Commentary

In the year and a half since President Ma Ying-jeou took office in Taipei, the world has witnessed an unprecedented rapprochement between China and Taiwan.

China's authoritarian regime often resorts to extrajudicial means to silence critics. A recent report on the July ethnic riots in Xinjiang shows just how far the authorities are willing to go in the rush for a "harmonious society."

Burnt-out shells of buses. Shattered store windows. Blood on the streets. This was the scene this July in Urumqi, China.

After much highly publicised debate between members of the Law School and the University of Auckland over whether controversial Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer would be allowed to speak, a lecture theatre was finally secured thanks to the efforts of David Williams and Green MP Keith Locke.