A Wish List for the Man Replacing Tim Cook as Apple’s C.E.O.

Add to this list “an end to the vast capitulation to the Chinese government.”

Wish List for the Man Replacing Tim Cook as Apple’s C.E.O. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/t...

OL CHN (5.2026) | Sophie Richardson Eight #UnitedNations #humanrights experts ask the government of #China all the right and hard questions about its new "ethnic unity" law, including how Beijing will reconcile that with starkly differe...

Thanks to these eight UN human rights experts for their strong commentary and pointed questions to the Chinese government on its attempts to legalize forced assimilation and cultural annihilation, aka the "ethnic unity" law.
spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBas...

Kazakhstan sentences 19 for protest against repression in China's Xinjiang region A Kazakh court has convicted 19 Kazakh activists after a protest against Beijing’s crackdown in China’s far-western Xinjiang region last year, in what advocates call an extraordinary move by the Kazak...

#China govt exports its much-criticized approach to criminalizing #freespeech to neighboring #Kazakhstan, which complies by sentencing 19 citizens who had expressed concern about #humanrights violations in #Xinjiang. Their conduct is legal; their detention is not. apnews.com/article/kaza...

Documents Raise Fear of Further Crackdown on Great Firewall Circumvention Tools A group of documents recently circulating online has stoked apprehension about a new wave of pressure on tools used to circumvent China’s Great Firewall. One memo, from online services provider Qihang...

Great sleuthing from @chinadigitaltimes.net on #China ever-tightening info controls, this time on tools to circumvent the #GreatFirewall.
chinadigitaltimes.net/2026/04/docu...

PRC State-centric AI Governance Weakens Protection of Rights - Jamestown Executive Summary: In February, U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) firm Anthropic alleged that three Chinese AI companies, DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, and MiniMax, had used large numbers of fraudulent accou...

Glad to read @yaqiu.bsky.social on #China #AI:
"The long-term implication is a global information environment heavily shaped by Beijing, alongside AI governance norms that legitimize expansive governmental discretion over the protection of individual rights."
jamestown.org/prc-state-ce...

Opinion | A Stunning New Verdict Rewrites the Rules of Corporate Morality

“‘I am trying to make you understand how choices made in your offices, thousands of kilometers away, turned into Kalashnikov bullets, into blood,’ the judge said.”

A Stunning New Verdict Rewrites the Rules of Corporate Morality www.nytimes.com/2026/04/17/o...

Why is #China petitioner Yin Dengzhen in jail at all? She has broken no recognizable law. She is also gravely ill and authorities are denying her adequate medical care.

www.nchrd.org/2026/04/chin...

The EU is right to worry. Beijing specializes in imposing prison-like constraints far outside prison walls.

Human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng, who was detained en route to meet EU officials in Beijing in 2023, has been released from prison today

EU response: "We are concerned that Yu Wensheng will continue to face surveillance and restrictions after his release."

中国：当局必须在刑满后释放被任意拘留的人权律师余文生，并确保其充分自由 | Chinese Human Rights Defenders 人权律师余文生预计将于4月13日获释，此前他因莫须有的“煽动颠覆国家政权罪”服刑3年。

Will the Chinese govt release human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng today, as scheduled? Compared to the victory over authoritarianism in Hungary, Xi Jinping’s repression—which includes collective punishment—is stark.

www.nchrd.org/2026/04/%e4%...

The minerals powering EVs, solar, and wind are fueling a global race with serious consequences: #HumanRights abuses, #environmental harm and carbon emissions.

How do we decarbonize without exploiting? 🌍 Join us at #SFClimateWeek
📅 Apr 24 | 9:30–11AM | San Francisco
➡️ luma.com/uxh9kl7o

Join us at #SFClimateWeek as we explore a pioneering initiative to curb avocado-driven #deforestation in #Mexico, including a satellite-based certification and conservation program with striking results.
📅 Wed, April 22
🕟 3:30 PM
📍 235 Montgomery St., Suite 1300, SF
Register: luma.com/aa2er66b

Germany's China Strategy at a Crossroads Listen now | Marina Rudyak discusses the strategic shifts taking place in Germany & European approaches to China & the US

Great to hear @rudyakmarina.bsky.social on China and Europe, Germany, Russia, India; the need for greater expertise in governments; whether a transatlantic dialogue on China still exists. open.substack.com/pub/tracking...

With new environmental law, China expands its ‘war on pollution’ But observers fear measure will limit public’s ability to challenge potentially harmful projects

A good overview of the pros and cons of new #China govt environmental law. www.science.org/content/arti...

Liang Hong on Youth Depression in China | China Books Review An author famous for her observations on China's village life turns her attention to the mental health of its adolescents.

“Children are, in a sense, the nerve endings of society: society’s crises manifest within children first. This is why this issue goes far beyond China.”
chinabooksreview.com/2026/03/10/w...

New event!
📆25th & 26th April

@seajunction.bsky.social will hold their monthly mini book & craft fair in Bangkok.

Details:
seajunction.org/event/southe...

Across Asia, youth-led movements have been unfolding in very different contexts — yet shaped by similar frustrations around governance, accountability, and the future. Signals from the Streets: Civic Resistance and Democratic Trajectories in Asia brings together five country cases to explore what these movements reveal about how democracy is being experienced on the ground. Join ADN for the report launch discussion. Thursday, 9 April 2026 3 PM IST / 4:30 PM Bangkok

New event!
📆9th April
🕟4:30pm Thailand Time

Asia Democracy Network hold report launch "Democracy overview 2025: Signals from the streets, Civic Resistance & Democratic Trajectories in Asia"

Details:
www.instagram.com/p/DWnYBGSiRmg

Rights group condemns trial of Chinese artist whose works criticise Mao A rights group called for the immediate release of jailed Chinese artist Gao Zhen, whose works criticised former leader Mao Zedong, as his trial began on Monday.

#FreeGaoZhen
🗞️ The absence of a verdict on Monday indicated that “a political decision has not yet been made about the case”, #CHRD’ s co-executive director @sophiedrich.bsky.social said.

“This has nothing to do with law.”

hongkongfp.com/2026/03/31/r...

🚨Today a court in #Hebei #China "tried" artist #GaoZhen in secret, but didn't hand down a verdict. Why? Because the authorities haven't reached a political conclusion about what do with Gao or his equally arbitrarily exit-banned family.
www.nchrd.org/2026/03/chin... @chrdnet.bsky.social

Art.
Is.
Not.
A.
Crime.

(Except when it hurts Xi Jinping’s apparently very delicate feelings.)

Free Gao Zhen!

www.nchrd.org/2026/03/chin...

From the very same Chinese government that let a Nobel Peace laureate, Liu Xiaobo, die in detention.

Human Health: Measuring the impact of rising temperatures on mortality to target adaptation planning - Climate Impact Lab

A new report from the Climate Impact Lab finds that climate change is projected to cause 10x more premature deaths from rising temperatures in low and middle income countries than rich countries, underscoring the need for targeted adaptation investments. impactlab.org/research/hum...

The Hong Kong NSL is seditious. Selling books is not.

Sedition means working to overthrow an established legal order. So we should be thinking of #HongKong authorities carrying out “seditious” activities by arresting booksellers, which is no crime under the #ICCPR (ratified in 1996, still in force). www.msn.com/en-au/news/a...

How to Be Chinese and Progressive in 2026 Global China stories, global Chinese voices, and the latest community events around the world.

New issue of Hǎi 海 is out:

New Event(s)!
📆25th - 26th Conference
📆26th 🕑2pm Panel

In Manchester "Dissent" conference on Museums & political disagreement.

& Panel "Tibet in the Museum" w/ @dawalokyitsang.bsky.social Te Nam @sftparis.bsky.social & @tsamtruk.bsky.social

Details
www.eventbrite.com/e/dissent-mu...

No, judges from functional, rule of law-respecting jurisdictions should not assist. Even if they gave it their best, most rule of law-respecting effort, that wouldn't change the nature of #China govt #XiJinping goal for legal system: to make it an instrument of #CCP power, at home and abroad.

Precisely the nature of arbitrary, anti-rule of law governance. Today something is legal; tomorrow it's not. #XiJinping'srulesoforder

HK indy bookstore staff arrested; Jimmy Lai book among titles seized - report Hong Kong independent bookseller Pong Yat-ming and three of his staff have reportedly been arrested on suspicion of selling seditious titles, including a biography of jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai.

#HongKong politicians and law enforcement stoop to new lows, targeting books and booksellers (see: #GuiMinhai and others, 2015, Causeway Bay Books).

Key point: moves like these are in stark tension with #HongKong's obligations under #ICCPR.

hongkongfp.com/2026/03/24/b...

Lingua Sinica | Substack News, analysis, and commentary on Chinese-language media from the PRC and beyond. Click to read Lingua Sinica, a Substack publication with thousands of subscribers.

"Nonetheless, his case raises serious questions about how state media from the People’s Republic of #China operate in Europe and beyond, and how governments should respond. Where does propaganda end and espionage begin?"
Lingua Sinica
linguasinica.substack.com?utm_source=n...