BEIJING (AP) — In halting televised confessions and emotional courtroom testimony, Chinese lawyers and activists held in a government crackdown have voiced the same ominous message:
The familiar narrative of a country besieged by foreign enemies – with the United States implied as ringleader – is a key element of China’s yearlong campaign to stamp out the country’s burgeoning legal activism movement.
Though the tactic is far from new, political observers say the trials are a reminder of how the administration of President Xi Jinping has wielded the specter of foreign threats with far greater frequency and force, a reflection of the …read more
Source: San Francisco Chronicle