Vision Times

By Meng Hao, Vision Times As U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to meet Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping in Washington on Sept. 24, lawmakers and rights advocates are pressing the administration to make human rights part of a summit expected to focus heavily on trade, AI, Taiwan, and U.S.-China competition.

By Meng Hao, Vision Times Chinese dissidents, Falun Gong practitioners, and other rights groups are planning a series of protests in Washington this week as Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping arrives for talks with U.S. President Donald Trump. The demonstrations are expected to focus on human rights abuses, religious persecution, and claims that Beijing has expanded efforts to intimidate critics outside China. Xi is due in Washington for a Sept.

A fire at a textile factory in southern China has killed eight people and injured at least one other, while a separate dormitory blaze at an art college in Dalian has raised questions over emergency preparedness and the handling of information following the incidents. The Guangdong fire broke out at 3:12 p.m. on Sept. 20 at a textile factory in Shunde District, Foshan, according to Chinese media reports citing local authorities.

A Taiwanese scholar has warned that Beijing could use the vast amount of Simplified Chinese content available online to increase its influence over how artificial intelligence interprets Chinese-language knowledge worldwide. Hung Tzu-wei, a research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, made the remarks during a Sept. 19 seminar in Taipei organized by the Modern Culture Foundation and World United Formosans for Independence (WUFI).

Taiwan is preparing to open a second representative office in the Philippines, this time in Cebu, as Taipei and Manila expand economic ties amid growing regional tensions with Beijing. Taiwanese Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung confirmed the plan on Sept. 15, saying the new office would support Taiwanese travelers and businesses while advancing a proposed Taiwan-Philippines Economic Corridor.

At least 15 members of Taiwan’s pro-Beijing Chinese Unification Promotion Party (CUPP), or individuals closely associated with the party, have registered to run in Taiwan’s upcoming local elections, according to national security officials. Only two are running under the CUPP banner, while the remainder are registered as independents or under other political parties, according to a Sept. 18 report by the Central News Agency (CNA).

The photo shows a Taiwan Army M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) conducting live-fire training in Taichung, Taiwan, on June 10, 2026. (Image: CHENG Yu-chen/AFP via Getty Images) Taiwan President Lai Ching-te visited Pingtung County on Sept. 18 to inspect a three-day joint precision missile-firing exercise in which multiple types of attack drones were incorporated into joint combat drills for the first time.

A major new study estimates that China had more than 191 million prevalent cases of mental disorders in 2023, a sharp increase over the past three decades and a finding that has renewed discussion about psychological pressure, particularly among young people.

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation on Sept. 16 that would require sanctions against Chinese and Hong Kong officials found responsible for the death of a political prisoner in Hong Kong custody. The Jimmy Lai Hong Kong Political Prisoner Accountability Act of 2026 would also require the U.S. government to monitor the health and treatment of jailed Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai and other prisoners identified by the legislation as political detainees.

Witnesses at a U.S. congressional hearing on Sept. 16 urged President Donald Trump to press Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping for the release of imprisoned Hong Kong media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai when the two leaders meet in Washington. The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) convened the hearing to examine Lai’s imprisonment and what his case reflects about press freedom, judicial independence and the rule of law in Hong Kong.