Chinese defend Hong Kong, Xinjiang record at U.N. hearing
The Hindu
Chinese envoys have defended Beijing’s treatment of Hong Kong and Muslim minorities during an unusual public confrontation at a U.N. meeting
Chinese envoys have defended Beijing’s treatment of Hong Kong and Muslim minorities in an unusual public confrontation with human rights advocates at a U.N. meeting.
During the meeting of the U.N. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the officials also rejected complaints that China's ruling Communist Party hampered the global response to COVID-19 by hiding information.
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s government faces accusations that abuses have multiplied as Beijing tried to crush a pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, carried out mass detentions of Muslim minorities and silenced labor, women’s rights and other activists.
Mr. Xi’s government has previously rejected the accusations, but two days of hearings that ended Thursday in Geneva gave activists an unusual opportunity to air criticism in the presence of Chinese officials.
The crackdown on Hong Kong in response to anti-government protests that began in 2019 prompted complaints Beijing was eroding the autonomy and Western-style civil liberties promised when the former British colony returned to China in 1997.
An official of Hong Kong’s security bureau said a 2020 security law under which leading activists have been arrested “does not affect the legitimate rights” of the public to criticize official decisions or affect academic freedom.
“Nevertheless, such rights and freedoms are not absolute,” Simon Wong, a principal assistant secretary in the bureau, said. “If illegal acts are involved, they can be restricted by the law.”
Demanding State and Union governments to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu and to open Mettur dam on June 12, members of Tamizhaga Cauvery Vivasayigal Sangam, headed by its general secretary P.R. Pandian, started a two day protest march to Mettur dam from Poompuhar, one of the prominent tail end part of the Cauvery, on Monday
The Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysuru on Monday hosted a three-day National Conference on Classical Languages of India, with the objective of encouraging the development of language, linguistics, and literature by researching, and promoting the rich heritage of classical languages in view of NEP-2020.
Actor and Hindupur MLA Nandamuri Balakrishna relaunched the Anna Canteen and NTR Arogya Ratham here on Monday amidst much fanfare. The twin occasions marked Mr. Balakrishna’s 64th birthday celebrations. Speaking to the media, Mr. Balakrishna said that the people of Andhra Pradesh had given a historic verdict to the NDA, and “I shall tirelessly work to fulfil all the promises made to them.”