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Published 30 December 2018 at Hong Kong Free Press, here. After more than three and a half years of incommunicado detention, Wang Quanzhang has finally faced trial, but little is known of exactly what happened during the closed-door proceedings other than he fired his state-approved lawyer within minutes. We had only first learned about his … More Something to hide? This Christmas, it was not a rights lawyer on trial, but the Chinese legal system itself

Published 26 July 2018 at CNN, here. I first visited Xinjiang, in northwest China, in July 2009, returning to Beijing only days before demonstrations in the region’s capital, Urumqi, turned deadly. Police responded to the violence with a massive crackdown, and detentions or disappearances ranged into the thousands. To control the spread of information, internet access … More China’s crimes against humanity you’ve never heard of

Published 15 July 2018 at Hong Kong Free Press, here. Liu Xia, widow of Chinese human rights defender and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, days before the anniversary of her husband’s death, landed in Germany this week. After years of unconscionable treatment, she deserves her freedom—she should never have lost it in the first … More Empowered by Liu Xia’s release, it is time to redouble the call for others’ freedom in China

Published 5 June at CNN, here. The US-China trade war may be heating up, with US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross departing China Sunday with no clear end to negotiations. One of China’s long term goals in any trade negotiations with the US has been the lifting of what remains of an embargo put in place following the 1989 Tiananmen … More The ‘Tiananmen sanctions’ should be strengthened, not lifted

Published 26 January 2018 at CNN, here. On Saturday, Chinese security forces abducted Swedish publisher Gui Minhai from a Beijing-bound train in front of two diplomats. His whereabouts remain unknown. Imagine, to be disappeared even under the protection of your own consular officials. In a firmly worded statement on Tuesday, Margot Wallström, Sweden’s foreign minister, demanded … More Swedish bookseller’s disappearance in China is just the tip of the iceberg

Originally published 13 June 2017 at Open Global Rights, here. On May 3, 2017 security forces in Southern China abducted human rights lawyer Chen Jiangang and drove him over 3,000 kilometres back to Beijing. He remained in their custody for over 80 hours, missing the trial of his client, Xie Yang, whose torture he had exposed in … More ‘If I lose my freedom’: preemptive resistance to forced confessions in China