The Uzbek government is cracking down on rights activists before parliamentary elections, Human Rights Watch charges—while criticizing the West for staying silent.
Chinese President Hu Jintao is in Astana to unveil the Kazakh section of a 4,300-mile gas pipeline joining Central Asia to China—the first route strategically bypassing Russia.
A Human Rights Watch report charges the Chinese government with forced “disappearances” after the July 2009 protests in Urumqi, and demands that all detainees be accounted for.
A series of new pipelines planned by Russia, China and Iran point to the emergence of a new Eurasian bloc in opposition to Western designs on the supercontinent’s hydrocarbon resources.
China protested a visit by India’s prime minister to a region in Arunachal Pradesh claimed as Chinese territory—which was a CIA staging ground for Tibetan guerillas in the 1960s.
Exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer protested death sentences handed down to six Uighur men this week for their role in July’s violent unrest in China’s Xinjiang region.
Chinese authorities released a letter purportedly written by relatives of the exiled Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer blaming her for last month’s deadly unrest in Xinjiang.
China will begin trials over the next weeks for suspects accused in last month’s deadly riots in Xinjiang. Human rights groups have little confidence the tribunals will be fair.
Kyrgyzstan’s incumbent Kurmanbek Bakiyev claims an 85% of the vote in the weekend’s presidential election, but challenger Almazbek Atambayev is questioning the results.
Two more Uighurs were killed by police in Urumqi, while Chinese intellectuals have launched an online petition drive for detained Uighur economist Ilham Tohti.
Chinese authorities have re-imposed a curfew in the city of Urumqi, Xinjiang, following new disturbances sparked by authorities’ attempt to bar Friday prayers at local mosques.
Human Rights Watch is demanding an “international investigator” to probe the ongoing violence in Urumqi, as Uighur expatriates held angry protests at the Chinese embassies in Ankara and Oslo.
