China is holding an event that happens once every five years – and it’s going to have big consequences
When President Xi Jinping came to power 10 years ago, he had a very clear vision for China.
He would return the country to its former glory, he would be unapologetic about its ascendant place in the world order, and he would make it strong, rich and stable.
A lot of what he set out has indeed been realised. But while many at the time hoped this would be done via liberal reforms, it has – at least in part – been delivered via increased controls on his people.
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Xi Jinping set to tighten grip on China
This weekend, the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China will conclude. It is a once-in-a-five-year event with the main aim of choosing the senior leaders who will take China forward to the next five years.
It is almost certain President Xi will be appointed to a precedent-breaking third term, meaning he could, in theory, become leader for life.
It means his vision for China and his way of implementing it increasingly has an air of permanence.
This matters hugely for those who have experienced the worst of the crackdowns.
In Istanbul, many miles away from China, a young woman called Abudukel tearfully shows me pictures of her parents and her brother. She has no idea where they are.
She is a Uyghur Muslim from the far western Chinese province of Xinjiang.
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Uyghurs living in fear in China
Following a number of terror attacks early on in Xi’s leadership, he pursued a large-scale crackdown against the Uyghurs.
It’s estimated a million people have at some point been detained in camps, many have reportedly been tortured, an entire culture quashed.
Abudukel’s father was arrested in 2017, she says following pressure from the authorities to force her to return to China from her studies abroad.
A year or so later her brother and mother also disappeared. She is now utterly alone on the other side of the world, haunted by the last message her brother sent her.
“My brother’s voice message was, ‘sister, sister, are you there?'” she says, breaking down into tears.
“He might have left that message when they came and arrested my mother.
“It is evident that as long Xi Jinping stays one more day, we will continue to suffer more.
“Our homeland is like an open-air prison now, on the surface, it looks as if it is open, but everything is controlled.”
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Xi Jinping set to tighten grip on China
The Chinese government says the Uyghurs are in voluntary “re-education camps” and that this action was necessary to keep people safe.
But in the eyes of much of the world, this is one of the worst examples of President Xi’s China – a place where dissent is now almost impossible.
As well as journalists, lawyers and human rights groups having been largely silenced, people here know they are watched and monitored; their faces and voices tracked by technology, social media censored and sanitised.
An example of this came just last week. In a very rare and very brave act of protest, a lone man lit a small fire on a bridge in Beijing and hung banners calling President Xi a dictator.
But the impact was almost immediately stifled. China’s army of censors ensured the images were scrubbed from social media, those who shared them were banned from platforms.
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For those outside China, they say this all leads to an incredible amount of self-censorship.
Ma Jian hasn’t been home for many years. He is an author and artist and his books have been banned in China.
He took part in the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, and says the type of activism seen then just wouldn’t be possible now.
“Before, I was able to go back to China.” he explains, “Police would talk to me, follow me and tell me who I could meet and couldn’t meet. But now, they block me out of China totally.
“If anyone says one word about Hong Kong, Tibet, Xinjiang on WeChat or the pages of a manuscript – they will be disappeared or put in prison or silenced.
“So there is a huge fear now that envelopes society and this is the plan, this is what Xi Jinping had in mind when he took control. It’s his first step of the ‘China dream’. The first step is to control all thought.”
President Xi will close the Communist Party’s Congress this weekend, his rule almost certainly extended.
His China is challenging the world, challenging him is now harder than ever.
World
‘At least 798 killed’ at Gaza aid points – as medical charity warns acute malnutrition at all-time high
At least 798 people in Gaza have reportedly been killed while receiving aid in the past six weeks – while acute malnutrition is said to have reached an all-time high.
The UN human rights office said 615 of the deaths – between 27 May and 7 July – were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” said Ravina Shamdasani, from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Its figures are based on a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries, and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), its partners on the ground, and Hamas-run health authorities.
Aid agency Project Hope said on Thursday that 10 children were among at least 15 people killed as they waited for its clinic in Deir al Balah to open.
Ten children were reportedly killed when Israel attacked near a clinic on Thursday. Pic: AP
The GHF has claimed the UN figures are “false and misleading” and has repeatedly denied any violence at or around its sites.
Meanwhile, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) – also known as Doctors Without Borders – said two of its sites were seeing their worst-ever levels of severe malnutrition.
Cases at its Gaza City clinic are said to have tripled from 293 in May to 983 in early July.
“Over 700 pregnant or breastfeeding women and nearly 500 children are now receiving emergency nutritional care,” MSF said.
The humanitarian medical charity said food prices were at extreme levels, with sugar at $766 (£567) per kilo and flour $30 (£22) per kilo, and many families surviving on one meal of rice or lentils a day.
It’s a major concern for the estimated 55,000 pregnant women in Gaza, who risk miscarriage, stillbirth and malnourished infants because of the shortages.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the coastal territory.
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It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip.
The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.
The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what it says is a suspicious manner.
It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies from falling into the hands of militants.
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Gaza situation ‘apocalyptic’, says UN expert
After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the United Nations has called the GHF’s aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.
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In response, a GHF spokesperson said: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”
The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.
At least 798 people in Gaza have been killed while receiving aid in six weeks, the UN human rights office has said.
A spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said 615 of the killings were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.
The office said its figures are based on numbers from a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as NGOs, its partners on the ground and the Hamas-run health authorities.
The GHF has claimed the figures are “false and misleading”. It has repeatedly denied there has been any violence at or around its sites.
The organisation began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the enclave.
It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip. The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.
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US aid contractors claim live ammo fired at Palestinians
The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what they say is a suspicious manner.
It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies falling into the hands of militants.
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Gaza situation ‘apocalyptic’, says UN expert
After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the United Nations has called the GHF’s aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
In response, a GHF spokesperson told the Reuters news agency: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”
The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.
Ten children and two women are among at least 15 killed in an airstrike near a Gaza health clinic, according to an aid organisation.
Project Hope said it happened this morning near Altayara Junction, in Deir al Balah, as patients waited for the clinic to open.
The organisation’s president called it a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law, and a stark reminder that no one and no place is safe in Gaza“.
“No child waiting for food and medicine should face the risk of being bombed,” added the group’s project manager, Dr Mithqal Abutaha.
“It was a horrific scene. People had to come seeking health and support, instead they faced death.”
Operations at the clinic – which provides a range of health and maternity services – have been suspended.
Some of the children were reportedly waiting to receive nutritional supplements, necessary due to the dire shortage of food being allowed into Gaza.
Israel‘s military is investigating and said it was targeting a militant who took part in the 7 October terror attack.
“The IDF [Israel Defence Force] regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimize harm as much as possible,” added.
The deaths come as an agreement over a 60-day truce hangs in the balance – with President Trump cautiously saying it could happen “this week, or next week”.
Elsewhere in Gaza, the Nasser Hospital reported another 21 deaths in airstrikes in Khan Younis and in the nearby coastal area of Muwasi.
It said three children and their mother were among the dead.
Israel said its troops have been dismantling more than 130 Hamas infrastructure sites in Khan Younis over the past week, including missile launch sites, weapons storage facilities and a 500m tunnel.
On Wednesday, a soldier was shot dead when militants burst out of a tunnel and tried to abduct him, the military added.
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Eighteen soldiers have been killed in the past three weeks – one of the deadliest periods for the Israeli army in months.
A 22-year-old Israeli man was also killed on Thursday by two attackers in a supermarket in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said the Magen David Adom emergency service.
People on site reportedly shot and killed the attackers but information on their identity has so far not been released.
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Lack of food and water ‘lethal’ for Gaza children
Negotiations over a proposed 60-day ceasefire are ongoing and President Trump reportedly put “heavy” pressure on Israel’s leader, who visited the US this week.
A major sticking point is said to be the status of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) inside Gaza during the 60-day ceasefire and beyond, should it last longer.
However, Sky News understands the Israeli government thinks the chances of a permanent truce are “questionable”.
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More than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war – more than half are women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry.
Its figure does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
The war began in October 2023 after Hamas killed around 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 251 others.
Some of them remain In Gaza and are a crucial part of ceasefire negotiations, which also include a planned surge in humanitarian aid into the strip.
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