice in the Age of Coronavirus
As the grip of the coronavirus continues to tighten , local governments are at the forefront of efforts to implement ever-stricter regulations aimed at stopping the epidemic in its tracks. Just this week, for example, the Zhangwan District of Shiyan City in Hubei Province issued a notice on...
February 14, 2020
HRIC Commentary
  • Luo Huining. Photo: Handout
Luo Huining’s Mission Impossible
[Translation by Human Rights in China] Just as the New Year begins, a long-simmering rumor of Beijing replacing the chief of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has finally been confirmed. Why would Beijing change horses at this...
January 8, 2020
HRIC Commentary
The People's Republic of China at 70: The Final Insanity
The military parade and celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China have finally ended. As the boss of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping can finally breathe a sigh of relief. He managed to break the “Russell’s curse” that had haunted the CPC,...
October 7, 2019
HRIC Commentary
Gao Wenqian
On Google’s Reported Plan to Work with Chinese Censors
This week, international media reported with some alarm the news that Google is building a version of its search engine for mobile users in China that is designed to restrict information flow by filtering out search terms including human rights, democracy, religion, and peaceful protest...
August 2, 2018
HRIC Commentary
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