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The China Nexus: Thirty Years In and Around the Chinese Communist Party’s Tyranny
Benedict Rogers, born in London, England, first went to China at age 18 to teach English for six months in Qingdao (1992), three years after the Tiananmen Square massacre. That opened the door to a thirty-year adventure with China, from teaching English in schools and hospitals to working as a journalist in Hong Kong for the first five years after the handover to travelling to China's borders with Myanmar/Burma and North Korea to document the plight of refugees escaping from Beijing-backed satellite dictatorships and then campaigning for human rights in China, especially for Uyghurs, Christians and Falun Gong practitioners, human rights defenders, journalists and dissidents, and the people of Hong Kong.
This book tells the story of his fight for freedom for the peoples of China and neighbouring countries Myanmar and North Korea and sets out how a global movement for human rights in China is emerging and what the free world should do next. It describes the importance of the "China Nexus" in the author's journey and geopolitics and its challenges. Pioneering international inquiries into forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience, the genocide of the Uyghurs and global action for Hong Kong, as well as highlighting the Vatican's silence, the author has been at the heart of advocacy for human rights in China in recent years.
In 2017, on the orders of Beijing, he was denied entry to Hong Kong, 20 years after he had moved to the city and began his working life as a journalist and activist. Benedict Rogers co-founded Hong Kong Watch and worked with a variety of other international groups at the forefront of the fight for freedom, including the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance for China (IPAC), the Stop Uyghur Genocide Campaign, the China Democracy Foundation, the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission which he co-founded, and the international human rights organization CSW with which he has worked for over 25 years.
This book hits the Chinese Communist Party hard on their lack of Human Rights efficacy, genocide, and despicable and barbaric organ harvesting programs (an estimated $1 billion US a year business).
Rogers takes the readers on a journey through some of the leaders and participants in the Human rights activities that China has suppressed since its inception in 1949. He goes on to dispute and lays to rest all of the specious claims by the tyrants in Beijing that all Chinese citizens are equal and are afforded human and civil rights. Currently, the regime is engaged in re-education, cultural assimilation, and multiple genocides, leading to better citizens for China and the world if one believes Chinese officials.
China's ambassador to Canada says reports of genocide and forced labour of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province are the "lie of the century," despite international bodies like the United Nations deeming the reports of such activities "numerous and credible."
The author will completely dispel that notion.
360 pages, Hardcover
Published October 21, 2022
19 people are currently reading
108 people want to read
About the author
Benedict Rogers
13 books8 followersBenedict Rogers is a human rights activist and journalist.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 18, 2023
Benedict Rogers travelled to China as a young man to work as an English teacher and went on to study the country formally before starting his professional career as a journalist in Hong Kong. He has summarised his wide experience very well in The China Nexus, a book that deals in some detail with Hong Kong and China but also includes chapters on Myanmar and North Korea. I took four pages of notes—for a generalist, Rogers is meticulous, well-informed and deeply read in the secondary literature. His personal input is strong having got around over the years and this adds a welcome personal touch to a woeful story.
Where do you start with such a big subject as China, asks the author, who proceeds to break it down into manageable chapters. The specific focus of this book is human rights, really the story of Xi Jinping’s China and his massive crackdown on what the dictator identified as enemies of the Chinese state. Although human rights have always been poorly upheld in China, they took a distinct nosedive under Xi who variously locked up human rights lawyers, cracked down on free speech, attacked the Christian church, continued with the brutal persecution of Falun Gong, enacted genocide in Xinjiang (East Turkestan)/Tibet and decapitated democracy in Hong Kong. Rogers saw the writing on the wall from his post in Hong Kong and made the principled decision to focus on human rights for the rest of his career.
This book is full of heroes, people who have stood up to and against tyranny, some of whom ended up being imprisoned or worse. Rogers met and interviewed quite a few of these individuals over the years. Their powerful words and declarations speak volumes for the bravery of ordinary people made extraordinary in their struggle for freedom and dignity.
Although Nexus focuses on post-2017 China, it delves into the past where necessary to provide historical context so that the reader may get a handle on very complex issues. The abominable practice of forced organ harvesting, for example, began in Xinjiang Province in the 1990s, precisely where it is now taking place at scale among the captive Uyghur population. I was interested to learn that Rogers had a role in setting up the Uyghur Tribunal in London. Indeed, th author seems to have had a deep personal engagement with all the issues he so skilfully describes.
The book ends with a very useful chapter on what we can all do to help those who are suffering in and around China. Transnational oppression has become yet another aspect of Beijing’s brutal dictatorship, and really there is no escaping the Chinese Communist Party’s pernicious influence these days, warns Rogers.
Human rights are not something you can talk about on Sunday and forget about for the rest of the week, rather they are central to Western core values and to the democratic polity. Human rights have come under sustained attack by PR China. The China Nexus lays out the all-encompassing shape of this attack clearly and in detail; it joins up the dots. It is a fine book by someone who has done a commendable job of covering human rights in the region for over thirty years. Highly recommended reading for anyone concerned about contemporary China, and that should be everyone...Rogers was disallowed entry to Hong Kong in 2017. What is more, it is doubtful he could safely return to China in the present political climate much as he loves the place. We know how he feels.
Where do you start with such a big subject as China, asks the author, who proceeds to break it down into manageable chapters. The specific focus of this book is human rights, really the story of Xi Jinping’s China and his massive crackdown on what the dictator identified as enemies of the Chinese state. Although human rights have always been poorly upheld in China, they took a distinct nosedive under Xi who variously locked up human rights lawyers, cracked down on free speech, attacked the Christian church, continued with the brutal persecution of Falun Gong, enacted genocide in Xinjiang (East Turkestan)/Tibet and decapitated democracy in Hong Kong. Rogers saw the writing on the wall from his post in Hong Kong and made the principled decision to focus on human rights for the rest of his career.
This book is full of heroes, people who have stood up to and against tyranny, some of whom ended up being imprisoned or worse. Rogers met and interviewed quite a few of these individuals over the years. Their powerful words and declarations speak volumes for the bravery of ordinary people made extraordinary in their struggle for freedom and dignity.
Although Nexus focuses on post-2017 China, it delves into the past where necessary to provide historical context so that the reader may get a handle on very complex issues. The abominable practice of forced organ harvesting, for example, began in Xinjiang Province in the 1990s, precisely where it is now taking place at scale among the captive Uyghur population. I was interested to learn that Rogers had a role in setting up the Uyghur Tribunal in London. Indeed, th author seems to have had a deep personal engagement with all the issues he so skilfully describes.
The book ends with a very useful chapter on what we can all do to help those who are suffering in and around China. Transnational oppression has become yet another aspect of Beijing’s brutal dictatorship, and really there is no escaping the Chinese Communist Party’s pernicious influence these days, warns Rogers.
Human rights are not something you can talk about on Sunday and forget about for the rest of the week, rather they are central to Western core values and to the democratic polity. Human rights have come under sustained attack by PR China. The China Nexus lays out the all-encompassing shape of this attack clearly and in detail; it joins up the dots. It is a fine book by someone who has done a commendable job of covering human rights in the region for over thirty years. Highly recommended reading for anyone concerned about contemporary China, and that should be everyone...Rogers was disallowed entry to Hong Kong in 2017. What is more, it is doubtful he could safely return to China in the present political climate much as he loves the place. We know how he feels.
October 14, 2025
Wow! A fascinating book about yet another socialist paradise. The writer paints a picture which is even more horrendous than would seem possible in a 21st century industrial society. Genocide and organ harvesting is only one part of this communist horror story.
To think that China owns so much of present day Britain's infrastructure is quite frightening.
So yes, let's build this Chinese super embassy in London. I'm sure we can trust these guys with our lives.
To think that China owns so much of present day Britain's infrastructure is quite frightening.
So yes, let's build this Chinese super embassy in London. I'm sure we can trust these guys with our lives.
March 17, 2024
Niezwykle ciężko się to czyta. Autor zasypuje czytelnika niezbyt pasjonującymi historiami gdzie, z kim i przy czym się spotkał, które tylko zwiększają objętość książki. Dodatkowo bierze jako pewnik przypadkowo zasłyszane gdzieś niepotwierdzone informacje, aby tylko "przywalić" władzom w Pekinie. Gdyby w jakiejś książce zamieszczano podobne opowieści na temat Wielkiej Brytanii, to z pewnością zostałaby okrzyknięta mianem dezinformującej. Ale co wolno wojewodzie....
Poza tym autor ma typową zachodnią perspektywę, czyli chciałby narzucać wszystkim liberalno-demokratyczny ustrój znany z jego ojczyzny. Zasadniczo nie interesują go kulturowo-społeczne uwarunkowania, dlatego chce przeszczepić na teren Chin, Tybetu, Mjanmy czy Hongkongu system, który niekoniecznie mógłby się tam sprawdzić.
Nie mówiąc już o tym, że cała książka jest pisana pod z góry przyjętą tezę. Jak można bowiem pisać o Ujgurach i nie wspomnieć o ich niezwykle dużej reprezentacji w Państwie Islamskim? Czy naprawdę autor patrzy na Tybet i Dalajlamę wyłącznie przez różowe okulary (pada tam nawet sformułowanie o walce dobra ze złem), nie wiedząc, że nie tylko według "chińskiej propagandy" panował tam wcześniej system niewolnictwa i feudalizmu? Czy w Wielkiej Brytanii także można bez konsekwencji przekraczać nielegalnie granicę, tak jak robił to autor w przypadku Chin i Mjanmy, dziwiąc się potem, iż jest wydalany z chińskiego terytorium?
Poza tym autor ma typową zachodnią perspektywę, czyli chciałby narzucać wszystkim liberalno-demokratyczny ustrój znany z jego ojczyzny. Zasadniczo nie interesują go kulturowo-społeczne uwarunkowania, dlatego chce przeszczepić na teren Chin, Tybetu, Mjanmy czy Hongkongu system, który niekoniecznie mógłby się tam sprawdzić.
Nie mówiąc już o tym, że cała książka jest pisana pod z góry przyjętą tezę. Jak można bowiem pisać o Ujgurach i nie wspomnieć o ich niezwykle dużej reprezentacji w Państwie Islamskim? Czy naprawdę autor patrzy na Tybet i Dalajlamę wyłącznie przez różowe okulary (pada tam nawet sformułowanie o walce dobra ze złem), nie wiedząc, że nie tylko według "chińskiej propagandy" panował tam wcześniej system niewolnictwa i feudalizmu? Czy w Wielkiej Brytanii także można bez konsekwencji przekraczać nielegalnie granicę, tak jak robił to autor w przypadku Chin i Mjanmy, dziwiąc się potem, iż jest wydalany z chińskiego terytorium?
April 20, 2024
Zwar wirft Rogers mit diesen Buch Licht auf viele Schreckenstaten Chinas, doch schafft er es nicht, unbekannte Tatsachen zu präsentieren, bzw.
wirklich tief einzutauchen. Es bräuchte meiner Meinung nach für jedes Kapitel ein eigenes Buch. Für einen wie mich, der sich schon mehr mit der ganzen China Problematik auseinandersetzt hat, ist in diesen Buch wenig neues gewesen, es war mehr eine grobe Zusammenfassung davon.
Wer sich bis jetzt nicht oder wenig mit China auseinandersetzt hat, für dem ist dieses Buch jedoch ein guter Start um die Verbrechen Chinas in der heutigen Zeit kennenzulernen.
wirklich tief einzutauchen. Es bräuchte meiner Meinung nach für jedes Kapitel ein eigenes Buch. Für einen wie mich, der sich schon mehr mit der ganzen China Problematik auseinandersetzt hat, ist in diesen Buch wenig neues gewesen, es war mehr eine grobe Zusammenfassung davon.
Wer sich bis jetzt nicht oder wenig mit China auseinandersetzt hat, für dem ist dieses Buch jedoch ein guter Start um die Verbrechen Chinas in der heutigen Zeit kennenzulernen.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews