The OHCHR’s “Xinjiang Assessment” causes Beijing a practical Headache

^{Probably one of China’s vocational schools (click picture for source)}
There have probably been few high-ranking UN officers who know better what human-rights violations are, than Michelle Bachelet, the 7th United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, who left office yesterday, after presenting the OHCHR Assessment of human rights concerns in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China. And if there were statistics, it could well turn out that many of those who attacked her for being slow  (or worse) in publishing the OHCHR Assessment were close ideological neighbors of those “Chicaco Boys” who had Ms Bachelet – and her mother – tortured in Chile, in 1975.

Every paragraph of the Assessment is worth to be read carefully. It provides information about how China’s “judiciary” and extra-judiciary systems work. China itself has no face to lose anymore, but the report also contains a line that must have been really severely contested between the OHCHR and Beijing, because of the practical effects it may have on Chinese officials:

The information currently available to OHCHR on implementation of the Government’s stated drive against terrorism and “extremism” in XUAR in the period 2017- 2019 and potentially thereafter, also raises concerns from the perspective of international criminal law. The extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim groups, pursuant to law and policy, in context of restrictions and deprivation more generally of fundamental rights enjoyed individually and collectively, may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.

It is unlikely that any criminal “tigers”, i. e. high-ranking officials, will ever be arrested because of human-rights violations in their capacity as Beijing’s henchmen in Xinjiang – but lower-ranking “flies” have always been a different story. To maintain its system of terror and intimidation, Beijing must keep its “flies” assured that they will be protected by the mighty Chinese Communist Party.

That’s how the OHCHR report may provide a glimmer of hope for Uyghurs, and how it may cause a headache for Beijing.

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Note

“The Journey never ends”, M. Bachelet, August 31, 2022
“Firmly opposes”, PRC Mission, August 31, 2022

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Ethnic Work, enthusiastic Reactions (1)

As reported by China Central Television’s (CCTV) main evening news on August 29, CPC secretary-general Xi Jinping’s speech on ethnic work at the Central Ethnic Work Conference in late August has met with an enthusiastic echo from the masses and cadres of all national ethnicities. The following are translations of some of that enthusiastic echo. Every quote is linked to the news program’s online video.
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Link 1, 03′ 28”, Wang Yanzhong (王延中), head of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology:

Secretary General’s important speech is a concentrated and innovative, summarized and purified expression of our ethnic work in the new era. Even more so, we continue to promote the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. It is especially the promotion of new strategic deployment in the building of ethnic affairs management systems and management abilities.
中国社科院民族学与人类学研究所所长王延中：
总书记的重要讲话是我们新时代民族工作在实践中创新，总结，提炼的一个集中表达，更是我们继续推进新时代中国特色社会主义现代化建设。尤其是在民族工作领域推进民族事务治理体系和治理能力建设的新的战略部署。

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Link 2, 03′ 50”, Zhang Mou (张谋), head of the National Affairs Commission’s research department:

We will thoroughly study Xi Jinping’s thoughts concerning the strengthening and improvement of ethnic work, profoundly grasp the work rules shown in the “twelve musts”, firmly seize the distinct central theme of a sense of community among China’s ethnicities, and promote the new era party’s high-quality development of ethnic work.
我们将深入学习总书记关于加强和改进民族工作的重要思想，深刻领会「十二个必须」所揭示的工作规律，牢牢把握铸牢中华民族共同体意识这条鲜明主线，推动新时代党的民族工作高质量发展。

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Link 3, 04′ 10”, Maulati Yibulayin [phonetic spelling], a vice director of Xinjiang Uighur “autonomous region’s” Ethnic Affairs Commission:

As ethnic workers, we must profoundly understand the spirit of the Secretary-General’s important speech, and, with the forging of a sense of community among China’s ethnicities as the central theme, guide the continuous improvement of the ethnicities’ recognition of the great motherland, the great Chinese nation, Chinese culture, the Communist Party of China and socialism with Chinese characteristics.
新疆维吾尔自治区民族事务委员会副主任地力毛拉提‧依布拉音
作为民族工作者，我们要深刻领会总书记的重要讲话精神，以铸牢中华民族共同体意识为主线引导各族群众不断增强，对伟大祖国，中华民族，中华文化，中国共产党，中国特色社会主义的认同。

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Part 2 is there.
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“Age of Awakening” Screenplay Writer Long Pingping faces Heroic Death (at least 20 times)

The following is a translation of a report published by (apparently privately-run) Shanghai news portal “Guanchazhe”, aka “Observer”. Links within blockquotes added during translation.

Revolutionary lectures

Main link 1:
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On April 25, the screenwriter of soon-to-be-broadcast “Age of Awakening” and former director of the Party Literature Research Center’s 3rd research department director as well as Tongji University specially appointed professor Long Pingping, and the two young actors Zhang Wanyi and Ma Qiyue who are playing martyr Chen Yannian and martyr Chen Qiaonian, as well as several scores of young Tongji University came to Shanghai Longhua Martyrs’ Cemetery to commemorate and to pay tribute to eternally resting Chen Yannian, Chen Qiaonian, Zhao Shiyan and other revolutionary martyrs, and to learn these martyrs’ saga, and to carry forward the heroic spirit.

4月25日，热播剧《觉醒年代》编剧、原中共中央文献研究室第三编研部主任、同济大学特聘教授龙平平，剧中扮演陈延年烈士、陈乔年烈士的两位青年演员张晚意、马启越，以及数十位同济大学青年学子来到上海龙华烈士陵园，缅怀祭奠长眠于此的陈延年、陈乔年、赵世炎等革命烈士，学习先烈们的英雄事迹、弘扬英烈精神。

Longhua Martyrs’ Cemetery with its green trees full of life is dignified and solemn. The tomb stones of revolutionary martyrs like Chen Yannian and Chen Qiaonian lie quietly in the warm spring sunshine.

龙华烈士陵园树木葱郁、庄重肃穆。陈延年、陈乔年等革命先烈的墓碑静静地躺在春日暖阳中。

The grave-sweeping ceremony begins, everyone stands tall in silence in a tribute to the revolutionary martyrs who saved the Chinese nation from extinction, and gallantly dedicated their lives to the great cause of salvation and survival of the Chinese nation, and the people’s freedom and happiness.

祭扫仪式开始，现场全体人员肃立，向为实现中华民族救亡图存、人民自由幸福的伟大事业而英勇献身的革命先烈们默哀。

Having completed the moment of silence, “Age of Awakening” screenwriter Long Pingping, the two young actors Zhang Wanyi and Ma Qiyue who are playing martyr Chen Yannian and martyr Chen Qiaonian bow one after another and lay flowers, extending their deeply-felt fond memory and sublime respect.

默哀毕，《觉醒年代》编剧龙平平、剧中饰演陈延年、陈乔年的两位青年演员张晚意、马启越依次鞠躬献花，向长眠于此的革命先烈致以深切缅怀和崇高敬意。

After the ceremony, everyone comes to Longhua Martyrs’ Cemetery square for Long Pingping’s vivid party history lesson, reviving the course of the party’s development, giving an account of the two martyrs’ Chen Yannian and Chen Qiaonian heroic feats.

祭扫仪式结束后，大家来到龙华烈士纪念碑广场，龙平平在此给现场的同济青年学子上了一堂生动的党史课，重温党的发展历程，讲述了陈延年、陈乔年两位革命先烈的英雄事迹。

Main link 2:
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In 1927, the KMT reactionaries started the “April-12 counter-revolutionary coup d’état in Shanghai, with rivers of blood from Communists and revolutionaries. In the time of peril, Chen Yannian took the post of Jiangsu and Zhejiang regional party secretary, so as to quickly recover the ravaged party and labor union work by working day and night.

1927年，国民党反动派在上海发动“四·一二”反革命政变，共产党人和革命志士血流成河。危亡之际，陈延年接任中共江浙区委书记，为迅速恢复被摧残的党和工会组织日夜奔忙。

On June 26, Chen Yannian was unfortunately arrested and imprisoned when opening a meeting of the provincial party conference. On July 4, less than ten days after his arrest, Chen Yannian was taken to the Longhua execution ground where he was executed.

6月26日，陈延年在召开省委会议时不幸被捕入狱。7月4日，被捕不到10天，陈延年被押赴龙华刑场行刑。

At the execution, the executioner held high a butcher’s knife and, with intense viciousness, ordered: “kneel down!”

临刑之际，刽子手高举屠刀，恶狠狠地勒令“跪下！”

Chen Yannian held his head high and replied: “Revolutionaries die only while standing and won’t kneel down!”

陈延年昂首回道：“革命者只有站着死，绝不下跪！”

In the end, Chen Yannian died a violent death under the KMT reactionaries’ messy knife, aged 29.

最终，陈延年惨死于国民党反动派乱刀之下，时年29岁。

In 1927, Chen Qiaonian succeeded his elder brother, coming to Shanghai as the Communist Party’s Jiangu and Zhejiang provincial organizational director. He secretly and thoroughly went to factories, places in the countryside, agencies and schools, and contacted comrades to recover and rebuild the party’s grassroot organizations.

1927年冬，陈乔年继承长兄遗志，来到上海，担任中共江苏省委组织部长。他秘密地深入工厂、农村、机关和学校，联络同志，恢复和重建党的基层组织。

On February 16,1928, because of turncoat Tang Ruilin’s betrayal, Chen Qiaonian and other Jiangsu provincial comrades were arrested.

1928年2月16日，由于叛徒唐瑞林出卖，陈乔年等江苏省委机关的负责同志被捕。

After their arrest, Chen Qiaonian’s position was exposed, and he was subjected to all kinds of torture, but didn’t say a word. When he bid farewell to his comrades in prision, Chen Qiaonian said optimistically: “let our offspring, the generations that follow us, enjoy the happiness their forbears who blazed new trails!”

被捕后，陈乔年身份暴露，在狱中受尽种种酷刑，但不发一言。在与狱中同志告别时，陈乔年乐观地说道：“让我们的子孙后代，享受前人披荆斩棘的幸福吧！”

On June 6, 1928, Chen Qiaonian died a martyr’s death, aged 26.

1928年6月6日，陈乔年慷慨就义，年仅26岁。

Talking about the “Age of Awakening” scene where the brothers Chen Yannian and Chen Qiaonian died as martyrs, Long Pingping said that he had seen these fragments for at least twenty times, and every time, he couldn’t stop himself from crying loudly.

谈及《觉醒年代》剧中陈延年陈乔年兄弟两就义的场景，龙平平表示，这个片段自己看了不下20遍，每看一次，就忍不住大哭一次。

He says: These men from 100 years ago are examples for the young people of today. Nobody must forget them. With them as our examples, we must build our country well and fulfill these revolutionary martyrs’ final wishes!”

他说：“100年前的他们，就是今天青年人的楷模和榜样。大家不能忘记他们，要以他们为楷模，把我们这个国家建设好，去实现这些革命烈士的遗愿！”

Long Pingping encouraged today’s young students to continue the martyrs’ fine traditions and fight for the rise of China. He said: “Everyone must surely inherit the martyrs’ spirit, know the importance of truth, display patriotic enthusiasm, and you must contribute your own strengths in our new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics so full of opportunities and vigor.”

龙平平激励当代青年学子要继承先烈的优良传统，为中华之崛起而奋斗。他说道：“大家一定要继承烈士的精神，认识到真理的重要，发挥爱国热情，在我们这样的一个充满着生机和活力的是中国特色社会主义的新时代，贡献出你们自己的力量。”

The students also offered the two martyred heroes hand-painted works jointly signed by young Tongji University representatives, “Socialism will never fail to live up to China” and “A beautiful Era’s Picture Scroll”.

同学们也向两位英烈献上同济青年代表共同签名的“社会主义绝不会辜负中国”和“美好时代画卷”手绘作品，希望以今日之美好生活告慰昨日之牺牲奉献，今后更将继续传承英烈之革命精神，奋进新时代。

After the ceremony and tomb-sweeping activities, makers and staff of “Age of Awakening” came to Guanchazhe Online. Screenplay writer Long Pingping held a lecture titled “‘Age of Awakening’: a rite for the foundations of the great revival.” The two young actors Zhang Wanyi and Ma Qilong also came to the scene and shared the process of thought behind the television play’s production. Guanchazhe Online will bring a detailed report tomorrow.

结束龙华陵园的祭扫活动后，《觉醒年代》主创人员一行来到观察者网。编剧龙平平老师举办了主题为“《觉醒年代》：伟大复兴奠基礼”的讲座，张晚意、马启越两位青年演员也来到现场，和观众分享电视剧创作背后的心路历程。详细报道观察者网将于明日发布。

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Related

The CCP’s 2021 Propaganda Blueprint, China Media Project, April 18, 2021

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Shangguan: “Anti-corruption campaigns aren’t about wanting to cull all the errant party cadres”

The following is a translation of a “Shangguan” article. Shangguan (“Shanghai Observer”) has been Jiefang Daily‘s (or “Liberation Daily’s”) online news medium since April 1997, according to Wiki Mandarin.

Jiefang Daily is “the official daily newspaper of the Shanghai Committee of the Communist Party of China”. The article translated here probably targets, above all, party cadres.

It mainly contains two messages which – from a totalitarian point of view – probably don’t contradict each other:

• If you have violated party discipline and the law, you can’t escape the organization
• If you have violated party discipline and the law, you should trust the organization and turn yourselves in before your offenses are exposed by the organization – the org will then be comparatively lenient.

Links within blockquotes have been added during translation.

Xi speaking, cadres taking notes – CCTV evening news on July 24, 2013 (archive).

Main Link:
Secretly returning the money, resisting the organization, fleeing abroad with the money, actively turning oneself in … after breaking discipline and the law, they made entirely different decisions. (悄悄退钱，对抗组织，携款外逃，主动投案……违纪违法后，他们做出了截然不同的选择)

Summary: Under high pressure and awe, political appeals and legal case examples, there will be even more errant cadres who will take the road of actively surrender.

摘要：相信在高压震慑、政策感召和越来越多的案例示范下，还会有更多犯错的党员干部走上主动投案这条路。

Recently, some party cadres who had violated discipline and the law have been exposed. They had gone too far on the wrong road of mistakes, and stood on the edge, facing the abyss. Which path should they take from there?

最近曝光了一些违纪违法的党员干部，他们在错误的道路上走得太远，一直走到了悬崖边，脚下临深渊，该何去何从？

Different people made different choices …

不同人做出了不同的选择——

Some people became anxious and worried, looked around undecidedly, wanting to find a secure lane to safety. They reassured themselves by returning the money they had received. Baotou National Rare Earth Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone People’s Procuratorate’s former inspector Li Shuyao and former Guizhou Province’s Duyun city deputy mayor Liu Shengjun both received money and feared afterwards that the matter could fall through and be exposed. So they returned the money to the briber, as if this would unmake it all.

有人惶惶不安，彷徨四顾，想找到一条安全上岸的小路，于是选择了一个自我安慰的方式——把收来的钱原路退回去。包头市稀土高新技术产业开发区人民检察院原检察官李书耀，贵州省都匀市原副市长刘胜军，都是在收了钱之后感觉事情可能要败露了，又把钱退给行贿人，仿佛这样做，就可以当一切都没发生过。

Some people obstinately persisted in handling things the wrong way. The organization had already discovered their issues and reached out to them, but they kept struggling endlessly. Du Changdi, former Anhui Provincial Investment Group chairman of the board and declared expulsed from the party and the office on September 8, “forged evidence, colluded with others to fabricate a story, and resisted organizational investigation.

有人执迷不悟，组织已经发现了他们的问题，伸手想拉他们一把，他们却还挣扎不休。9月8日被宣布双开的安徽省投资集团原董事长杜长棣，“伪造证据，与他人串供，对抗组织审查”。

Some people chose to flee abroad. On September 7, Heilongjiang Provincial Supervisory Commission announced that Jixi city‘s former deputy mayor Li Chuanliang was suspected of embezzling a large amount of public capital¹⁾. accepting bribes, and accumulating money from questionable business over a long period. To avoid investigation, he fled abroad, and diverted some of the stolen funding abroad.²⁾

还有个别人，选择了外逃。9月7日，黑龙江省纪委监委发布消息，黑龙江省鸡西市原副市长李传良涉嫌贪污巨额国有资金、收受他人贿赂、长期搞钱色交易，为了躲避调查，逃至境外，并向境外转移部分涉案赃款。

But there are more party cadres who choose a different path: promptly braking and turning their heads to seek the organization’s help, taking the initiative to surrender.

不过，有更多党员干部，选择了另一条路：及时刹车，回头寻求组织的帮助，主动投案。

Recently, among those who actively surrendered, there were high-ranking party cadres – Qinghai Province deputy governor Wen Guodong, staff with ordinary public posts at Henan Province, Xinyang No. 1 Hospital’s payment counter. There were cadres who had been retired for five years like Chen Xiaohua, Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture former consultative conference deputy chairman Chen Xiaohua, Changchun Municipal People’s Congress standing committee deputy director Shi Changyou, and Handan municipal party secretary Gao Hongzhi …

最近主动投案的人当中，有党的高级领导干部——青海省副省长文国栋；有普通的公职人员——河南信阳一医院收费室的工作人员；有退休五年的老干部——云南省文山州政协原副主席陈晓华；还有长春市人大常委会副主任史长友、邯郸市委书记高宏志……

Secretly returning the money, resisting the organization, fleeing abroad with the money, actively turning oneself in – what is the correct way out?

悄悄退钱，对抗组织，携款外逃，或者主动投案……到底哪条路，才是正确的出路？

Let’s take a look at the quiet return of the money. If the money has been returned before the opening of a case, everything is fine?

先来看悄悄退钱的。案发前把钱退给行贿人，就万事大吉了？

According to the law, when there is the subjective intention to take a bribe, and the office is used to accept others’ property, and this is for the benefit sought by the others, the power for money exchange has been completed, and so is the crime of taking bribes. What’s more, many cadres, when returning the money, their main concern is to conceal the fact that they took bribes. There has been no sincere regret at all.

根据法律规定，主观上有受贿故意，在客观上利用职务上的便利收受了他人财物，并且是为他人谋取利益，权钱交易已经达成，受贿罪就既遂了。何况很多干部案发前退钱，心中主要是想掩盖受贿事实，根本不是真心悔过。

When people enter the stage of investigation and they still resist the organization, adding one mistake to the other, adding another violation of political discipline to their record, what is awaiting them will be even more serious consequences.

而那些进入审查调查阶段还在对抗组织的人，错上加错，给自己徒增一条违反政治纪律的情形，等待他们的将是更加严重的后果。

To flee with the money is even more of an impasse.

携款外逃，那就更是绝路一条。

China has lots of practical experience in tracking and recovering stolen goods internationally, with more and more mature mechanisms, and the key: “what escapes must be pursued, what’s pursued must be pursued to the last”. No matter who, those who fled to the end of the earth³⁾ won’t get away. They will not only be brought back, but the money must be reclaimed, too. From 2014 to June 2020, China got back 7,831 people from 120 countries, and 19.65 billion Yuan. China initially built an anti-corruption law enforcement cooperation network that covered all continents and key countries, concluded new extradition treaties with 28 countries, judicial assistance treaties, property restitution and sharing agreements. The National Supervisory Commission has concluded agreements with ten countries’ anti-corruption law enforcement institutions and international organizations …

在国际追逃追赃方面，中国已经有丰富的实战经验，有越来越成熟的机制，关键还有“有逃必追、一追到底”的坚定决心，不管是谁，逃到天涯海角都不会放过，不光把人追回来，还要把钱追回来。2014年至2020年6月，中国共从120多个国家和地区追回外逃人员7831人，追回赃款196.54亿元。中国初步构建起一张覆盖各大洲和重点国家的反腐败执法合作网络，与28个国家新缔结引渡条约、司法协助条约、资产返还与分享协定，国家监委与10个国家反腐败执法机构和国际组织签订了合作协议……

Under such a big net, even if he escapes, chasing and returning him is just a matter of time. Many of those on the interpol list who had escaped, have, one after another, returned and turned themselves in.

在这样一张大网下，就算逃出去，被追回来也只是迟早的事儿。之前那些逃出去的“红通”人员，很多都陆陆续续回国投案了。

So, the only remaining thing is to turn oneself in on ones own initiative. That’s the only correct way out. That has also become the practice of more and more errant party cadres. Why do they make this choice?

那么，只剩下主动投案，是唯一正确的出路，也是现如今越来越多犯错误党员干部的做法。他们为什么要作出这样的选择？

After the supervision law had been issued and implemented, Ai Wenli, the first provincial-level cadre who turned himself in on his own initiative said: “After the 19th National Congress, when one after the other fell of the horse, I had to sort things out. I felt that I couldn’t run, or keep up my wishful thinking. … I’m feeling more and more that this path I’ve taken is the right one, that I must trust the organization …”

监察法颁布实施后首个主动投案的省部级干部艾文礼曾说：“十九大之后，落马的一个接一个，我也把我自己的这些事儿捋了捋，我觉得跑不了，不能再有侥幸心理了。……越来越感到我这条路走的是对的，要相信组织……”

“Trust the organization”, these are the true feelings of many surrenderers. To turn oneself in on one’s own initiative spells trust in the party organization, to submit the issue to the party on one’s own initiative is of political significance. Party members and cadres suspected of a lack of discipline and breaking the law or committing crimes in office will be leniently dealt with in accordance with the regulations, discipline, and the law.

“相信组织”，是很多主动投案者说过的心里话。主动投案，选择的是相信党组织，主动向党组织交代问题，这其中是有政治内涵的。对涉嫌违纪、职务违法、职务犯罪的党员干部和公职人员，如果主动投案，将依规依纪依法从宽处理。

In July this year, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission announced the issue of former Hebei Provincial party committee standing committee member and deputy provincial governor Zhang He having violated discipline and the law. He seriously violated party and organizational discipline. Violating discipline also constituted breaking the law on duty. This was of a serious nature with bad effects and something to be dealt with severely. But considering that that he submitted his offenses against discipline and the law voluntarily, issues which had not been known by the organization, and handed over all the illegal income, showing a rather good attitude of acknowledging his mistakes and regretting them, the organization decided to deal with him leniently, in accordance with the principle of “punishing past things to prevent them from happening again”, punished him by expelling him from the party and [This appears to be something related to Zhang He’s pension rights].

今年7月，中央纪委国家监委公布了河北省原省委常委、副省长张和的违纪违法问题。他严重违反党的组织纪律、廉洁纪律并构成职务违法，性质严重，影响恶劣，应予严肃处理。但考虑到他主动交代组织未掌握的违纪违法问题，上交全部违纪违法所得，认错悔错态度较好，按照“惩前毖后、治病救人”的原则，组织决定对他从宽处理，给予开除党籍处分，按四级调研员确定退休待遇。

In August, Yao Yinqi, a state employee suspected of crimes on duty, was the first case to be extradited by a EU member state⁴⁾. He was sentenced by a first-instance court. Because Yao Yingqi actively cooperated in the extradition procedures, truthfully submitted the case as it was and actively and restituted both the stolen value plus interests, he was given a reduced prison sentence of three years and fined 3 mn RMB.

8月，我国首次从欧盟成员国引渡回来的涉嫌职务犯罪的国家工作人员姚锦旗，受到了一审判决。由于姚锦旗在引渡过程中积极配合，如实交代案件事实，并主动退缴全部赃款及其孳息，依法被减轻处罚，判处有期徒刑六年，并处罚金人民币三百万元。

Honest-practice and anti-corruption campaigns aren’t about wanting to cull all the errant party cadres, but to help them to admit their mistakes and to repent. The goal of these campaigns is to achieve the punishment of the past while curing the sickness to save the patient. Previous lessons have shown time and again that getaways and concealment doesn’t make the past go away, so why not face up to one’s own issues and accept the organization’s remedies?

正风肃纪反腐，不是要把犯错的党员干部都一棒子打死，而是要帮助他们认错悔悟，实现惩前毖后、治病救人的目的。前车之鉴已经反反复复地证明，逃来逃去、藏来藏去还是躲不过去，为什么不正视自己的问题，接受组织挽救呢？

There is reason to believe that under high-pressure awe, inspiring policies and more and more model cases, even more errant party cadres will take this road of turning themselves in voluntarily.

相信在高压震慑、政策感召和越来越多的案例示范下，还会有更多犯错的党员干部走上主动投案这条路。

To remain updated about next week’s major events, see how the next chapter evolves. (Zi Buke)

欲知下周大事，且听下回分解。（子不歇）

Column editor: Gu Wanquan. Text editor: Song Hui. Title picture: Shangguan. Picture service: Zhu Li.

栏目主编：顾万全 文字编辑：宋慧 题图来源：上观图编 图片编辑：朱瓅

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Notes

¹⁾ Literally: state-owned capital. Not sure if this reflects the linked definition of “public-owned capital”.
²⁾ The Epoch Times has a different version of the story.
³⁾ In Chinese words: to Cape Haijiao in Sanya (as if the South China Sea hadn’t been full of Chinese islands since ancient times)
⁴⁾ This probably refers to Bulgaria, where Yao was reportedly arrested in October 2018, and extradited to China about a month (and a few days) later.

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Related

Shanghai police chief investigated, SCMP, Aug 18, 2020
How the fly roared back, Jan 25, 2013
Three Self-Control, April 19, 2009

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–

One Territory, two Statements

Apolitical, too? Erdogan in talks hosted by Xi Jinping, July 2019 (CCTV coverage)

Erdogan said that connected by the ancient Silk Road, Turkish-Chinese friendship had a long history and was now strengthened further. Close Turkish-Chinese relations were significant for regional peace and prosperity. Turkey made efforts for the development of relations with China, and for deepening cooperation. Turkey staunchly persued the one-China policy, the happiness of all Xinjiang nationalities in China’s development was also a fact, and Turkey would never allow anyone to incite disharmony in Turkish-Chinese relations. Turkey resolutely opposed extremism, wanted to enhance mutual trust and strengthen security cooperation. Potential for Turkish-Chinese cooperation was huge, Turkey resolutely upheld the construction of “one belt, one road”, and hoped that the two sides would strengthen cooperation on trade, investment, financial, energy, car building, infrastructure, 5G mobile communication, smart cities, etc., and enhance exchanges in the fields of education, culture, research, etc..

埃尔多安表示，通过千年古丝绸之路连接起来的土中友好源远流长，今天得到进一步加强。密切的土中关系对地区和平繁荣有重要意义。土耳其致力于发展对华关系，深化对华合作。土方坚定奉行一个中国政策，中国新疆地区各民族居民在中国发展繁荣中幸福地生活是个事实，土方不允许任何人挑拨土中关系。土耳其坚定反对极端主义，愿同中方增进政治互信，加强安全合作。土中合作潜力巨大，土方坚定支持“一带一路”建设，希望双方在“一带一路”框架内加强贸易、投资、金融、能源、汽车制造、基础设施、第五代移动通信、智慧城市等领域合作，增进在教育、文化、科研等领域交流。

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan‘s statement in July this year, according to the Chinese government’s website

Mesut Özil‘s statement this month, according to “The Guardian”:

His Instagram message read: “East Turkistan, the bleeding wound of the Ummah, resisting against the persecutors trying to separate them from their religion. They burn their Qurans. They shut down their mosques. They ban their schools. They kill their holy men. The men are forced into camps and their families are forced to live with Chinese men. The women are forced to marry Chinese men.

“But Muslims are silent. They won’t make a noise. They have abandoned them. Don’t they know that giving consent for persecution is persecution itself?”

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Related

Beijing invites fact finding mission, July 9, 2019

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Persevere with religions’ sinicization, Wang Yang tells “zhong zong he”

The following is a news item from “Xinwen Lianbo” evening news on July 3. Links within blockquote added during translation into English.

CCTV / Xinwen Lianbo — The first session of the fifth China Committee on Religion and Peace [CCRP, zhōngguó zōngjiào jiè hépíng wěiyuánhuì] was held in Beijing on July 3. Member of the CCP politburo’s standing committee and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference [CPPCC] chairman Wang Yang met with participants and gave a speech.

中国宗教界和平委员会第五届委员会第一次会议3日在北京举行。中共中央政治局常委、全国政协主席汪洋会见与会人员并讲话。

Wang Yang offered his congratulations on the successful convening and elections of a new leadership for the new “zhōng zōng hé” leading body. He pointed out that during the past five years, “zhōng zōng hé” had adhered to the party’s fundamental principle for religious work, fitted into the national diplomacy’s general working situation, complied with the objectives of “friendship, peace, development and cooperation”, actively and on its own initiative publicly proclaimed the true situation of religious freedom to the world and made active contributions to the building of an external environment that would be beneficial to our country’s development. The “zhōng zōng hé” has become an important window for the proclamation of China’s religious policies, and an important platform for the CPPCC’s foreign exchanges.

汪洋对会议的成功召开和选举产生的“中宗和”新一届领导班子表示祝贺。他指出，过去五年来，“中宗和”坚持党的宗教工作基本方针，配合国家外交工作大局，遵循“友好、和平、发展、合作”的宗旨，积极主动宣介我国宗教信仰自由的真实状况，为营造有利于我国发展的良好外部环境作出了积极贡献。“中宗和”已经成为宣介我国宗教政策的重要窗口，成为全国政协开展对外交往的重要平台。

Wang Yang emphasized that the new [i. e. fifth] “zhōng zōng hé” needed to have the new atmosphere of the new era, uphold the leadership of the CCP, conscientiously study and carry out the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, persevere with the direction of our country’s religions’ sinicization, and actively guide religion to better fit into socialist society. [“zhōng zōng hé”] needed to persevere with telling China’s story internationally, master religious policies, improve scholarly knowledge and self-cultivation, to tell China’s story in a language that foreigners understood and in a manner that was easy to accept. [There was a need to] improve China’s religious communities’ right to speak,¹⁾ and  a need to persist in strengthened self-building, in accordance with requirements of political reliability, religious attainment, moral character convincing to the masses and playing a role at the critical moment²⁾,to cultivate and to bring up a strong team of religious talents, in order to contribute to boosting world peace and to promoting the building of a community of shared future for mankind.

汪洋强调，新一届“中宗和”在新时代要有新气象，要坚持中国共产党的领导，认真学习贯彻习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想，坚持我国宗教中国化方向，积极引导宗教更好与社会主义社会相适应。要坚持在国际上讲好宗教的中国故事，掌握宗教政策，提高学识素养，以外国人听得懂的语言、容易接受的方式讲好中国故事，提高中国宗教界在国际上的话语权。要坚持加强自身建设，按照“政治上靠得住、宗教上有造诣、品德上能服众、关键时起作用”的要求，培养造就一支过硬的宗教界人才队伍，为促进世界和平，推动构建人类命运共同体作出应有贡献。

Secretary of the Secretariat of the Communist Party of China and Central Committee’s United Front Work Department director You Quan, CPPCC deputy chairman and secretary general Xia Baolong, and CPPCC deputy chairman Bagatur took part in the meeting.

中共中央书记处书记、中央统战部部长尤权，全国政协副主席兼秘书长夏宝龙、全国政协副主席巴特尔参加会见。

CPPCC deputy chairman and fourth [i. e. previous] “zhōng zōng hé” committee chairman Pagbalha Geleg Namgyai was re-elected as committee chairman and gave a written speech.

全国政协副主席、“中宗和”第四届委员会主席帕巴拉·格列朗杰继续当选为新一届委员会主席并发表了书面讲话。

Source: Chinese Central Television
来源：央视网
Revised on July 3, 2019, at 19:24 h
更新时间：2019年07月03 日 19:24

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Notes

¹⁾ Obviously, this “huayuquan” refers to an international right to speak
²⁾ My translation of “关键时起作用” differs from CMP’s (theirs is from a previous article – see [4] Tibetan monks, nuns and temples receive honours for demonstrated loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party

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Related

Uyghur and Muslim minorities, Aug 19, 2018
Military garden of growing imams, Sept 17, 2014
Once upon time in sunday school, March 29, 2012
Science in action, Dec 26, 2010
Tibetan delegates visit US, March 20, 2009

A VoA Chinese article on the situation of Uyghurs and Muslim minorities

The following is a translation of a Voice of America (VoA) Chinese service’s online article, published on July 27 this year. Links within blockquotes added during translation.

The article refers to a Congressional-Executive Commission on China hearing, conducted on July 26.

World Uyghur Congress’ president Rebiya Kadeer was present at the hearing, and apparently made her remarks to VoA – quoted in the article – on the hearing’s sidelines.

Rebiya Kadeer: Uighurs Today is the Han Chinese peoples’ Tomorrow

Washington — “This is one of the most terrifying things currently happening,” Florida Senator Marco Rubio said. “What is happening under this regime’s jurisdiction looks like a science-fiction novel!”

华盛顿 — 

“ 这是当今世界上发生的最令人毛骨悚然的事情之一， ”美国佛罗里达州联邦参议员鲁比奥(Marco Rubio)说，“这个政权治下发生的事情像是科幻小说！”

What he was referring to is the human rights crisis Xinjiang is currently facing.

他指的是新疆当下面临的人权危机。

As chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Rubio convened a hearing at Senate Office Building¹⁾ on Thursday (July 26), to closely follow the situation of Uighur and other Muslim racial minorities’ situation in Xinjiang. This was the US Congress’ first public hearing about this issue.

作为美国国会及行政当局中国委员会主席，星期四(7月26日)，鲁比奥在参议院大楼召集了一场听证会，关注维吾尔人和新疆其他穆斯林少数族裔的境遇。这是美国国会首次就这一问题举行公开听证。

Many witnesses attending the hearing said that an all-pervasive security system, DNA gathering, large-scale arbitrary detention, cruelty, extreme restrictions on religion and culture … the Chinese government was working hard to turn Xinjiang into the world’s most highly technogical “policing area”.

出席听证会的多名证人说，无孔不入的监控系统、DNA采集、大规模任意拘押、酷刑、对宗教和文化的极端限制……中国政府正在努力将新疆变为全世界最高科技的“警察地区”。”。

Ambassador Kelley E. Currie, representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, said that from April 2017 on, said that the degree of repression by the Chinese authorities, under the leadership of Xi Jinping, was “shocking”, and even hard to compare with the peak time of the “Cultural Revolution”.

美国驻联合国经济和社会理事会代表凯利·克里(Kelley E. Currie)大使说，从2017年4月起，以习近平为首的中国当局对维吾尔人的镇压程度“令人震惊”，即使是在“文化大革命”顶峰时期也难以比及。

“There are bans on ‘unsusual’ beards, and bans on women wearing combinations of glasses and veils in public squares. Muslims refusing to wear shorts, to smoke, to drink alcohol or to eat pork are regarded as criminals. Even refusing to watch official television station’s programs are proofs of crime,” she said.²⁾

“禁止男子留‘不正常的’胡须，禁止女性在公众场合戴面纱。拒绝穿短裤，拒绝抽烟、喝酒、吃猪肉的穆斯林都被当作犯罪，就连拒绝看官方电视台的节目也是罪证，”她说。

Gulchehra Hoja is a reporter³⁾ at the Uighur team of Radio Free Asia’s headquarters in Washington D.C.. In February this year, she learned that nearly twenty of her own relatives in Xinjiang had been arrested by the Chinese public security department on that day. Before that, her younger brother had been arrested by police, and locked into a re-education camp.

古丽恰克热·霍迦是总部设在华盛顿的自由亚洲电台维语组的记者。今年2月，她得知自己新疆的近20名亲属在同一天被中国公安部门逮捕。此前，她的弟弟已被警方抓走，关进再教育营。

“Testifying here today, and bringing this up still makes me feel sad. My parents remain trapped, and more than twenty of my relatives remain unaccounted for. It can be said with near-certainty that they have been locked into the Chinese government’s so-called ‘re-education camps’,” she said in tears.

“今天我在这里作证 ，说起这些依然让我感到悲伤，我的父母目前仍然被困， 我的20多名亲属仍然下落不明。几乎可以肯定他们被关进了中国政府所谓的‘再教育营’， ”她含着泪说。

Relatives of her five Uighur colleagues have also been arrested and sentenced in China, and this is only a microcosm of the tragedies going on in countless Muslim households in Xinjiang. According to a number of sources, the number of Uighurs imprisoned in the authorities’ “education and transformation” camps is currently at more than one million.

她的另外五名维吾尔同事也都有家人在中国被拘捕、判刑，而这只是无数新疆穆斯林家庭悲剧的缩影。各方消息来源说，目前被关在中国当局以“教育转化”为名建设的营地中的维吾尔人有100多万。

Well-known Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer told VoA that among her family people, more than thirty people had been arrested. She said that the actual number of Uighurs under arrest could be as high as 2 million, and that many children in the region had been sent to orphanages.

知名维吾尔活动人士热比娅告诉美国之音，她自己的家人中有30多人被抓走。她说，被拘禁的维吾尔人的真实数字可能高达200万，当地还有很多儿童被送进孤儿院。

“What is happening in East Turkestan brings to mind the crimes of nazi Germany against Jews during the second world war,” she said. “US Congress should put forward a resolution to close these concentration camps. US officials should earnestly raise the issue of the Uighurs with Chinese officials.”

“发生在东突厥斯坦的事让人联想到第二次大战期间纳粹德国对犹太人的罪行，” 热比娅说，“美国国会应该提出决议案，关闭这些集中营。美国官员应该严肃地和中国官员提出维吾尔人的问题。”

Kadeer also said that not only Americans, but Chinese people too, should stand up. She hoped to send this kind of message to the Han Chinese through the Voice of America: “Our today (is) their tomorrow.”

热比娅还说，不仅是美国，中国人也应该站起身来。她希望通过美国之音向汉人传达这样一个信息：“我们的今天，（就是）他们的明天。”

Rubio said that it was also disturbing that there were companies that intentionally or unintentionally became helpers in the Chinese authorities’ violations of human rights and privacy. He mentioned Hikvision and Dahua technology company as suppliers of monitoring equipment to the authorities in Xinjiang, and also criticized an American company from Massachusetts for supplying DNA gathering tools to Xinjiang.

鲁比奥议员说，在新疆镇压运动中同样令人不安的是，一些企业有意或无意地成为中国当局侵犯人权和隐私的帮凶。他点名中国的海康威视和大华科技公司为新疆当局提供监控设备， 同时批评美国麻萨诸塞州的一家公司为新疆提供DNA采集工具。

He said that some multi-national companies that didn’t like certain positions held by the US government refused to do business with the government, but lobbied in Washington every day, hoping to enter China’s vast markets, turning a blind eye to China’s governing Communist Party’s human rights violations.⁴⁾

他说，一些跨国公司因为不喜欢美国政府的某些立场，拒绝和政府做生意，却每天在华盛顿游说，希望进入中国的广阔市场，对中国执政的共产党侵犯人权的行为视若无睹。

“This is really appalling, and absolutely hypocritical,” he said.

“这实在令人气愤，太虚伪了，” 鲁比奥说。

Also testifying at the hearing were US department of commerce officials, scholars, and journalists. With several lawmakers, from the dimensions of US-Sino relations, they explored the political options of dealing with the issue, including raising world peoples’ attention to the fate of the Uighurs, restricting American companies’ relevant business with China, punishing Xinjiang central government officials based on the Magnitsky act, etc..

在听证会上作证的还有美国商务部官员、学者以及新闻工作者。他们和多名议员一道从美中关系的维度探讨处理该问题的政治选项，包括继续引起世人对维吾尔人命运的关注，限制相关美国公司与中国的生意往来，通过《全球马格尼茨基人权问责法》惩治新疆主政官员等。

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Notes

¹⁾ this probably refers to the 124 Dirksen Senate Office Building

²⁾ from Currie’s written statement (as of July 25, i. e. one day before the hearing):

The scope of this campaign is truly breathtaking: authorities now prohibit “abnormal” beards and the wearing of veils in public, and classify refusal to watch state television, refusal to wear shorts, abstention from alcohol and tobacco, refusal to eat pork, fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, or practicing traditional funeral rituals, as potential signs that individuals harbor extreme religious views.

³⁾ from Gulchehra Hoja’s testimony:

As I testify before you here today, it grieves me to no end to say that my parents remain under threat, and more than two dozen of my relatives in China are missing – almost certainly held in re-education camps run by authorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

⁴⁾ starting here – or, if it takes too long to load, “a partial and rough transcript”
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Related

“Mistakenly deported”, CBC Radio, Aug 8, 2018

Updates/Related

Research and Study Class, Aug 19, 2018
Turkey, Anadolu Opinion, Oct 31, 2017

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Sports, Meeting the Bad Guys

Once she was the richest woman in Xinjiang, having amassed a fortune trading commodities with neighboring Central Asian countries and owning Urumqi’s largest department store.

Officials would bring foreign visitors to meet her, as living refutation of Uighurs’ complaints that Chinese policies relegated them to second-class citizenship.

That’s how the Christian Science Monitor described the earlier life of Rebiya Kadeer, in summer 2009. Then, the article moved on to her later years in East Turkestan and China – her fall from grace, her arrest, and her term in jail during the early 2000s.

Her story came to my mind when Mesut Özil, a player for Arsenal and a German citizen, resigned from Germany’s “national team” on Sunday, i. e. from the German Football Association’s (DFB) top team that vies for the FIFA World Cups or at the UEFA European Championships every four years respectively.

Özil, approaching his 30th birthday this year, has been a star in Germany for most of the past decade. There have also been derogatory remarks about him in the past, and a right-wing politician called Özil a “plastic German” live on television, referring to the synthetic material covering German identity cards. But Özil’s career developed unobstructedly. So did his public image.

Özil was born as a Turkish citizen, in the German town of Gelsenkirchen. He took German citizenship in 2007, and if the few statements he publicly made are something to go by, he probably considers himself a citizen of the world.

Kadeer was reportedly on her way to meet a politician in Urumqi when she was arrested, in 1999. The politician was a bad guy – an American.

Özil met a politician at Arsenal in London earlier this year. The politician was a bad guy, too – the Turkish president.

Obviously, there are differences between the American bad guy and the Turkish bad guy. The American politician was a bad guy because he cared about human rights. The Turkish president is a bad guy because he gives a damn on human rights, and on the rule of law.

But this is where Özil’s fall from grace began. It’s in the nature of the sport that he was known way beyond the world of soccer, Germany’s number one sport. He was sold – by the DFB and by German politics – as a shining example of “integration”, the incorporation of migrants into German society.

That was weird, given that he had lived in Germany from day one of his life anyway, but propaganda doesn’t have to be accurate. It is meant to tie the nation together, rather than to inform it. And for about a decade, the message seemed to work for the cause of social cohesion.

Soccer doesn’t breed the most civil interaction, certainly not among the fan base. And it isn’t the best ground for decent standards on the level of business operations either. To demand that people who make millions from playing soccer should be “role models” is an excessive demand – no matter if they are made on foreigners or compatriots, migrants or Mayflower descendants (or whatever their German equivalents may be). If things go well, you won’t get into public-relations trouble. But it can easily happen. It is currently happening to the DFB president, Reinhard Grindel, too, because much of Özil’s criticism in his letter of resignation was targeted at him, and while the press is critical of the accusations in Özil’s letter of resignation, the DFB is criticized mercilessly – for “racism” by some, for chaotic management by many.

Özil’s preparedness to meet Turkish president Erdogan for a photo op was read as an endorsement for the campaigning politician by many in Germany, and probably by some Turkish voters, too. His explanation that it wasn’t meant to be an endorsement, but just a show of respect for the presidential office, didn’t convince the German public.

But why did he have to seek excuses at all? The world of sports isn’t about human rights – not even when it comes to safety standards. And did Jacques Rogge have to apologize for meeting Hu Jintao? Not really.

Did Lothar Matthäus have to explain why he had been sitting next to Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán when the country’s political leader opened a soccer stadium? Neither.

Socializing with unpleasant political leaders, and making yourself useful (or making them useful to yourself, or both) is an important element of “professional sports” – if you  can’t put up with it, change it, or stop being a fan. But don’t beam your anger on a few guys in particular.

Is there a moral to this story? Maybe it is a lesson about the dangers of propaganda. For most of the past decade, Özil fitted well into collective German ego-boosting. Now, sudden new fans use his image to agitate their audiences.

Don’t hold your breath for role models in sports. Once in a while, there may be some – maybe Muhammad Ali became one, in the course of many decades. But usually, some of a person’s action (or inaction) may be admirable, some other may be detestable.

Hundreds of sports officials, and thousands of cadres, have proven by their behavior that commercial sports isn’t doing embroidery.

That said, it isn’t writing essays, either.