China’s long march through Western universities is finally getting attention
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Shows and no-shows at the Beijing Winter Olympics will be a big test of the party-state’s ability to withstand international censure. This week Nancy Pelosi called for a diplomatic boycott of the Olympics due to concerns over human rights. In Europe, the Czech Senate is planning to vote on a boycott soon (China is already cross) and German opinion is shifting too — watch this grueling video about rape and torture in China’s gulag, and the international sporting establishment’s hypocrisy about it. As we reported last week, commercial sponsors are also squirming.
China may find the Arctic Council summit in Reykjavik a little chilly. The Nordic and Baltic countries are in the forefront of Western concern about Chinese human rights abuses. Denmark just got a pat on the back from the US for its China-countering military build-up in Greenland. But the party-state’s much-hyped interest in the northern “Polar Silk Road” has waned: as Tony Barber notes in the FT, the sea is too shallow for big container ships, and Russia charges too much for navigation and ice-breaking.
The human rights committee of Germany’s Bundestag held hearings on the plight of Uyghurs and other minorities on Monday. That prompted a tirade from the embassy, laden with pointed but scarcely relevant references to Germany’s Nazi past. Ambassador Wu Ken abruptly canceled a meeting with German lawmakers planned for Thursday. For this display of how to win friends and influence people, the comrades in Berlin walk off with this week’s Wolf Warrior Award.