At least 12 Chinese labour activists have gone missing in recent days, in what sources close to them believe was a coordinated effort by authorities to silence the vocal group, most of them university students or recent graduates.
At least 12 Chinese labour activists have gone missing in recent days, in what sources close to them believe was a coordinated effort by authorities to silence the vocal group, most of them university students or recent graduates.
Authorities took away at least nine activists in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen late on Friday, and three more activists were taken away on Sunday in the city of Wuhan, the sources said.
The Ministry of Public Security, which oversees police forces across the country, did not respond to a faxed request for comment.
The detentions appear to be the latest action by the authorities against a small but growing movement driven by students and graduates of some top universities who have said they are motivated by the principles of Marxism.
The ruling Communist Party, which espouses Marxism as one of its leading ideologies, opposes any form of activism or organisation that has the potential to slip beyond its control.
At least five graduates of Peking University, one of the country's top universities, were among those picked up on Friday, student activists said.
Last month, Cornell University in the United States ceased cooperation in two exchange programmes with Renmin University, another prominent institution in Beijing, after students there were punished for supporting labour rights.
The young activists attracted attention from authorities in August when about 50 students from across China converged in the south to support factory workers at Jasic International, a welding machinery firm, seeking to form a union.
Later that month, police in riot gear stormed an apartment in the city of Huizhou where the students were staying, detaining some of them.
"I think the authorities have decided now is the right time to settle the score," one student activist at a university in Beijing said.
"The authorities want to shut down the Jasic Workers Support Group in one fell swoop. Why else would they suddenly conduct raids of such a large scale and arrest so many people at once?" the student added, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Standing side by side, top U.S. officials urged their Chinese counterparts on Friday to halt militarization of the disputed South China Sea, drawing a rebuke from the Chinese for sending U.S. warships close to islands claimed by Beijing.During a round of high-level talks in Washington, the two sides aired in sometimes blunt terms many of their main differences, including a bitter trade dispute, freedom of navigation in Asia-Pacific waters, self-ruled Taiwan, and China’s crackdown on its Muslim minority in Xinjiang.Two visiting senior Chinese officials also seized the opportunity to warn publicly that a trade war between the world’s two largest economies would end up hurting both sides and to call for keeping channels of communication open to resolve an issue that has unsettled global financial markets.Despite the airing of grievances, the talks appeared aimed at controlling the damage to relations that has worsened in recent months and at paving the way for an encounter between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 summit in Argentina at the end of November.China cracks down on celebrity hype and fake click"The United States is not pursuing a Cold War or containment policy with respect to China," U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told a joint news conference.Even as the United States and China confront difficult challenges, “cooperation remains essential on many issues,” he said, citing efforts to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear program.The meeting paired Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis with Chinese Politburo member Yang Jiechi and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe. The annual U.S.-China Diplomatic and Security Dialogue was originally set for Beijing last month but had been called off amid rising tensions.Pompeo took aim at China over its continued building of military installations on artificial islands and reefs in the South China Sea, where China insists it has sovereignty despite competing claims from some smaller neighbors.German FM to raise Uighur concerns on China visit“We have continued concerns about China's activities and militarization in the South China Sea,” Pompeo said following the talks. “We pressed China to live up to its past commitments in this area."Yang said China was committed to "non-confrontation” but that Beijing had the right to build "necessary defense facilities" on what it considers its own territory and urged Washington to stop sending warships and military planes close to the islands that Beijing claims.Mattis made clear that this demand go unheeded by Washington, which insists it is acting under international law to preserve access for it and others to the South China Sea.In a statement on Saturday, China's Foreign Ministry described the talks as "frank, constructive and very fruitful."With Russian support, China broadcasts export ambitions at air showTAIWANResponding sharply to Pompeo's mention of Taiwan, which China considers a wayward province but which is armed by Washington, Wei said Beijing would defend its claim on the island "at any cost."But Wei and Mattis agreed on the need to lower U.S.-China military tensions to avoid unintended clashes, with the Chinese general saying confrontation "will spell disaster to all." Washington has protested to Beijing about recent behavior by its warships that the U.S. Navy considered unsafe.While Pompeo spoke little about trade in his public comments, Yang said he hoped the two sides would find a mutually acceptable solution on the issue “before long.”China and the United States have slapped tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of each other's goods, jolting global financial markets, and Trump has threatened to set tariffs on the remainder of China's $500 billion-plus exports to the United States if the trade dispute cannot be resolved.China's choreographed trade expo more 'theatre' than deal clincherTrump's administration has also accused China of meddling in U.S. politics ahead of this week’s congressional elections, charges China strongly denies.Reflecting growing U.S. concerns about the Chinese cyber threat, a senior U.S. intelligence official on Thursday accused China of violating a 2015 agreement aimed at stopping cyber espionage through the hacking of government and corporate data.Pompeo also reiterated U.S. criticism of China's "repression of religious groups," citing treatment of Buddhists in Tibet and minority Uighur Muslims in the Xinjiang region that has drawn condemnation from human rights groups.Yang defended China's policies in Xinjiang as measures against "ethnic separatist activities and violent terrorist crimes" but said it was a Chinese internal affair and foreign governments should not interfere.
US presses China to halt militarization of South China Sea
Chinese broadcasters and online entertainment sites should avoid celebrity hype and crack down on fake audience and click-through rates, state media quoted the National Radio and Television Administration as saying.The edict comes after Beijing ordered A-list movie star Fan Bingbing to pay about 884 million yuan ($129 million) in taxes and fines, spurring widespread discussion on the moral health of China's film industry.Some programmes overpaid celebrities, destroying industry order and leading teenagers into worshipping stars and money, Xinhua news agency said, citing the administration.Radio and television stations, along with online audio-visual service providers, should scrap vulgar content, promote core socialist values and keep children away from entertainment and reality shows, it said.The providers should also cut down on game shows, reality shows and singing contests that feature celebrities.In a letter posted on her official account on the Twitter-like platform Weibo last month, Fan said she would overcome "all difficulties" to pay her penalties."I'm ashamed of my behaviour and I apologise here to everyone," Fan wrote. "Every bit of my achievement is inseparable from the support of the state and the people. Without the good policies of the Communist Party and the state, without the love of the people, there is no Fan Bingbing." 
China cracks down on celebrity hype and fake click
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas will raise human rights issues in Xinjiang province of China on his upcoming visit to the country, his spokesperson said on Friday.“From our point of view, the situation in Xinjiang is worrying. Foreign Minister Maas will raise the issue with his Chinese counterpart,” Maria Adebahr told a news conference in Berlin.Adebahr said during the visit beginning on Sunday, delegations will also review preparations for the next human rights dialogue meeting between Germany and China, which is scheduled for December.Muslims in Xinjiang face repression: German parliamentOn Thursday, German lawmakers called on China to end repressive policies against Uighur Muslims in northwestern Xinjiang, an autonomous region of the country.During a debate at the parliament, lawmakers from opposition parties and Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition government, urged Chinese authorities to end massive surveillance in the region, and abolish arbitrary detention of up to one million people in internment camps.
German FM to raise Uighur concerns on China visit
'That's Him!'
On Friday, unidentified men grabbed Zhang Shengye, a recent Peking University graduate, on the university's campus at around 10:30 p.m. and bundled him into a car, according to a witness and screenshots of posts, apparently written by students, on the university's internal messaging board. The posts were later deleted.
A video circulated on social media by a Peking University student who said he was at the scene and who described what happened to Zhang.
"I heard one of them yell 'that's him, shove him into the car', and then I saw three to five people grab a student and bundle him into a car," the student says in the video.
He said he and other students who were nearby were pushed to the ground and prevented from leaving until they deleted any photos or videos of the scene.
Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the video, which showed no pictures of Zhang's suspected detention.
A Peking University spokesman confirmed that someone had been detained but said the incident did not involve teachers or students.
"Public security organs in accordance with law seized non-campus affiliated persons suspected of committing a crime," the spokesman said.
Zhang had been in southern China in August to protest against the treatment of the Jasic factory workers and had been involved in a wide range of social issues on campus.
"We aren't solely focused on one particular issue. We're interested in improving society in all kinds of ways, whether it is improving the lives of factory workers, fighting for gender equality or advocating for environmental sustainability," Zhang told Reuters on Aug. 23 in a crowded apartment in a village that primarily houses migrant workers in Huizhou.
China has confirmed a new outbreak of African swine fever in the eastern province of Anhui.China, home to the world's largest hog herd, has reported more than 50 cases of the highly contagious disease, including in Anhui, since the first detected outbreak in early August.The fever was found on a farm with 8,339 pigs in Qingyang county in the south of Anhui, infecting 96 of the animals and killing 47 of them, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said in a statement.Transportation of pigs in and out of the area has been banned, as has movement of pork products outside the area. Last month, the ministry said it would lift African swine fever-related restrictions in four Anhui cities hit by previous outbreaks.In a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Sunday, Tangrenshen Group, a major Chinese pork producer, said the fever was found in feed samples provided by its 51 percent-owned subsidiary, Bili Meiyingwei Nutrition Feedstuff, during inspections in the aftermath of the Qingyang outbreak.Tangrenshen said the origin of the detected fever remained unclear and the matter was still under investigation. It said the impact on its operations would be "relatively small," with Bili Meiyingwei accounting for only 2.27 percent of the group's net profit in the first nine months of 2018.
China reports new African swine fever outbreak in Anhui province
Around $57.83 billion worth of deals were agreed for the year ahead at the China International Import Expo (CIIE), the official China Daily said on Saturday.The Nov. 5-10 CIIE, which brings thousands of foreign companies together with Chinese buyers in a bid to demonstrate the importing potential of the world's second-biggest economy, closed on Saturday.Deals for intelligence and high-end equipment were set to total $16.46 billion, while those for consumer electronics and home appliances were around $4.33 billion, the paper said on its official Twitter-like Weibo site.US presses China to halt militarization of South China SeaSales agreed for the automobile sector goods hit $11.99 billion, while clothing and consumer goods inked $3.37 billion, and food and agricultural products made $12.68 billion, the paper said.In addition, $5.76 billion worth of medical devices and medical care goods were sold, the paper added.The trade expo is designed to demonstrate goodwill amid mounting frictions with the United States and others. On Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping promised to lower tariffs, broaden market access and import more from overseas.China cracks down on celebrity hype and fake click
China's import expo logs $57.8 bln of deals: China Daily
Chinese broadcasters and online entertainment sites should avoid celebrity hype and crack down on fake audience and click-through rates, state media quoted the National Radio and Television Administration as saying.The edict comes after Beijing ordered A-list movie star Fan Bingbing to pay about 884 million yuan ($129 million) in taxes and fines, spurring widespread discussion on the moral health of China's film industry.Some programmes overpaid celebrities, destroying industry order and leading teenagers into worshipping stars and money, Xinhua news agency said, citing the administration.Radio and television stations, along with online audio-visual service providers, should scrap vulgar content, promote core socialist values and keep children away from entertainment and reality shows, it said.The providers should also cut down on game shows, reality shows and singing contests that feature celebrities.In a letter posted on her official account on the Twitter-like platform Weibo last month, Fan said she would overcome "all difficulties" to pay her penalties."I'm ashamed of my behaviour and I apologise here to everyone," Fan wrote. "Every bit of my achievement is inseparable from the support of the state and the people. Without the good policies of the Communist Party and the state, without the love of the people, there is no Fan Bingbing." China cracks down on celebrity hype and fake click