Xinjiang

China’s controversial western region
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China has been hit by sanctions from the US and other countries over alleged suppression of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, its far-west frontier region. It says these claims are politically motivated and that its policies in Xinjiang are to counter extremism and reduce poverty.

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News
China Economy
Tourists enjoy leisure time on a frozen lake at the Nanhu Park in Changchun, northeast China’s Jilin province, in January 2020. Photo: Xinhua
China Economy
China turns to school ‘snow breaks’ to warm up winter tourism industry
Ahead of next year’s record-long Spring Festival, local governments roll out short holidays to lure families to winter getaways.
Chen Weijun, once regarded as a promising political star, is under investigation for suspected “serious violations of discipline and law”. Photo: Handout
Politics
Chen Weijun joins list of senior Xinjiang officials investigated for corruption
Party journal Qiushi republishes speech by President Xi Jinping in which he urged greater effort in the push for ‘self-revolution’.
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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi with Syrian counterpart Asaad al-Shaibani ahead of their meeting in Beijing on November 17. Photo: Xinhua
Diplomacy
Why Xinjiang casts a long shadow over China and Syria’s efforts to rebuild ties
The new Syrian government needs help in rebuilding, but Beijing is deeply concerned about Uygur militant groups inside the country.
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Hong Kong is observing three days of mourning after at least 128 lives were lost in the city’s worst blaze in decades. Photo: Karma Lo
Politics
Beijing launches nationwide fire safety drive in wake of deadly Hong Kong blaze
Notice vows to ‘identify and rectify’ fire risks across public and private facilities, with a focus on unsafe practices and lax management.
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Longmen Bridge, photographed in December 2024. The project crosses the Maowei Sea and Pinglu Canal outlet, one of the country’s latest mega-infrastructure projects. Photo: Xinhua
China Economy
Building the future: China eyes smarter, more efficient transport infrastructure
The world’s biggest builder vows new chapter marked by landmark projects, tighter integration and data sharing.
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A scene from “Assalamualaikum Beijing 2: Lost in Ningxia” featuring actors Yasmin Napper (right) and Gabriella Ekaputri. Photo: Imperial Picture
Lifestyle & Culture
Indonesia scripts soft-power diplomacy push with film shot in China’s Ningxia
Analysts say ‘Assalamualaikum Beijing 2: Lost in Ningxia’ is a striking example of cinema being used to bridge cultural divides.
The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) has launched a surgical cabin for its C909 narrowbody jet. Photo: Sina
China Economy
China’s Comac debuts C909 surgical cabin for ‘flying hospital’ missions
The modified aircraft – dubbed a ‘milestone’ – will support a range of medical interventions, especially in poorer regions.
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China crept back to third place with a 14 per cent share of bitcoin mining at the end of October, according to Hashrate Index. Photo: Shutterstock
Tech Trends
Bitcoin mining in China rebounds, defying 2021 ban
Individual and corporate miners exploit cheap electricity and a data-centre boom in some energy-rich provinces, miners and industry data say.
Syrian foreign minister Asaad Al-Shaibani said the country needed “genuine strategic partnerships, especially with China”. Photo: AFP
Diplomacy
China looks to get relations with Syria ‘back on track’ after Assad’s downfall
In first meeting with counterpart Asaad al-Shaibani, Foreign Minister Wang Yi urges new regime to act against Xinjiang militant groups.
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Morgan Stanley assisted with Zijin Gold’s Hong Kong IPO in September. Photo: dpa
Banking & Finance
Morgan Stanley faces US scrutiny over Zijin Gold’s Hong Kong IPO
Zijin Gold’s parent was added to a US government list of firms whose imports are banned over alleged human rights abuses involving Uygurs.
China’s Silver Age Teaching Programme employs retired teachers to work in less-developed regions. Photo: Visual China Group via Getty Images
China Economy
How China’s retired teachers are helping bridge the urban-rural education divide
A government programme sends highly-experienced urban teachers to less developed regions – but is it enough to close the gap?
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The Princess of Xiaohe is one of the most famous mummies found in the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang, China. Can the origins of the modern witch hat be traced to this region? Photo: Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
Lifestyle
Where do witch hats come from? China’s Tarim mummies may hold the answer
The ‘witch hat’-wearing mummies have long caused debate among historians. Could they suggest Europeans reached Asia earlier than we thought?
Two Walls – Ordinary War Rehearsal (2025), by Wu Ziyang. Photo: courtesy Wu Ziyang
Culture
They’re training AI on nuclear trauma, war zones and teeth launched into space
Forget mountains and rivers. At Tai Kwun, creatives transform glitchy algorithms, viral robots and memory into their medium.
A Fuxing bullet train runs along the Lhasa-Nyingchi railway on June 24, 2021, in Shannan, Tibet autonomous region. Photo: Visual China Group via Getty Images
China Economy
Explainer|What makes the Xinjiang-Tibet mega railway China’s ‘project of the century’?
The ambitious project will cut through glaciers and mountains, bridging two regions long isolated by geography.
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US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks to reporters at the US Capitol in Washington in June. Photo: Reuters
China
US optimism ahead of trade talks; Jane Goodall tributes: SCMP daily highlights
From Scott Bessent seeing a ‘breakthrough’ in US-China trade relations to Tsinghua University’s success, here’s a round-up from today’s coverage.
illustration: Lau Ka-kuen
Politics
The data access challenge in China of trying to counter the US’ Xinjiang claims
Reticence of regional authorities is said to hinder efforts to assess human rights allegations like forced labour and birth control.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping, who recently visited Tibet and Xinjiang, has called for China’s religious leaders to be better “guided” to embody Chinese characteristics in religious doctrines, rules, management systems, rituals and customs. Photo: Xinhua
Politics
Religion must align with law for ethnic and social harmony in China, Xi says
During a Politburo study session, Xi Jinping says Beijing must ‘implement strict law enforcement’ regarding religion.
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The airship-like S1500 is about the size of a basketball court and as tall as a 13-storey building. Photo: Handout
Science
World’s most powerful flying wind turbine launched in western China
Gigantic gliding ‘power bank’ could help communities cut off from the grid during blackouts and cement China’s leading role in green energy.
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Xi Jinping visited the region to mark the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Photo: Xinhua
Politics
Senior officials intensify focus on religion and use of Chinese in Xinjiang
Round of tours, which included drive to promote sense of national unity, continued after President Xi Jinping’s visit to the region this week.
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President Donald Trump speaks after signing a TikTok executive order. Photo: AP
Daily Pulse|Trump’s TikTok sign-off, China climate target, Zijin Gold IPO
This week: Trump approves planned US TikTok deal, Xi unveils 2035 emissions targets, super typhoon batters Hong Kong. Next week: September PMI, golden week travel rush, K-type tech visa, world’s biggest indoor ski centre opens and more.
Yu Faxin is also a Qiushi distinguished professor at Zhejiang University’s School of Aeronautics and Astronautics in Hangzhou. Photo: Shutterstock
World
Top China weapons chip scientist detained, Trump’s H-1B chaos: 7 highlights
From top Chinese weapons chip scientist detained to Trump’s H-1B visa chaos, here are highlights from SCMP’s recent reporting.
Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a gala marking the 70th founding anniversary of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in Urumqi, the regional capital, on Wednesday. Photo: Xinhua
Politics
China’s ethnic affairs chief hails Xinjiang policies in Xi’s ‘new era’
Speech in Urumqi comes at the end of the first trip by a Chinese president to the autonomous region for its anniversary.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping visits a cultural centre in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, on Wednesday. Photo: Xinhua
Politics
Xi on Xinjiang visit urges ‘every effort’ to achieve social stability
Chinese leader’s remarks promoting cultural integration come as autonomous region marks 70th anniversary and amid Beijing’s push for unity.
Xi Jinping is first Chinese president to attend Xinjiang anniversary celebration. Photo: Xinhua
Politics
Xi Jinping is first Chinese president to attend Xinjiang anniversary celebration
Accompanying Xi are Wang Huning, China’s No 4 official and top ethnic affairs adviser, and Cai Qi, his chief of staff and No 5 official.
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The Dashixia mega dam in Xinjiang is 247 metres high – about the same as an 80-storey building. Photo: CCTV
Science
China’s record-breaking new dam, built with the help of AI, starts storing water
It’s the world’s tallest concrete-faced rockfill dam and was completed using full-scale intelligent technology and construction.
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Bagram Air Base is located less than 800km from Afghanistan’s border with China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Photo: AP
China
Does Trump’s push for Afghan air base risk inflaming US-China rivalry?
US leader says he wants to regain control of Bagram Air Base because of its proximity to Chinese nuclear facilities in Xinjiang.
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Farm workers in Xinjiang, where the regional government has acknowledged the impact of US sanctions for the first time. Photo: Getty Images
Politics
US sanctions hit job prospects in Xinjiang, local official admits for first time
Chen Weijun’s comments are the first official confirmation of the impact of the sanctions, imposed over claims of human rights abuses.
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Bull statues stand in front of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on November 17, 2024, in Shenzhen, in China’s southern Guangdong province. Photo: Getty Images
China Business
Listed Xinjiang firms soar as region’s growth beats national economy
Shares in several listed companies rise by the daily maximum of 10 per cent as investors discern strong earnings prospects.
Shipping containers are stacked at a port in Qingdao, in eastern China’s Shandong province on September 4. China’s exports to the United States have fallen amid the trade war, but there has been a wide divergence in terms of the trade war’s impact on different Chinese regions. Photo: AFP
China Economy
Explainer|How are US tariffs affecting China’s export hubs? Answer: it’s complicated
Some Chinese provinces have recorded sharp drops in US exports amid the trade war. Others have seen shipments soar as much as 265%.
Opinion
My Take|Is China committing ‘genocide’ by promoting tourism and development?
Much of UK media and academia have helped manufacture spurious claims about Xinjiang while denying real monstrous crimes elsewhere that many of them sponsor or otherwise justify.
SCMP ColumnistAlex Lo
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Editorial|In chasing young fans, Jockey Club must never forget its duty to them
In modernising horse racing and broadening its appeal, the club must also step up efforts to protect the young and support problem gamblers.
SCMP Editorial
My Take|New world order: Greater China, Russia and Israel, but smaller US
Spheres of influence are emerging that will slowly but surely erode America’s global power from East Asia to the Middle East.
SCMP ColumnistAlex Lo
3
My Take|China’s extended visa-free tourist stays drive momentum for opening
Its latest foreign-visitor policy shows that China is willing to be pragmatic, rather than adhering strictly to ideologies.
SCMP ColumnistZhou Xin
5
My Take|How Washington makes up a fake genocide but enables a real one
United Nations report warns US unilateral actions are hurting the very people they were supposed to be defending in China’s Xinjiang region.
SCMP ColumnistAlex Lo
59
My Take|The new ‘Jim Crow’ in the US is much worse than ‘forced’ labour in Xinjiang
While Congressional-Executive Commission on China has weaponised human and labour rights, Beijing should reciprocate by sanctioning America for widespread abuse and exploitation of prison labour.
SCMP ColumnistAlex Lo
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My Take|Please, America, show some shame over the war in Gaza
If China has been committing genocide in Xinjiang, then what do we call what Israel and the United States are doing to the people of Palestine?
SCMP ColumnistAlex Lo
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My Take|What does a tiny chip in thousands of Porsche, Bentley and Audi models say about Xinjiang sanctions?
Allegedly employed as forced labourers in carmaking, cotton, aluminium, solar panels or any Chinese-run enterprise, Uygurs may have to work in indigenous craft to meet Western standards of human rights.
SCMP ColumnistAlex Lo
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Outside In|The US is making too big a deal over small Chinese parcels
Alleging slave labour and drugs smuggling, some American senators are zoning in on how the country’s de minimis rule benefits Chinese companies. But levying duties on low-value shipments will only punish consumers and small businesses.
David Dodwell
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Editorial|UK, China differences set to remain despite return of David Cameron
New foreign secretary may have declared ‘golden era’ with Beijing eight years ago when he was prime minister, but the political road map has changed.
SCMP Editorial
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Language Matters|How ‘genocide’ was coined to describe Nazis’ extermination of Jews
Words to describe acts of killing such as homicide, infanticide and suicide entered English from the 13th century onwards. Genocide, with similar Latin, as well as Greek, roots was coined much later.
Lisa Lim
1
Outside In|Israel-Hamas war reminds Asia of threats to peace
Israel thought it had dealt with the Palestinian problem. There are lessons here for the handling of Myanmar’s Rohingya, Indian Kashmir, and Taiwan and Xinjiang.
David Dodwell
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