Washington Post reported today: “Secretary of State Colin L. Powell was in China less than 24 hours this week, but that was enough to stir up a diplomatic tempest with some unorthodox and apparently unintended remarks about U.S. policy on Taiwan. The fuss demonstrated anew the high level of tension across the Taiwan Strait and […]
Read MoreThis BBC article reports on the “Reporters Without Borders” report ranking the countries most and least free of the press. North Korea, Cuba and Burma were ranked the worst three countries for media freedom while the top ten countries, with the exception of #9, New Zealand, were all in Europe. “These countries [at the top […]
Read MoreThis article talks about the growth in China’s economy and specifically focuses on the increase of “middle-class” citizens in China. This rise in the number of people who are considered “middle-class” can help to facilitate growth in China’s domestic economy. Look here for the full article.
Read MoreWang Yijiang wrote on Asia Times: “It is widely believed that the power hand over from the third to the fourth generation of Chinese leaders finally was completed when “Phantom Regent” Jiang Zemin stepped down last month as commander-in-chief – chairman of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Central Military Commission. However, Jiang’s recent high-profile public […]
Read MoreFrom Agence France-Presse: “China is mulling an “Olympic Games Basic Law” that will spell out regulations on issues including budgetary oversight, broadcasting rights and volunteer services, state press said on Tuesday. A legal framework for the 2008 Games in Beijing has already been drafted by 14 lawyers and has been handed to the Beijing Olympics […]
Read MoreLabor unrest is on the upsurge in China, according to the International Herald Tribune: “About 6,800 workers at China Resources, a Hong Kong-listed retailer, are on strike for a seventh week in northern China, alleging that the company is forcing them to sign “unfair” labor contracts, according to China Labour Bulletin, a research group in […]
Read MoreThe Globe and Mail has written an optimistic report about the influence of the Internet on China’s youth: ” ‘I love to read the negative news reports on-line, especially the common people’s complaints,’ one focus-group participant said. ‘Those brave reports could never be released by the traditional media; only on the Internet is it possible […]
Read MoreThree articles about freedom of expression (or the lack thereof) in China: The South China Morning Post reports that the government has intensified a crackdown on the liberal media in Guangdong by firing Xiao Weibin, the editor-in-chief of Tong Zhou Gong Jin magazine. According to the article, “In August, the magazine published an interview with […]
Read MoreRights and Democracy has released a new report calling on the Canadian government to guarantee that Canadian security and surveillance technology exports to China respect human rights in that country. The paper is authored with...
Read MoreFrom Monday’s Globe and Mail: “By taxi and bicycle, the young men arrived near the Japanese embassy. They carried loudspeakers and sirens and giant red Chinese flags. They wore shirts with anti-Japanese slogans. ” The story is here.
Read MoreFrom Seattlepi.com: “Thousands of retired textile factory workers in an eastern Chinese industrial center blocked traffic in a weekend protest over the failure of their pensions to keep pace with rising prices, officials and labor advocates said Monday. Officials in Bengbu, a city in eastern Anhui province, said government departments were meeting to discuss options […]
Read MoreEswn has reprinted and translated a list (originally in Xinmin Zhoukan) of political terms and slogans found in the Chinese press at various times from 1949 through today. As Eswn writes: “Given the central role of the press as a propaganda tool in China, this is a measure of shifting political ideologies over time. ” The […]
Read MoreFrom BBC, Louisa Lim wrote: “A father and son thresh wheat by hand, painstakingly working along their tiny patch of land. “Life is hard,” grunted the father. It is an age-old scene, but the landscape behind the threshers has been transformed out of all recognition. ” The full article is here.
Read MoreChina has rejected calls for a referendum on direct elections in Hong Kong, Xinhua reported. According to a Reuters report: “China has rejected calls from Hong Kong’s pro-democracy lawmakers for a public referendum on whether local residents should be allowed full, direct democracy from 2007… Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to Chinese rule […]
Read MoreColin Powell met with Chinese leaders to discuss Taiwan, North Korea, and the arrest of New York Times researcher Zhao Yan. China rebuffed Powell’s suggestion that it accept Chen Shui-bian’s offer for cross-straits talks to resolve the Taiwan situation. The Xinhua report is here and an ABC News report is here.
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