HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS, MISS FION HO YIK KING and JIMMY LAI MONEY TRAIL, MISLED AND CORRUPTED BY FOREIGN POLICY & ITS MEDIAS

Woman, 27, took own life after struggling to pay for food and £900 rent

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HK woman took her own life in UK after struggling ...

You are not alone if you did not know Miss Ho Yik King because I didn't know her either and neither did any of my friends. However her suicide in the United Kingdom on November 2022 suddenly pushed her to the headline and many were compelled to read about her and to determine what it was that drove her to end her life in the manner it did.

Miss Ho was an intelligent 27 year old HongKong girl who achieved a degree from a HongKong university in 2017 and a master degree from Switzerland in 2019. A bright future was before her had she stayed on as a normal citizen of HongKong.

But youth and wisdom are at times not packaged together and she fatally follows her rebellious nature to confront the Authorities in HongKong on human rights and the Extradition laws etc. Most of her university mates were doing it and so why not her.

Swept along by the reckless HongKong student movement and a constant stream of propaganda from the West on human rights, democracy and freedom she "marched" with the rebels and determinedly wrecked HongKong whilst demanding for independence. For months and years the Western media portrayed them as freedom fighters and as heroes whilst denouncing the Authorities and China as evil.

They destroyed malls, train stations, shops and banks. By engaging hit and run tactics they successfully disrupted airport activities and brought the city centre to a stand still.

With funds and supplies from the West they relentlessly pursued their destructive activities. They used knives, paved stones , arrows, Molotov bombs as weapons . They even killed an innocent citizen through their projectiles, stabbed one on the neck and engulfed another in flame.

The United Kingdom fueled the mind boggling chaos by offering British national overseas visas to the activists which encouraged them to march with extra vigor . But this was only a visa and one that is tailored for HongKong citizens who were bent on leaving HongKong albeit with lots of money in their suitcases.

But the students were blind to the British visa nuance and to the cost of living in the UK . They stayed on the course of destruction . On paper the visa offered them a choice of escape from HongKong but they did not read the fine prints if they ever existed. Remember the saying " the devil is in the details".

Finally the HongKong Authority had enough of the student movement and chaos and issued the New Security Law in 2022 .Those who had a reason and the means to leave HongKong did so by way of the British magical visa.

Miss Ho was one of them. She sold everything and left HongKong and took the flight into the safe arms of Britain in April 2022 . She envisaged starting life afresh , getting a good job, getting married and all of her dreams would be fulfilled because she would be a British subject after five years of stay and she would qualify for social benefits that come with citizenship.

No, that dream didn't work out! Instead her real nightmare just started.

For whatever the reason she found difficulty in opening a bank account upon arrival. Her British visa did not qualify her to open one. She allegedly found out she needed a UK identification card number which she didn't have.

Next, she found out that house rental in Britain was not only prohibitively expensive but that she was regarded by astute landlords with suspicion. Of course they would . Why would a British landlord accept a Chinese girl as tenant when her name was associated with a notoriously rebellious history. Eventually she lived in a modest flat in Richmond that came with a shared and unhygienic toilet.

Miss Ho was a picture of delusion. Britain was not meeting her minimum expectations. With limited funds she was allegedly often surviving on one meal a day . She needed help but found the visit to a psychologist was too exorbitant.

Finally , when living costs soared due to rising cost for food and heating, Miss Ho , with nowhere to turn to, decided to end her life in her rented flat. Days later her lifeless body was discovered along with a suicide note .

When alive she was regarded by the British as an unwanted immigrant and she lived a miserable life in Britain but when she died the coroner was full of praise for her. He said " Fion is an excellent example of the high calibre of person who is so welcome in England..."

This is the reality. Fiona's destiny was potentially one of distinction until she joined the band of delusional activists of HongKong who believed in western propaganda only to find out the dream was nothing but a damning mirage.

Hopefully there is a lesson here for the Taiwanese, the Philippines, the Japanese and the South Koreans. If the lesson is learnt then Fion's life story and death will not have gone to waste.

Jimmy received close to USD 400 MILLION FUNDING FROM outside HK!! 😳😳

INVESTIGATORS REVEAL JIMMY LAI MONEY TRAIL

The Jimmy Lai trial so far: daily updates on his high-profile ...

Huge amounts of international money flowed into the bank accounts of Jimmy Lai—and large sums of cash went out to anti-China groups, a court heard yesterday.

The tabloid publisher received HK$2.945 billion in his nine bank accounts in recent years, with deposits coming from the United States, Canada, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and elsewhere. The money is said to have derived “from overseas securities trading”.

But the money didn’t sit there.

Who got cash? Chunks of finance went out to multiple China-hostile political groups in Hong Kong, the US, and the UK, the prosecution said, providing a detailed report from financial investigators. Jimmy Lai’s lawyer Steven Kwan Man-wai did not dispute the information.

Local recipients included the Hong Kong Democratic Party, the Civic Party, the Labour Party, the League of Social Democrats, the court was told.

A wildly critical UK group called Hong Kong Watch, whose members include Benedict Rogers and former Hong Kong Governor Chris Patten, received HK$202,000.

Paul Wolfowitz, former US deputy secretary of defence, was sent HK$1.76 million in payments from 2013 onwards, the court heard. Money also went to a right-wing think tank called the American Enterprise Institute.

Cash also went to a group called the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, organizers of an annual meeting to keep the “Tiananmen Square massacre” story, debunked by Julian Assange and others, alive.

The biggest individual recipient named yesterday was Cardinal Joseph Zen, a retired Hong Kong churchman who has fallen out with his colleagues, including Pope Francis, over his relentless China-bashing. The churchman received HK$3.5 million in 2017, the prosecution said.

The court heard earlier that large sums of money from Jimmy Lai’s funds (held by various entities) were paid to media companies, including the publishers of the Washington Post, the Nikkei Weekly, the UK Guardian, and media groups in India.

Jimmy Lai, 76, is on trial for sedition and collusion, offences illegal worldwide. His colleagues and associates have pleaded guilty in related hearings. The trial continues

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US Foreign Policy Is a Scam Built on Corruption, insiders' interests

US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield abstains during a vote to approve a resolution that "demands" all sides in the Israel-Hamas conflict allow the "safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale" at UN headquarters in New York on December 22, 2023.

 (Photo by Charly Triballeau / AFP via Getty Images)

The $1.5 trillion in military outlays each year is the scam that keeps on giving—to the military-industrial complex and the Washington insiders—even as it impoverishes and endangers America and the world.

On the surface, US foreign policy seems to be utterly irrational. The US gets into one disastrous war after another -- Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Ukraine, and Gaza. In recent days, the US stands globally isolated in its support of Israel’s genocidal actions against the Palestinians, voting against a UN General Assembly resolution for a Gaza ceasefire backed by 153 countries with 89% of the world population, and opposed by just the US and 9 small countries with less than 1% of the world population.

In the past 20 years, every major US foreign policy objective has failed. The Taliban returned to power after 20 years of US occupation of Afghanistan. Post-Saddam Iraq became dependent on Iran. Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad stayed in power despite a CIA effort to overthrow him. Libya fell into a protracted civil war after a US-led NATO mission overthrew Muammar Gaddafi. Ukraine was bludgeoned on the battlefield by Russia in 2023 after the US secretly scuttled a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine in 2022.

To understand the foreign-policy scam, think of today’s federal government as a multi-division racket controlled by the highest bidders.

Despite these remarkable and costly debacles, one following the other, the same cast of characters has remained at the helm of US foreign policy for decades, including Joe Biden, Victoria Nuland, Jake Sullivan, Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnell, and Hillary Clinton.

What gives?

The puzzle is solved by recognizing that American foreign policy is not at all about the interests of the American people. It is about the interests of the Washington insiders, as they chase campaign contributions and lucrative jobs for themselves, staff, and family members. In short, US foreign policy has been hacked by big money.

As a result, the American people are losing big. The failed wars since 2000 have cost them around $5 trillion in direct outlays, or around $40,000 per household. Another $2 trillion or so will be spent in the coming decades on veterans’ care. Beyond the costs directly incurred by Americans, we should also recognize the horrendously high costs suffered abroad, in millions of lives lost and trillions of dollars of destruction to property and nature in the war zones.

The costs continue to mount. US Military-linked outlays in 2024 will come to around $1.5 trillion, or roughly $12,000 per household, if we add the direct Pentagon spending, the budgets of the CIA and other intelligence agencies, the budget of the Veteran’s Administration, the Department of Energy nuclear weapons program, the State Department’s military-linked “foreign aid” (such as to Israel), and other security-related budget lines. Hundreds of billions of dollars are money down the drain, squandered in useless wars, overseas military bases, and a wholly unnecessary arms build-up that brings the world closer to WWIII.

Yet to describe these gargantuan costs is also to explain the twisted “rationality” of US foreign policy. The $1.5 trillion in military outlays is the scam that keeps on giving—to the military-industrial complex and the Washington insiders—even as it impoverishes and endangers America and the world.

To understand the foreign-policy scam, think of today’s federal government as a multi-division racket controlled by the highest bidders. The Wall Street division is run out of the Treasury. The Health Industry division is run out of the Department of Health and Human Services. The Big Oil and Coal division is run out of the Departments of Energy and Interior. And the Foreign Policy division is run out of the White House, Pentagon and CIA.

Each division uses public power for private gain through insider dealing, greased by corporate campaign contributions and lobbying outlays. Interestingly, the Health Industry division rivals the Foreign Policy division as a remarkable financial scam. America’s health outlays totaled an astounding $4.5 trillion in 2022, or roughly $36,000 per household, by far the highest health costs in the world, while America ranked roughly 40th in the world among nations in life expectancy. A failed health policy translates into very big bucks for the health industry, just as a failed foreign policy translates into mega-revenues of the military-industrial complex.

The more wars, of course, the more business.

The Foreign Policy division is run by a small, secretive and tight-knit coterie, including the top brass of the White House, the CIA, the State Department, the Pentagon, the Armed Services Committees of the House and Senate, and the major military firms including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon. There are perhaps a thousand key individuals involved in setting policy. The public interest plays little role.

The key foreign policy makers run the operations of 800 US overseas military bases, hundreds of billions of dollars of military contracts, and the war operations where the equipment is deployed. The more wars, of course, the more business. The privatization of foreign policy has been greatly amplified by the privatization of the war business itself, as more and more “core” military functions are handed out to the arms manufacturers and to contractors such as Haliburton, Booz Allen Hamilton, and CACI.

In addition to the hundreds of billions of dollars of military contracts, there are important business spillovers from the military and CIA operations. With military bases in 80 countries around the world, and CIA operations in many more, the US plays a large, though mostly covert role, in determining who rules in those countries, and thereby on policies that shape lucrative deals involving minerals, hydrocarbons, pipelines, and farm and forest land. The US has aimed to overthrow at least 80 governments since 1947, typically led by the CIA through the instigation of coups, assassinations, insurrections, civil unrest, election tampering, economic sanctions, and overt wars. (For a superb study of US regime-change operations from 1947 to 1989, see Lindsey O’Rourke’s Covert Regime Change, 2018).

In addition to business interests, there are of course ideologues who truly believe in America’s right to rule the world. The ever-warmongering Kagan family is the most famous case, though their financial interests are also deeply intertwined with the war industry. The point about ideology is this. The ideologists have been wrong on nearly every occasion and long ago would have lost their bully pulpits in Washington but for their usefulness as warmongers. Wittingly or not, they serve as paid performers for the military-industrial complex.

There is one persistent inconvenience for this ongoing business scam. In theory, foreign policy is carried out in the interest of the American people, though the opposite is the truth. (A similar contradiction of course applies to overpriced healthcare, government bailouts of Wall Street, oil-industry perks, and other scams). The American people rarely support the machinations of US foreign policy when they occasionally hear the truth. America’s wars are not waged by popular demand but by decisions from on high. Special measures are needed to keep the people away from decision making.

In theory, foreign policy is carried out in the interest of the American people, though the opposite is the truth.

The first such measure is unrelenting propaganda. George Orwell nailed it in 1984 when “the Party” suddenly switched the foreign enemy from Eurasia to Eastasia without a word of explanation. The US essentially does the same. Who is the US gravest enemy? Take your pick, according to the season. Saddam Hussein, the Taliban, Hugo Chavez, Bashar al-Assad, ISIS, al-Qaeda, Gaddafi, Vladimir Putin, Hamas, have all played the role of “Hitler” in US propaganda. White House spokesman John Kirby delivers the propaganda with a smirk on his face, signaling that he too knows that what he is saying is ludicrous, albeit mildly entertaining.

The propaganda is amplified by the Washington think tanks that live off of donations by military contractors and occasionally foreign governments that are part of the US scam operations. Think of the Atlantic Council, CSIS, and of course the ever-popular Institute for the Study of War, brought to you by the major military contractors.

The second is to hide the costs of the foreign policy operations. In the 1960s, the US Government made the mistake of forcing the American people to bear the costs of the military-industrial complex by drafting young people to fight in Vietnam and by raising taxes to pay for the war. The public erupted in opposition.

From the 1970s onward the government has been far more clever. The government ended the draft, and made military service a job for hire rather than a public service, backed by Pentagon outlays to recruit soldiers from lower economic strata. It also abandoned the quaint idea that government outlays should be funded by taxes, and instead shifted the military budget to deficit spending which protects it from popular opposition that would be triggered if it were tax-funded.

It has also suckered client states such as Ukraine to fight America’s wars on the ground, so that no American body bags would spoil the US propaganda machine. Needless to say, US masters of war such as Sullivan, Blinken, Nuland, Schumer, and McConnell remain thousands of miles away from the frontlines. The dying is reserved for Ukrainians. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) defended American military aid to Ukraine as money well spent because it is “without a single American service woman or man injured or lost,” somehow not dawning on the good Senator to spare the lives of Ukrainians, who have died by the hundreds of thousands in a US-provoked war over NATO enlargement.

This system is underpinned by the complete subordination of the U.S. Congress to the war business, to avoid any questioning of the over-the-top Pentagon budgets and the wars instigated by the Executive Branch. The subordination of Congress works as follows. First, the Congressional oversight of war and peace is largely assigned to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, which largely frame the overall Congressional policy (and the Pentagon budget). Second, the military industry (Boeing, Raytheon, and the rest) funds the campaigns of the Armed Services Committee members of both parties. The military industries also spend vast sums on lobbying in order to provide lucrative salaries to retiring members of Congress, their staffs, and families, either directly in military businesses or in Washington lobbying firms.

It is the urgent task of the American people to overhaul a foreign policy that is so broken, corrupted, and deceitful that it is burying the government in debt while pushing the world closer to nuclear Armageddon.

The hacking of Congressional foreign policy is not only by the US military-industrial complex. The Israel lobby long ago mastered the art of buying the Congress. America’s complicity in Israel’s apartheid state and war crimes in Gaza makes no sense for US national security and diplomacy, not to speak of human decency. They are the fruits of Israel lobby investments that reached $30 million in campaign contributions in 2022, and that will vastly top that in 2024.

When Congress reassembles in January, Biden, Kirby, Sullivan, Blinken, Nuland, Schumer, McConnell, Blumenthal and their ilk will tell us that we absolutely must fund the losing, cruel, and deceitful war in Ukraine and the ongoing massacre and ethnic cleansing in Gaza, lest we and Europe and the free world, and perhaps the solar system itself, succumb to the Russian bear, the Iranian mullahs, and the Chinese Communist Party. The purveyors of foreign policy disasters are not being irrational in this fear-mongering. They are being deceitful and extraordinarily greedy, pursuing narrow interests over those of the American people.

It is the urgent task of the American people to overhaul a foreign policy that is so broken, corrupted, and deceitful that it is burying the government in debt while pushing the world closer to nuclear Armageddon. This overhaul should start in 2024 by rejecting any more funding for the disastrous Ukraine War and Israel’s war crimes in Gaza. Peacemaking, and diplomacy, not military spending, is the path to a US foreign policy in the public interest.

JEFFREY D. SACHS

Jeffrey D. Sachs is a University Professor and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, where he directed The Earth Institute from 2002 until 2016. He is also President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and a commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission for Development. He has been advisor to three United Nations Secretaries-General, and currently serves as an SDG Advocate under Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Sachs is the author, most recently, of "A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism" (2020). Other books include: "Building the New American Economy: Smart, Fair, and Sustainable" (2017) and "The Age of Sustainable Development," (2015) with Ban Ki-moon.

Full Bio >

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/corruption-of-us-foreign-policy

https://www.pressreader.com/malaysia/the-star-malaysia/20240107/282024742096098

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Update Penang scheduled water cut January 10~14, 2024: Supply to resume Jan 13, 2023

Water will be back tomorrow

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2024/01/12/water-will-be-back-tomorrow

Residents in Sri Bayu Apartment, Bayan Lepas, collecting water from a water tanker during second day of water cut (Jan 11, 2024) — K.T.GOH/The Star

Penang water company says repairs at 70pc completion, plans to start stage one of turning WTP back on tomorrow morning (VIDEO)

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2024/01/10/penang-water-company-says-repairs-at-70pc-completion-plans-to-start-stage-one-of-turning-taps-on-tomorrow-morning-video/111616

Joint effort: Fourteen companies helped put 18 water tanks – each able to hold about 2,000 litres – in strategic locations in Relau, the south of Penang island, for residents to get water during the scheduled water cut from Jan 10 to 14. — LIM BENG TATT/The Star

GEORGE TOWN: With three days to go before 70% of Penang residents will be without water supply, Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow says the repair work at the Sungai Dua treatment plant is necessary to prevent a more unpleasant situation during Chinese New Year next month.

He said the Penang Water Supply Corporation (PBAPP) had no choice but to shut down the plant to carry out two urgent repairs.

“The two large control valves in the plant are leaking. These valves must be replaced.

“If these valves are not replaced soon, they may fail or cause a pipeline burst during the Chinese New Year, or Hari Raya celebrations, or any time in the middle of the night,” he told The Star.

It is estimated that 590,000 consumers would be impacted by the four-day water supply disruption starting Wednesday.

More than 100 PBAPP personnel will be working round-the-clock over 96 hours to ensure everything runs on schedule during the water cut period.

The corporation plans to complete the works at the water treatment plant within the first 24 hours.

For the next 72 hours, the focus will be on “water supply services recovery” and to re-start and pump treated water through thousands of kilometres of pipelines to the affected consumers.

Out of the nine water treatment plants in Penang, Chow said the Sungai Dua plant is the most important because it produces 80% of the treated water for the state daily.

“As the Chief Minister of Penang, I admit that water supply here is one of the issues that sometimes keep me up at night, especially when thinking about the future.

“We are aiming to steer the state towards the holistic goal of becoming ‘a family-focused green and smart state that inspires the nation’ by 2030.

“We need sufficient water supply to fulfil this goal. We have a plan to reduce Penang’s water risks and address future water demand and PBAPP is implementing its Water Contingency Plan 2030,” he said.

Under the WCP 2030, the corporation will implement eight key water supply projects starting last year till 2028 to ensure water supply sufficiency in Penang until 2030. The total cost is projected to be RM1.184bil.

As for current progress of the Perak-Penang Water Supply Plan, Chow said a committee would be formed soon to monitor the overall progress of the work from the preliminary stage to the end of this project.

For the water shutdown starting this Wednesday till Sunday, PBAPP said it had sent out notices and reminders to consumers about the scheduled disruption in advance and also advised them the need to stock up water at home.

Most MPs and assemblymen in the state have also distributed water tanks at strategic spots, especially in high-rise buildings, and held discussions with residents to explain the situation and remind them to store enough water.

A check revealed that most hawkers and food outlet operators here will be resorting to disposable cutlery during the water cut.

A total of 60 static water tanks will be placed at targeted areas while the PBAPP will deploy a fleet of 99 tankers to supply water – according to fixed schedules – to affected folk.

The corporation has explained that this week’s water shutdown will be quite similar to the water cut in Selangor in October last year when Air Selangor shut down the Sungai Langat treatment plant for upgrading works.

Millions of people in 162 areas were affected by a four-day water supply interruption then.

As for the Penang folk, they would have to put up with the hot weather during the shutdown with temperature expected to be between 26°C and 34°C.

For urgent assistance, the public can call PBAPP’s 24-hour call centre at 04-255 8255.

By ALEX TENG

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alancing between data’s potential and its security

IN an era where data is king, the launch of Malaysia’s Central Database Hub (Padu) marks a significant milestone.

For the first time, the government will be collecting personal data on an unprecedented scale – everything from IC numbers and addresses to bank details and property ownership – into a single repository.

While revolutionary in its potential to streamline government services and target subsidies effectively, this initiative raises profound concerns about the security and privacy of our data.

Currently, we have the Personal Data Protection Act on the books. However, under Section 3(1) of the Act, this law does not apply to the government. 

Personal Data Protection Act 2010

Does this mean the extensive data collected through Padu is not afforded the same protections as it would if it was collected by private entities?

Previous data misuse and breaches in government systems only exacerbate our fear.

Cybersecurity firm Surfshark has listed Malaysia as the eighth most breached country globally in Q3 2023, with 494,699 leaked accounts. This represents a 144% increase in breach rate compared to Q2 2023.

According to its midyear threat landscape report, leaks from the government sector constituted 22% of total security breaches from January to June 2023.

The fundamental questions cannot be avoided: Can we trust the government with so much of our personal information? What assurances are there that it will be protected against misuse and theft?

The answers, according to most analysts and experts, lie in reforming the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) to encompass government data handling.

Amending the PDPA to include the government and all its agencies would be a significant step toward securing public confidence.

It would ensure the same rigorous data protection standards applied to private entities are also binding upon the government.

Such an amendment would not just be a legal formality; it would be the government’s commitment to the people, a reassurance that our personal information is valued and protected with the highest standards of security and privacy.

It would demonstrate a recognition of the principle that with great power comes great responsibility, especially when that power involves access to the extensive details of one’s financial and personal life.

While Padu presents an opportunity for public administration in Malaysia to take a huge leap forward, it also poses a significant risk to personal privacy if not appropriately managed.

The need to amend the PDPA to apply to data collected by the government is not just a regulatory necessity but a critical step in building trust between the citizens and the state.

Only with such legislative safeguards can the government assure its people that their data, their most personal and sensitive information, is in safe hands.

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Firms’ legal battle against US ‘forced labor’ slur necessary

 

Photo: Vitaly Podvitsk

The legal battle between Chinese laser printer manufacturer Ninestar and the US government has received wide attention, and the unfolding of the thorny legal dispute surrounding the case has further revealed how brazen Washington is in implementing trade bullying by placing the label of so-called forced labor on China. 

Ninestar Corporation

After Ninestar and its seven subsidiaries were put on a list under the US' so-called Uygur Forced Labor Protection Act (UFLPA), the company sued the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force, a multi-agency body led by the US Department of Homeland Security, in the US Court of International Trade, accusing it of acting in an "arbitrary and capricious manner in violation of US law" and arguing that the listing decision was taken "without offering any explanation or justification."

Now the legal fight is heating up, in part over who shares the burden of proof and the reliability of the evidence, the South China Morning Post reported on Thursday.

In a December filing, Ninestar claimed that the US government's decision lacked evidence and "applied a low standard of proof," and its basis was "retroactive." The company also asked the court to suspend the implementation of the government's action.

While the ultimate outcome of the case is unclear, it has already played a role in exposing the US roughness and lack of supporting evidence, letting the world know how brazen Washington could be in using lies to suppress Xinjiang industries and Chinese manufacturing.

It is no secret that the so-called forced labor and genocide claims in Xinjiang are utter lies made up by radical politicians, media and think tank scholars in the US and the West.

In recent years, Xinjiang has made great achievements in manufacturing development. In particular, large-scale mechanized production has become increasingly popular in most areas in the region, with the mechanization rate of Xinjiang's cotton sector at about 90 percent.

So how is "forced labor" possible? In the context of China-US tensions, playing the "Xinjiang card" is actually nothing but another tool the US has used to contain China's development. It wants to deprive local people of employment, creating de facto "forced unemployment" and thus disrupting the steady growth of Chinese manufacturing.

This is the fundamental reason why the UFLPA, turning a blind eye to the basic principle of the modern rule of law - the presumption of innocence - exercises the controversial presumption clause that requires enforcement authorities to presume that all goods "mined, produced, or manufactured" in whole or in part in Xinjiang are made with "forced labor" while forcing companies to incriminate themselves.

Because of this lie, products made in Xinjiang are collectively targeted and discriminated against by Western supply chains. If this is not a violation of the international trade order, then what is?

Even as Washington is obsessed about catering to its domestic political environment and strategic needs to suppress Chinese manufacturing, it is still important for Ninestar to defend its interests by resorting to legal action. Whatever the outcome of the case, Chinese companies need to have their voices heard.

Even if litigation is costly and doesn't guarantee winning the case, we still believe that more Chinese companies should seek clarity and challenge trade rules that carry political intentions through legal means.

Chinese companies should not accept this. We also hope that relevant industry associations provide more legal assistance and support to companies that were blacklisted by such unfair trade measures

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