Newsletter Archive

Editor’s Note: Every Wednesday, WPR Newsletter and Engagement Editor Benjamin Wilhelm curates the week’s top news and expert analysis on China. On Tuesday, Chinese officials abruptly announced that most of the Uighur Muslims held in detention camps in the country’s western Xinjiang region had been released. The claim—which was not supported by any evidence and almost immediately challenged by inmates’ relatives, foreign governments and human rights groups—marks another step in China’s efforts to deflect international criticism of its repressive policies in Xinjiang, where at least 1 million Uighurs are believed to be incarcerated. Describing the detention facilities as “education and […]

Editor’s Note: Every Wednesday, WPR Newsletter and Engagement Editor Benjamin Wilhelm curates the week’s top news and expert analysis on China. Since early July, Chinese and Vietnamese vessels have been engaged in a tense standoff over natural gas resources in waters off the coast of southern Vietnam. The ongoing confrontation is just one incident in a pattern of increasingly assertive Chinese behavior in the South China Sea, and while no shots have been fired so far, it could provoke anti-Chinese protests in Vietnam. The South China Morning Post reported on July 12 that six “heavily armed” coast guard vessels—two Chinese […]

Editor’s Note: Africa Watch will be off the next two weeks. It will return Aug. 9, with Andrew Green curating the top news and analysis from and about the African continent. The Ebola outbreak that began in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo more than a year ago is now officially a global health emergency. The World Health Organization declared the epidemic a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, or PHEIC, after declining to do so on three previous occasions. The reconsideration followed the virus’ spread to the city of Goma, a major regional hub home to a million people. […]

Editor’s Note: Every Wednesday, WPR Newsletter and Engagement Editor Benjamin Wilhelm curates the week’s top news and expert analysis on China. Economic data published Monday revealed China’s economy is growing at its slowest pace since at least 1992, when modern record-keeping for quarterly growth began. Official figures from China’s National Bureau of Statistics showed the economy grew 6.2 percent between April and June, compared with a year earlier. Though it still looks like a brisk pace, it represents a slowdown for China, where the previous quarter’s growth rate was 6.4 percent. A slump in trade was a main reason for […]

Editor’s Note: Every Friday, Andrew Green curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent. It took four years of discussions, but the African Continental Free Trade Area, or AfCFTA, is officially operational. African leaders gathered in Niger’s capital, Niamey, last weekend to launch the trade zone, which they hope will create a $3.4 trillion economic bloc and bolster development across the continent. AfCFTA got a late boost when Nigeria, the largest African economy, agreed Sunday to sign on, but that’s no assurance that the bid for a single unified market will be a success. Every African […]

Editor’s Note: Every Wednesday, WPR Newsletter and Engagement Editor Benjamin Wilhelm curates the week’s top news and expert analysis on China. The central Chinese city of Wuhan put a garbage-burning power plant on hold this week after days of protests against the project. Following a police crackdown, local officials, apparently caught off guard by the protests, have pledged to consult with residents before moving forward. The demonstrations highlight the recurring failure of local authorities in China to provide transparency and address safety and environmental concerns over government projects. Waste-to-energy incineration plants like the one proposed in Wuhan are especially controversial. […]

Editor’s Note: Every Friday, Andrew Green curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent. Can a #MeToo moment that originated in Nigeria’s evangelical community last week spark a regional movement? It began last Friday when photographer Busola Dakolo accused Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo, who heads the influential Commonwealth of Zion Assembly, of raping her when Dakolo was a teenager. Women took to social media to share their own experiences of rape and sexual abuse by church leaders alongside hashtags that include #MeToo, #ChurchToo and #SayNoToRape. By Sunday, protesters had gathered outside different branches of the Pentecostal church. […]

Editor’s Note: Every Wednesday, WPR Newsletter and Engagement Editor Benjamin Wilhelm curates the week’s top news and expert analysis on China. Hong Kong was rocked by another round of protests against its controversial extradition bill on Monday, the 22nd anniversary of the territory’s return to Chinese rule. While hundreds of thousands of peaceful protesters took to the streets, a smaller group of activists stormed and occupied the city’s legislature. The contrasting tactics revealed a divide in the protest movement that could undermine it. There are fears that Beijing will use the violence as justification to strengthen its grip over Hong […]