Jonathan Watts: The view from …Beijing

From the Guardian Unlimited: “As China’s newspapers have observed in the run-up to next week’s spring festival, their country and its citizens are on the move like never before. But the events of the past fortnight have proved one feature of national life is still stuck firmly in the communist dark age: draconian censorship of […]

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Philip Pan: Chinese Authorities Plan Invitation-Only Service for Zhao

From the Washington Post: “The Chinese government took control of memorial arrangements for Zhao Ziyang on Thursday, ending protracted and sensitive negotiations with his family about how to mark the death of the Communist Party chief ousted for opposing the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. Ten days after Zhao’s death at the age of 85, family […]

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Bloomberg: Japan Considers Ending Some China Development Aid, Nikkei Says

From Bloomberg: “Japan is considering phasing out yen- denominated loans it provides to China as soon as fiscal 2008, Nikkei English News reported, without citing anyone. The yen loans constitute about 90 percent of Japan’s official development assistance to China, Nikkei said. Japan has already reduced its development assistance to China to 108 billion yen […]

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AFP: China Bans 50 Electronic Games

From RedNova News: “China has banned 50 electronic games, including FIFA Soccer 2005 and Microsoft’s Age of Mythology, as part of a campaign to combat what it sees as harmful influences on the young, state media said. As well as cracking down on computer software, the government will also focus this year on ‘illegal publications’, […]

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Xinhua: China questions death penalty

From ChinaView.cn: ” Powerful arguments over the possibility of abolishing the death penalty in China have been voiced following the academic conference “the International Symposium on the Death Pnalty” held last month at Xiangtan in Hunan province. Legal experts at the conference argued that China would need to limit the use of capital punishment when […]

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David Pilling: China overtakes US on trade with Japan

From the Financial Times: “China last year surpassed the US to become Japan’s biggest trading partner for the first time since records began, underlining the importance of the Chinese economy to Japan’s faltering recovery. Total trade with China, including Hong Kong, reached Y22,200bn ($214bn), against Y20,479bn for the US, according to preliminary figures from the […]

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Arthur Weinreb: Martin’s twisted notion of Human Rights

From the Canada Free Press: “Paul Martin is not the only Western leader to promote trade with China while ignoring that country’s terrible human rights record. There may be something to the argument that as China progresses economically, the human rights abuses will lessen. But on a recent trip to the Peoples Republic of China, […]

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B Raman: Explosive situation in Xinjiang

From the Asia Times Online: “The China Daily reported on January 22 that 13 persons were killed and 18 others injured in two separate explosions in China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, coinciding with the Eid-al-Adha religious festival. In the first incident, nine passengers were killed instantaneously and two others later died after an explosion on […]

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Julian GearingÔºöTibetan lama dodges Chinese bullet

From Asia Times Online: “A controversial Tibetan lama – to China he’s a subversive and a terrorist and to many Tibetans a saint and patriot – has been spared execution, a bullet to the back of the head. A Chinese court on Wednesday commuted the death sentence of Lama Tenzin Delek to life imprisonment, according […]

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Asia Times: Chinese economy as hot as ever

From Asia Times Online: “Despite the government’s efforts to cool down the scorching economy, China’s gross domestic product (GDP) totaled 13.65 trillion yuan (US$1.65 trillion) in 2004, jumping unexpectedly by 9.5% year-on-year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said here on Tuesday. Record levels of exports and a surge in farm production and retail sales […]

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China’s 2005 Power Shortage May Ease on New Capacity, Govt Says

From Bloomberg.com: “China’s power shortage during periods of peak demand this year may be 17 percent less than in 2004 as new generation capacity starts operating, increasing electricity supply, the nation’s top economic planning body said. China may have a power shortage of about 25,000 megawatts when demand peaks this summer compared with 30,000 megawatts […]

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Reuters: China-Taiwan flights: Cloudy future

From the International Herald Trbune: “Taiwan and China will exchange their first nonstop flights in more than 55 years over the weekend amid hopes that the temporary charter services can pave the way for permanent direct air links. But with the two governments at loggerheads over the sensitive issue of Taiwan’s political status, analysts held […]

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Dexter Roberts: China: Sticking to the Fast Lane

From BusinessWeek Online: “Beijing won’t be doing much to tame the nation’s sizzling growth, much as the G7 nations preparing to meet in London wish otherwise It was a shocker, all right. On Jan. 25 the Chinese government announced its latest economic growth figures. Turns out that the irrepressible Chinese economy grew at an astounding […]

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Philip Pan: China Oversees Zhao Ziyang Funeral Arrangements

From the Washington Post: “The Chinese government took control of memorial arrangements for Zhao Ziyang on Thursday, ending protracted and sensitive negotiations with his family about how to mark the death of the Communist Party chief ousted for opposing the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. Ten days after Zhao’s death at the age of 85, family […]

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Lindsay Beck: Zhao Death Shows Limits of China’s Media Freedom

From the Reuters, via the Boston Globe: A glance at the newspapers and glossy magazines jostling for space on China’s news stands shows how much the media has changed since the Communist country embraced market reforms more than 20 years ago. But the death of ousted leader Zhao Ziyang, who sympathized with student demonstrators in […]

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