Chinese author Yan Lianke, whose works are banned in his heavily censored homeland, has urged world leaders not to shy away from confronting China about its human rights record.To get more china local news, you can visit shine news official website.
Yan, who offers frank portrayals of Chinese life prompting years of state censorship, said leaders flocking to China have become too focused on economic ties.The 60-year-old novelist told AFP that Beijing needs to face up to its human rights issues, but visiting politicians "don’t really care about these things now”."The problem is they don’t seem to be talking about it as much as they used to,” he said ahead of his first British festival appearance at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Monday.
"They seem more about trade and money and agreements.”Chinese authorities have severely reduced space for civil liberties and criticism of the ruling Communist Party since President Xi Jinping took office in 2012.British Prime Minister Theresa May was under pressure to address the situation on a visit to Beijing in February but failed to make any public statements on it.Downing Street insisted concerns over human rights were raised privately, but China’s nationalist tabloid the Global Times commended her for having "sidestepped” thorny issues.French President Emmanuel Macron was praised in the same editorial for reportedly ignoring "radical public opinion” and past European "prejudices against Beijing” during his own visit to China the previous month.Nicola Sturgeon, who leads the semi-autonomous Scottish government in Edinburgh,
insisted she raised rights abuses with the Chinese government during a private meeting in April.It followed a £10 billion (US$13 billion, 11 billion euro) investment deal in Scotland with Chinese state-backed companies collapsing in 2017 amid criticism of the firms from human rights groups.Yan said he largely ignores global politics — including the frequent swipes at China by US President Donald Trump — preferring to seek inspiration in the lives of ordinary citizens."All of my novels are very closely connected with China’s reality,” he said."I have a great love for China and I have a great love for the Chinese people."If you persist in putting art first, truth first, if you don’t especially pursue fame and profit, then I think in (China) there are endless stories to write.

Posted by: shinenewstop at 08:38 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 385 words, total size 3 kb.