All Reading
This section contains a curated list of useful articles, investigations, books and other reading materials. The list is updated on a weekly basis and suggestions for additions are welcome.
Starting Points:
China is borrowing Nazi’s ‘genocide tourism’ practices in Xinjiang: scholar
Beijing wants visitors to believe the Uyghurs are thriving – and control what they see, a Swedish expert writes.
TikTok promotes pro-China bias on Tibet, Taiwan, Uyghurs: study
The findings show Beijing’s attempts to sway public opinion, particularly among youth, experts say.
Quizzed at UN, Chinese delegates deny rights abuses against Uyghurs, Tibetans
Under intense questioning by UN experts over two days, a delegation of Chinese officials staunchly denied any human rights violations against Uyghur and Tibetan minorities.
Beijing Stands Firm Against Reports of Uyghur Detentions
Contrary to Beijing’s claims of “harmony” in Xinjiang, some Uyghurs living abroad, unable to freely contact their family members in Xinjiang for years, say that Chinese authorities have recently detained their loved ones.
Event: Beijing’s Global Media Influence: Authoritarian Expansion and the Power of Democratic Resilience
Freedom House's newest report documents how the Chinese government is accelerating its efforts to influence news coverage and commentary in democracies worldwide, including through the use of covert and coercive tactics. Register for this virtual event discussing the report’s findings.
China exploits US social media to push its own Xinjiang narratives, report finds
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is using increasingly elaborate online tactics to counter information about human rights abuses in western China’s Xinjiang region in hopes of influencing audiences across the globe, according to a new report.
Assessing the impact of CCP information operations related to Xinjiang
This report explores the online tactics used by the Chinese Communist Party to deny revelations or claims of human rights abuses occurring in Xinjiang.
Cultivating friendly forces: The Chinese Communist Party’s influence operations in the Xinjiang Diaspora
This report explores how the CCP’s united front system is used to monitor the Uyghur diaspora and counter criticism of its policies in Xinjiang.
Xinjiang officials said to pay Uyghurs to perform dance at Kashgar mosque
Authorities in Kashgar allegedly paid Muslim Uyghur men to dance outside the most famous mosque in northwestern China’s Xinjiang region to celebrate the end of Ramadan, RFA reports.
Beijing 2022 organisers claim stories of Xinjiang human rights abuses are ‘lies’
The Winter Olympics have been plunged into further controversy after Beijing 2022 spokesperson Yan Jiarong dismissed human rights violations among the Uyghur Muslim population as “lies” and insisted Taiwan was part of China. Yan, a former member of the Chinese delegation to the UN general assembly, referred to “so-called forced labour” in Xinjiang in response to one question, before saying China was against the “politicising of sports”.
Threatened, harassed, punished: The Uyghur translators defying China to tell Xinjiang’s story
Journalists rely on a short supply of Uyghur interpreters to investigate the human rights crisis in northwest China. The CCP is intent on muzzling them.
The Big Business of Uyghur Genocide Denial
A New Lines investigation reveals a network of charities funneling millions into left-wing platforms that take Beijing’s side on the genocide allegations — and they’re all connected to an American tech magnate.
Meet the New Uyghurs
China’s propaganda narrative centers on the personal transformations of Uyghurs, removing the cultural and ethnic markers Beijing finds distasteful.
Meet the “New” Uyghurs: CGTN’s Role in Mediawashing Genocide
China’s flagship international broadcaster, China Global Television Network (CGTN), is central to an influence campaign meant to convince a worldwide public that the Uyghurs and the Uyghur Region have been politically cleansed through reeducation, and that the region is now open for state-approved cultural tourism.
The CCP's Willing Influencers Amplify State Propaganda Online
This week, a slew of new reports on China’s online propaganda campaigns was released. As researchers documented, the CCP is increasingly using foreign influencers to disseminate pro-China narratives on Western social media—particularly regarding the crimes against humanity in Xinjiang—in order to increase engagement and defend against foreign critics.
Chinese government deploying online influencers amid Beijing Olympics boycotts
The Chinese government hired a firm to recruit social media influencers as part of a new digital operation amid controversies surrounding diplomatic boycotts of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, OpenSecrets’ review of Foreign Agents Registration Act Records found. The influence operation is being coordinated by Vippi Media, a consulting firm based in New Jersey, as part of a $300,000 contract that spans through March 2022. China’s Consulate General in New York paid $210,000 in advance on Nov. 23.
Borrowing mouths to speak on Xinjiang
This report explores how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses foreign social media influencers to shape and push messages domestically and internationally about Xinjiang that are aligned with its own preferred narratives.
The foreigners in China’s disinformation drive
Foreign video bloggers denouncing what they say is negative coverage of China on highly controversial subjects such as Xinjiang are attracting large numbers of subscribers on platforms like YouTube. In recent years, the "vloggers" have been increasingly presenting themselves as China-lovers, spreading Communist Party disinformation.
Event: Disinformation, Propaganda and the Uyghur Crisis
To launch a new report, "The Happiest Muslims in the World": Disinformation, Propaganda and the Uyghur Crisis, UHRP has invited a panel of experts to discuss this timely issue and its implications for human rights worldwide.
“The Happiest Muslims in the World”: Disinformation, Propaganda and the Uyghur Crisis
This report analyses English-language Chinese media sources aimed at foreign audiences to examine CCP messaging strategies on the Uyghur human rights crisis.