State of Mankind

Getting answers From China on its ‘Disappeared Dissidents;’ Is China in Economic Crisis?




Citizen journalist, Zhang Zhan has been jailed since May 2020 for filming and reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic from Wuhan. Chinese human-rights lawyer, Gao Zhisheng, who has long defended activists and the civil rights of religious minorities, has been ‘disappeared’ since 2017. What ‘point of leverage’ could the world use to compel the Chinese Communist Party (or CCP) to free or ‘undisappear’ such people? What might compel it to let international tennis star, Peng Shuai, speak freely after her accusations of exploitation against a retired CCP official? Pulling off a successful Winter Olympics is a crucial component in the enduring prominence of the CCP and in Xi Jinping’s aspirations for re-election next year. However, increasing global scrutiny of its exploitation of women and broader human rights violations could be a ‘spanner-in-the-works’ of the Party’s Beijing 2022 ambitions. What are the signs of a faltering Chinese economy that could also disrupt the success of this rapidly approaching global event?