China CHINA

The Chinese government under Xi Jinping doubled down on its repressive course of action inside and outside the country throughout 2021, including continued crimes against humanity targeting Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday. It also said the country’s “zero Covid” policy had allowed authorities to impose “harsh policies in the name of public health”. “Beijing’s information manipulation has become pervasive: the government censors, punishes dissent, propagates disinformation and tightens the reins on tech giants,” the HRW report said. In Xinjiang, while mass detention, torture and cultural and religious persecution continued, authorities maintained tight control over information, with access further limited due to Covid restrictions, according to the report.