Feb 23, 2019 - World

Saudi crown prince defends China's mass detention of Uighur Muslims

Photo: Bandar Algaloud / Saudi Kingdom Council / Handout/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, who is currently in Beijing to sign billion-dollar economic partnerships with China, said on Friday: "China has the right to carry out anti-terrorism and de-extremization work for its national security," referencing the detention of 1 million Uighur Muslims in "re-education camps," reports the Telegraph.

The big picure: Many Western countries have called for Chinese President Xi Jinping to end the mass detention of Uighurs, with the U.S. reportedly considering sanctions under the Magnitsky Act against senior Chinese officials involved in the crackdown. Turkey has also condemned China for its treatment of Uighur Muslims, one of the first Muslim-majority countries to do so.

Go deeper: U.S. firm aided Chinese DNA collection of Uighur Muslims

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Dan Primack
1 hour ago - Economy & Business

There's little consensus on TikTok's specific national security threat

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

TikTok has become a Rorschach test for how U.S. politicians view China, with little consensus on the specifics of its threat to homeland security.

The big picture: Much of what D.C. fears about TikTok is fear itself, and that's reflected in President Trump's executive order to ban the app by Sept. 20 if it's not sold by parent company ByteDance — alongside another focused on Chinese messaging app WeChat and its parent company Tencent.

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Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, Ursula Perano
1 hour ago - World

U.S. sanctions Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam

Photo: Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)

The Treasury Department on Friday placed sanctions on Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, following months of tension as she has allowed continued overreach by Beijing to subvert Hong Kong's autonomy.

Why it matters: It's the toughest sanction yet imposed on China for its destruction of Hong Kong’s relatively free political system.

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Ben Geman
2 hours ago - Energy & Environment

GM's high-stakes electric move

The Cadillac Lyriq. Image courtesy of Cadillac

Cadillac on Thursday unveiled the Lyriq, the luxury brand's first all-electric model and GM's first consumer electric vehicle unveil since the Chevy Bolt several years ago.

Why it matters: It's the first reveal by GM of an electric vehicle that will use the company's new modular platform and Ultium battery system — technologies meant to underpin the 20 electric vehicles that GM plans to launch by 2023.

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