Tibetans use the Olympic Rings as a prop as they hold a street protest against the 2022 Winter Olympics in Dharmsala, India on Feb. 3, 2021.
(AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)
The international community trumpets its commitment to ‘universal human rights’. Yet, it has failed to take real action against Beijing for its treatment of minorities in Xinjiang.
In 1941, Robeson recorded an album of Chinese fighting and folk songs with activist Liu Liangmo with the Chinese People’s Chorus — organized among members of the Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance in New York City’s Chinatown.
(Gordon Parks for the U.S. Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information/Wikimedia/Keynote records)
In China, Robeson continues to be remembered as a loyal friend celebrated for popularizing what became China’s national anthem and building solidarity between peoples of China and African Americans.
It may look like athletes in bobsled, luge and skeleton simply grab a sled and hang on until the bottom, but high-speed physics and tiny motions mean the difference between gold and a crash.
A strong turnout by Chinese teams during the 2022 Winter Olympics could help build national pride in China — and, in turn, help Xi Jinping’s bid for a third term this year.
Taiwanese independence activists call for a boycott of the Beijing Games.
Walid Berrazeg/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Meredith Oyen, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Taiwanese authorities are allowing its tiny contingent to attend the opening ceremony in Beijing despite a long-running dispute over its name in the Olympics.
A tight bubble will likely keep the games from becoming a super-spreader event, but how the hosts will handle outspoken athletes remains a concern.
Since becoming China’s top leader in late 2012, President Xi Jinping has centralized power to the point that it’s unclear when he’ll step down, or who might succeed him.
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ASEAN has thus far been ineffectual, while China has leverage but has failed to act. If a negotiated end to the crisis is to happen, who will take the lead?
Uyghurs and other Muslims pray at a mosque in Kashgar in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region during a state-organised visit by foreign journalists in April 2021.
Wu Hong/EPA
The International Olympic Committee’s position is clear. Human rights be damned. Refugees be damned. The Games must go on. The rest is window dressing.
New Zealand’s geographical distance will be no defence against the consequences of a protracted crisis. So why has there been so little discussion about the threats?
Rhino horn is coveted for rumoured medicinal properties and as a status symbol.
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