Numbers sometimes bring hidden facts to light. British writer Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) referred to the weekly “Bills of Mortality” in his “A Journal of the Plague Year,” which depicts how London was ravaged by the Great Plague in the 17th century.
The weekly Bills of Mortality showed the number of burials in London for each week. The usual number of burials for a week was 300 at most, but the number successively increased 349, 394, 415. . It was before there were daily newspapers to report on such things and the simple statistics attracted anxious attention from Londoners.
Recent Chinese statistics included some extraordinary data. The number of sterilization procedures performed on women in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region soared from slightly more than 3,000 in 2014 to around 60,000 in 2018, a 19-fold jump.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said he had discussed the Taiwan situation and the situation in China's Xinjiang province with US President Biden on Friday and the two had reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
The suit accuses Spain-based Inditex (whose brands include Zara, Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Pull and Bear and Stradivarius), France-based SMCP (comprised of Parisian brands, Sandro, Maje, Claudie Pierlot and De Fursac), U.S.-based footwear company Skechers, and the U.S. subsidiary of the Japanese fashion retailer Uniqlo, of being accomplices in serious crimes, including concealment of the crime of forced labor, the crime of organized human trafficking, the crime of genocide and crimes against humanity.
The plaintiffs are asking the French judiciary to rule on the possible criminal liability of the companies. The stated aim is to end impunity for the brands, which are accused of offloading on their subcontractors their responsibility for human rights.
By arranging to meet Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga in Washington, DC, in his first in-person summit, United States President Joe Biden appears to be sending a message: Asia, and in particular Japan, is at the heart of US foreign policy.
While issues such as the coronavirus pandemic, climate change and North Korea are expected to be high on their list of talking points, another nation, though not physically present at Friday’s meeting, is likely to be top of mind: China. Beijing has already made its displeasure about the summit known.
The US and Japan share many of the same grievances concerning China. They include Beijing’s abuse of the Uighur community in the far-western region of Xinjiang, its activities in the East China Sea and the use of advanced technology to gain an economic edge over its competitors.