The HRIC Daily Brief is a daily selection of news stories and commentary related to human rights in China, drawn from Chinese- and English-language news and online media sources that we monitor daily. In addition to headlines and source links, HRIC also provides English translation of Chinese headlines.

Thursday, February 20, 2020

Xinjiang (新疆)

Uighur persecution: German politicians condemn China's 'modern slave exploitation machine'
Deutsche Welle, February 19, 2020

Related:
超生、留胡子、申请护照,第三批新疆文件曝光维吾尔人的16宗罪 (Violating the 2-children-policy, having a beard, and applying for a passport are considered crimes – among 16 others–listed in the Karakax County Document)
Voice of America, February 19, 2020

China's Biosecurity State in Xinjiang Is Powered by Western Tech
Foreign Policy, February 19, 2020

Access to Justice (司法公正)

煽動顛覆國家政權罪成囚9年四川維權人士陳衛刑滿出獄 (Sichuan activist Chen Wei released today after 9 years in prison for inciting subversion of state power)
Radio Television Hong Kong, February 20, 2020

临沂监狱以疫情为由拒家属见王全璋 (Families denied meeting with lawyer Wang Quanzhang, Linjin prison blames Coronavirus)
Radio Free Asia, February 20, 2020

Amid the Epidemic, a Quiet Leap Forward for China's LGBT Community
Sixth Tone, February 19, 2020

The Communist Youth League Thought It Was Creating Patriotic Idols. Instead, It Started A Conversation About Women's Rights
Supchina, February 19, 2020

Access to Information (信息公开)

China threatens further action against Wall Street Journal a day after kicking out three reporters
South China Morning Post, February 20, 2020

EU 'concerned' by China's expulsion of Wall Street Journal reporters
Hong Kong Free Press, February 20, 2020

敏感詞管制嚴苛 網課直播屢遭禁 (Online courses are struggling inside China's heavily censored Internet)
Mingpao, February 20, 2020

Fighting coronavirus and Trump, China escalates campaign against foreign journalists
The Washington Post, February 19, 2020

Are China's Coronavirus Figures Reliable?
Foreign Policy, February 19, 2020

Tencent's Boundary-Pushing Dajia Blog Abruptly Shuts Down
Supchina, February 19, 2020

Citizen Participation (公民参与)

Coronavirus: Chinese censors kick teachers out of online classrooms for politics, profanity and smoking
South China Morning Post, February 20, 2020

中国女权: 被消费的抗疫英雌 (Is China finally advocating for women's rights?)
Deutsche Welle, February 20, 2020

男子不想上班谎称女儿感染病毒 警方送他10天“假期”(Man detained for 10 days for lying his daughter was infected with Coronavirus to get out of work)
Beijing News, February 20, 2020

Government Accountability (政府问责)

Coronavirus outbreak threatens to undermine China's drive to end extreme poverty
South China Morning Post, February 20, 2020

柳叶刀杂志发文悼念李文亮医生 (Article published in The Lancet Magazine in memory of Dr. Li Wenliang)
Radio France International, February 20, 2020

Hong Kong Airlines employees demand answers, transparency after embattled carrier makes 160 redundant in cost-saving move
South China Morning Post, February 20, 2020

受“封城”影响 中国百万艾滋病感染者恐断药 (Affected by the traffic restrictions, millions of AIDS patients in China may lose access to adequate medication)
Radio Free Asia, February 20, 2020

在孤城武汉,“陪着一个宏大的东西玩命”
She Left Wuhan to Become a Journalist. She’s Back in Time to Get the Story.

The New York Times, February 20, 2020

Removal of Hong Kong protest images from Sony World Photography Awards website raises censorship concerns
Hong Kong Free Press, February 19, 2020

Patients in China's Wuhan Struggle to Get Treatment Amid Tight Controls
Radio Free Asia, February 19, 2020

The 2019 South-South Human Rights Forum: China Gathers Steam in Its Bid to Redefine the Concept of Human Rights
China Change, February 19, 2020

ICTs and Human Rights (信息技术与人权)

Is London's LSE helping Huawei clean its reputation?
Deutsche Welle, February 20, 2020

智能手机如何改变了隔离生活
Video Chats and Ordering In: Coronavirus Quarantine With a Smartphone

The New York Times, February 29, 2020

国内AI著作权第一案宣判:腾讯赢了 (Tencent won China's first AI copyright case)
Beijing News, February 20, 2020

Hong Kong (香港)

Mission impossible for disabled Hong Kongers hunting face masks
Hong Kong Free Press, February 19, 2020

香港電台是香港言論自由的橋頭堡 (RTHK is the major fortress in guarding Hong Kong's freedom of speech)
inmediahk.net, February 20, 2020

下班趕赴新公務員集會 參加者:不能被疫情淡化訴求 ("The Coronavirus outbreak can't stop us from pursuing our demands," say participants at the New Public Servants Rally)
inmediahk.net, February 20, 2020

Commentary (评论)

Amid the coronavirus crisis, China is paying a high price for its authoritarian system
South China Morning Post, February 20, 2020

Xi Jinping's coronavirus power grab is endangering public health in Hong Kong
Hong Kong Free Press, February 20, 2020

Opinion: Journalists' expulsion a sign of China's insecurity
Deutsche Welle, February 20, 2020

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Xinjiang (新疆)

Qaraqash List ‘Debunks’ China’s Claims of Combating Extremism in Xinjiang: Uyghur Whistleblower
Radio Free Asia, February 19, 2020

China locks up Muslims in Xinjiang for their religion, not extremism, leaked data shows
South China Morning Post, February 19, 2020

Access to Information (信息公开)

China to expel WSJ journalists over 'malicious’ column
The Guardian, February 19, 2020

China’s military tightens secrecy rules as PLA steps up exchanges abroad
South China Morning Post, February 19, 2020

China is being accused of mistreating coronavirus nurses for propaganda
Quartz, February 18, 2020

Government Accountability (政府问责)

Movement restrictions in and out of China 'helping contain' virus
Al Jazeera, February 19, 2020

Malaysian firm offers AI-based profiling of Chinese visitors for virus
Reuters, February 19, 2020

China threatened to harm Czech companies over Taiwan visit: letter
Reuters, February 19, 2020

U.S. Designates China’s Official Media as Operatives of the Communist State
The New York Times, February 19, 2020

Quarantined passengers disembark ship in Japan; new China coronavirus cases fall
Reuters, February 18, 2020

China's handling of coronavirus is a diplomatic challenge for WHO
The Guardian, February 18, 2020

Hong Kong (香港)

There's no quarantine Plan B, Lam insists
The Standard, February 19, 2020

Coronavirus: confirmed Hong Kong cases now 65 as mother-in-law of infected engineer becomes one of three more struck down in virus outbreak
South China Morning Post, February 19, 2020

Anti-government protesters’ slogan spray-painted outside Chinese army base in Hong Kong
South China Morning Post, February 19, 2020

Commentary (评论)

Coronavirus: Hong Kong’s strikes and panic are symptoms of an ailing ‘one country, two systems’
South China Morning Post, February 15, 2020

The three mistakes the Chinese government has made in its mishandling of the coronavirus crisis
South China Morning Post, February 19, 2020

Talking Out of Both Sides of the Face Mask: Propaganda and Practice in the Age of Coronavirus
Human Rights in China, February 14, 2020

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Xinjiang (新疆)

Uighur whistleblower: China is 'arresting people without any reason'
Deutsche Welle, February 18, 2020

Related:
China detains Uighurs for growing beards or visiting foreign websites, leak reveals
The Guardian, February 17, 2020

China Seeks to Divert Attention From Virus Mishandling With Dancing Xinjiang Minorities: Uyghur Exiles
Radio Free Asia, February 14, 2020

How China Tracked Detainees and Their Families
The New York Times, February 14, 2020

Access to Justice (司法公正)

Chinese Police Track Down Dissident Xu Zhiyong Using Facial Recognition
Radio Free Asia, February 18, 2020

Related:
China Detains Activist Who Accused Xi of Coronavirus Cover-Up
Radio France Internationale, February 14, 2020

Dr. Xu Zhiyong, a well-known human rights defender and advocate of the New Citizens Movement exiled in China, taken away by police in Guangzhou
Weiquanwang, February 16, 2020

Gansu Government’s Head-Shaving Publicity Stunt Backfires
Supchina, February 18, 2020

China asylum claims to Germany more than double
Deutsche Welle, February 16, 2020

Tibetan Nun Expelled From Buddhist Center Commits Suicide in Internment Camp
Radio Free Asia, February 14, 2020

Access to Information (信息公开)

China is paying a heavy price for coronavirus because of lack of free speech, says leading professor
South China Morning Post, February 18, 2020

As Wuhan’s desperate and sick beg for help, China shuts them down
The Guardian, February 17, 2020

Missing Chinese citizen journalists highlight risks of telling Wuhan’s story during coronavirus outbreak
South China Morning Post, February 15, 2020

Citizen Participation (公民参与)

Dissident artist known as ‘China’s Banksy’ takes aim at Beijing – from Australia
The Washington Post, February 18, 2020

Government Accountability (政府问责)

To Tame Coronavirus, Mao-Style Social Control Blankets China
The New York Times, February 19, 2020

Related:
Talking Out of Both Sides of the Face Mask: Propaganda and Practice in the Age of Coronavirus
Human Rights in China, February 14, 2020

Facial recognition: Concerns over China's widespread surveillance
The New York Times, February 19, 2020

China reports 1,300 more coronavirus cases among medical workers
South China Morning Post, February 18, 2020

Related:
China's Doctors, Fighting the Coronavirus, Beg for Masks
Radio France Internationale, February 15, 2020

Coronavirus: vital to stop human-to-human spread in Wuhan, says China’s top expert as death toll hits 1,868
South China Morning Post, February 18, 2020

'Don't be kidnapped by China': Taiwan tells WHO in bid for separate virus tally
Reuters, February 18, 2020

广西网民订购4000只口罩 竟来自“武汉总工会”及“救援物资” (Guangxi netizens order 4,000 masks and “rescue materials” from Wuhan Federation of Trade Unions
Radio Free Asia, February 18, 2020

As Wuhan’s desperate and sick beg for help, China shuts them down
The Guardian, February 17, 2020

China sees fall in coronavirus deaths but WHO urges caution
Reuters, February 17, 2020

Scared and exposed: Rise in virus cases among China's medics
Al Jazeera, February 17, 2020

China's Leader, Under Fire, Says He Led Coronavirus Fight Early On
Reuters, February 16, 2020

Coronavirus: China enacts tighter restrictions in Hubei
BBC, February 16, 2020

Coronavirus: 70 more cases on Japan cruise ship as China infections pass 68,000
The Guardian, February 15, 2020

Nepal Border Agreement With China Sparks Fears Among Tibetans
Radio Free Asia, February 14, 2020

Li Wenliang’s death exposes the costs of China’s authoritarianism
The Economist, February 13, 2020

ICTs and Human Rights (信息技术与人权)

中国电信5G技术助力首次新冠肺炎远程超声诊疗实施 (China Telecom's 5G technology assists in the first remote ultrasound diagnosis and treatment of novel coronavirus pneumonia)
Xinjingbao, February 18, 2020

China's facial-recognition giant says it can crack masked faces during the coronavirus
Quartz, February 18, 2020

Hong Kong armed gang steals toilet rolls as coronavirus panic-buying spreads
The Guardian, February 16, 2020

Hong Kong (香港)

Coronavirus: Hong Kong police on a roll as third suspect in toilet paper heist flushed out
South China Morning Post, February 18, 2020

Hong Kong Protesters Build Barricades, Set Fire to Railway Station Amid Anger Over Virus
Radio Free Asia, February 16, 2020