In a Country of 1.4 Billion People, No Individual Forgotten
supposed to be a week-long Chinese New Year visit to relatives. As the pandemic in China eased, the country entered other storms - this time geopolitical. In July Hong Kong’s National Security Law stripped away residents’ rights to protest against Beijing’s tightening grip. Over the next few months hundreds of the territory’s democracy activists were thrown in jail, while others fled. Since then the international spotlight has never left China for long. A barrage of criticism is often fired from all corners of the world. Not only over the pandemic and Hong Kong - but alleged horrific human rights abuses against Muslim Uighurs, China’s increasingly assertive posture toward Taiwan, its actions in the South China Sea and trade practices. The US government is leading a global outcry for answers. Our team is kept on its feet. As I write this, the back of China’s opaque iron- willed one-party state seems to be pushed against the wall. But Beijing isn’t capitulating. It’s doubling down. President Xi Jinping’s power and the authority of the Communist State seems to solidify with each day. So-called ‘Wolf Warrior’ diplomats brazenly repeat a message they want the world to accept: China is strong now and won’t be pushed around. Leaders around the world are taking notice – some watching in fear, others in admiration.
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