China Note Archive

Editor’s Note: Every Wednesday, WPR contributor Rachel Cheung and Assistant Editor Benjamin Wilhelm curate the week’s top news and expert analysis on China. Subscribers can adjust their newsletter settings to receive China Note by email every week. The Chinese government has long denied any human rights abuses in Xinjiang province, even as an increasing number of reports shed light on its brutal repression of mostly Muslim Uyghurs there. But in the face of mounting international pressure and now sanctions, Beijing is going on the offensive to silence critics of all stripes. Shortly after the United States, United Kingdom, European Union […]

Editor’s Note: Every Wednesday, WPR contributor Rachel Cheung and Assistant Editor Benjamin Wilhelm curate the week’s top news and expert analysis on China. Subscribers can adjust their newsletter settings to receive China Note by email every week. Even the most optimistic observers had expected little to come out of last week’s U.S.-China summit in Alaska, where high-level officials from both sides met in person for the first time since President Joe Biden took office. But as the heated on-camera exchange that preceded the private discussions confirmed, not only will this rivalry remain, but relations that were strained under former President […]

Editor’s Note: Every Wednesday, WPR contributor Rachel Cheung and Assistant Editor Benjamin Wilhelm curate the week’s top news and expert analysis on China. Subscribers can adjust their newsletter settings to receive China Note by email every week. As China raises the heat on tech giants, one behemoth is taking most of it. Chinese regulators are reportedly mulling a series of measures to rein in the Alibaba Group, from a record fine to potential divestiture of its media assets, as the Chinese Communist Party’s leadership grows wary of its influence. Alibaba is one of, if not the largest, online commerce companies […]

Editor’s Note: Every Wednesday, WPR contributor Rachel Cheung and Assistant Editor Benjamin Wilhelm curate the week’s top news and expert analysis on China. Subscribers can adjust their newsletter settings to receive China Note by email every week. HONG KONG—By the time the marathon bail hearing of 47 pro-democracy advocates wrapped up at 3 a.m. last Tuesday in Hong Kong, one of the defendants, Clarisse Yeung, had collapsed in the dock, and four had been hospitalized for exhaustion. Several more were wheeled out of the courthouse in stretchers over the next few days as the proceedings dragged on until Thursday evening. […]

Editor’s Note: Every Wednesday, WPR contributor Rachel Cheung and Assistant Editor Benjamin Wilhelm curate the week’s top news and expert analysis on China. Subscribers can adjust their newsletter settings to receive China Note by email every week. Pineapples are the latest product to land in China’s crosshairs, as its deteriorating relationship with Taiwan spills over into trade. For years, Taiwanese farmers have made handsome profits selling their pineapples to Chinese consumers, expanding their fields each year. Even as cross-strait relations soured, they ignored warnings about their overreliance on the Chinese market. That all came to an end this week, as […]