A Poignant Letter to Chinese Leadership

By Xin Fei
Epoch Times Staff Nov 11, 2007

A banner is displayed by members of the human rights support network 'Free China' outside the Sydney offices of the Australian Prime Minister John Howard, 21 September 2007. Free China were holding a public address to media to respond to Australia's, 19 September ruling, that they would not boycott the 2008 Beijing Olympics over China's human rights record. (Greg Wood/AFP/Getty Images)
A banner is displayed by members of the human rights support network 'Free China' outside the Sydney offices of the Australian Prime Minister John Howard, 21 September 2007. Free China were holding a public address to media to respond to Australia's, 19 September ruling, that they would not boycott the 2008 Beijing Olympics over China's human rights record.

A public letter from Wang Zhaojun, Politburo Standing Committee member of Anhui Province, has drawn attention from various circles both at home and overseas. In an interview on November 7, Li Datong, former editor-in-chief of 'Freezing Point Weekly'—a "China Youth Daily" publication—said that all the issues mentioned in Mr. Wang's letter are "sharp, true and very important," adding that it articulated what the majority of Chinese people want to say but dare not to.       more ...

China 'out of step' with world, Paulson says

Beijing must step up reforms or face backlash from other countries

By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch
Last Update: 6:20 PM ET Nov 8, 2007

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- China's economic and exchange-rate policies are increasingly being viewed as "out of step" with global norms, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Thursday in a speech at the China Institute in New York.
China's policy of undervaluing its currency "is increasingly being viewed by many countries as a source of unfair competition," Paulson said, keeping up the rhetorical pressure on China to let the value of the renminbi, also known as the yuan, be set freely by market forces.
China has promised to keep moving on economic reforms, including opening up the financial services sector. But, Paulson said, "implementation is the name of the game."
"China may confront a backlash from other nations" if the pace of economic reforms slows, he warned.     more ...

Web dissent on the rise in China

By Michael Bristow
BBC News, Beijing
Last Updated: Tuesday, 16 October 2007, 16:46 GMT 17:46 UK

Zeng Jinyan does not look like a dissident. She is small, heavily pregnant and has a liking for colourful dresses.

But the Chinese security operatives who permanently watch the apartment she shares with her husband are an indicator of just how influential she has become.

The 24-year-old uses the internet to pass on information to the outside world about protests, injustices and underground campaigns in China.

She is just one of tens of thousands of ordinary Chinese people who are now using the internet to express themselves in ways that were previously impossible.         more ...

China Cancels Rights Talks With Germany

Oct 14 09:30 PM US/Eastern

BERLIN (AP) - China has canceled December human rights talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Foreign Ministry said Sunday, just weeks after Beijing criticized her for meeting with the Dalai Lama.

A German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said the planned meeting in Beijing had been canceled "in the last few days," but refused to give reasons.

China criticized Merkel for meeting in Berlin in last month with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, whom China views as a beacon for pro- independence sentiment in Tibet.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said the meeting "seriously hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and undermined China-Germany relations."

Soon after the Berlin meeting, China abruptly called off other talks scheduled for the end of September in Munich, citing "technical reasons."       more ...

CHOKING ON GROWTH: As China rises, pollution soars

International Herald Tribune
By Joseph Kahn and Jim Yardley

BEIJING: No country in history has emerged as a major industrial power without creating a legacy of environmental damage that can take decades and big dollops of public wealth to undo.

But just as the speed and scale of China's rise as an economic power have no clear parallel in history, so its pollution problem has shattered all precedents. Environmental degradation is now so severe, with such stark domestic and international repercussions, that pollution poses not only a major long-term burden on the Chinese public but also an acute political challenge to the ruling Communist Party. And it is not clear that China can rein in its own economic juggernaut.

Public health is reeling. Pollution has made cancer China's leading cause of death, the Ministry of Health says. Ambient air pollution alone is blamed for hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. Nearly 500 million people lack access to safe drinking water.

Chinese cities often seem wrapped in a toxic gray shroud. Only 1 percent of the country's 560 million city dwellers breathe air considered safe by the European Union. Beijing is frantically searching for a magic formula, a meteorological deus ex machina, to clear its skies for the 2008 Olympics.        more ...

CPSC Recalls Various Products Made in China

The CPSC has announced the following recalls of products made in China.

Ovens. QVC is recalling some 32,000 convection ovens because wires behind the control panel can overheat, posing fire and electric shock hazards. This recall involves the Cook's Essentials multi-function convection oven with pull-out rotisserie (model number 910500), which was also sold as the Deni convection oven with rotisserie (model number 10500). The model number can be found on the bottom of the oven. These are countertop ovens and the brand name "Cook's Essentials" or "Deni" is found on the front right panel. The Cook's Essentials brand was sold exclusively by QVC and the Deni brand was sold by various on-line retailers from October 2006 through May 2007 for about US$125.

Iced Tea Makers. Back to Basics Products LLC has issued a recall for about 10,000 iced tea makers because their components can fail, posing a fire hazard to consumers. The recalled iced tea makers (model #IT400) are mostly white and have a 2.5 quart glass pitcher. The recall includes only those products with a date code of CA1307 or CA1307-A. The model number is embossed on the bottom of the unit and the date code is printed on a small white sticker, which is also on the bottom of the unit. The iced tea makers were sold at Bon-Ton department stores and hardware stores nationwide, through the JC Penney catalogue and by Internet retailers from April through July 2007 for between US$40 and US$50.

Bicycles. Recreational Equipment Inc. has recalled approximately 5,200 trailer bicycles because they can detach from the adult bicycle, posing a fall hazard to children. This recall involves the Novara Afterburner trailer bicycle, a single-wheel children's bicycle that attaches to, and cannot be operated independently of, an adult bicycle. These bicycles were sold at REI stores nationwide from February through June 2007 for about US$160.

Cribs. Simplicity Inc. is recalling about one million cribs because the drop-side can detach from the crib, which can create a dangerous gap and lead to the entrapment and suffocation of infants. The recalled Simplicity crib models include Aspen 3 in 1, Aspen 4 in 1, Nursery-in-a-Box, Crib N Changer Combo, Chelsea and Pooh 4 in 1. The recall also involves the following Simplicity cribs that used the Graco logo: Aspen 3 in 1, Ultra 3 in 1, Ultra 4 in1, Ultra 5 in 1, Whitney and the Trio. The cribs have one of the following model numbers, which can be found on the envelope attached to the mattress support and on the label attached to the headboard: 4600, 4605, 4705, 5000, 8000, 8324, 8800, 8740, 8910, 8994, 8050, 8750, 8760 and 8996. The cribs were sold at department stores and children's stores and by mass merchandisers nationwide from January 1998 through May 2007 for between US$100 and US$300.


Chinese lawyer recounts abduction

By David Barboza
Published: October 2, 2007

SHANGHAI: A prominent human rights lawyer in Beijing says he was abducted, beaten and threatened over the weekend by a gang of men who demanded that he and his family leave the city.

The lawyer, Li Heping, has gained renown here for his defense of environmental activists, imprisoned lawyers and church leaders, and has also considered representing a member of Falun Gong, the banned religious sect.

Human rights groups say Chinese lawyers, activists and dissidents are often subjected to harassment, beatings or threats of long jail terms for pressing claims that seem to challenge the government and the nation's legal system.     more ...

China's elite economic double standard

By Willy Lam, Asia Times

While widely recognized as holding conservative ideological and political views, the Chinese leadership of President Hu Jintao has been given reasonably high marks for pushing forward economic reforms initiated by the late patriarch Deng Xiaoping.

According to World Trade Organization provisions, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has opened up an unprecedented number of sectors for foreign-equity participation. Yet the authorities have at the same time tightened control over other aspects of the economy. This has resulted in the truncation, if not atrophy, of thousands of private firms. These are in danger of being edged out by powerful monopolies and oligopolies that are controlled either by the party-and-state apparatus or by senior cadres and their offspring.     more ...

Death of the 'toy king'

By Olivia Chung

HONG KONG - A longtime manufacturer known as China's "Sesame Street toy king" became a casualty in the ongoing, widening trade dispute between the United States and China regarding unsafe Chinese exports when he hanged himself last week.

Hong Kong toy manufacturer Cheung Shu-hung committed suicide on August 11 at his company in Foshan city, an hour's drive south of Guangzhou in southern China's Guangdong

province, after Mattel, the world's largest toymaker, recalled nearly a million toys manufactured by his company because of worries over lead-based paint, which is illegal in the US.

The incident followed a series of problems over the safety of food and other products, including tainted medicine and chemical-laden toothpaste, exported from China. Beijing has slapped the companies involved in the scandals with export bans.     more ...

Hamleys pulls toys over lead fear

BBC News
Last Updated: Saturday, 18 August 2007, 23:56 GMT 00:56 UK

Family in Hamleys' London store
Hamleys said it took immediate action after the alarm was raised
Hamleys has removed from its shelves two child jewellery products found to contain dangerous levels of lead.

It said it had launched an inquiry into why the pendant and bracelet, imported from China, had not been detected in its quality assurance process.

The London toy store said it took safety "extremely seriously", after the Sunday Times exposed the fault.

It comes days after US toy giant Mattel recalled 18m China-made products, some of them amid fears over lead levels.     more ...

WHO fears over Beijing pollution

BBC News
Last Updated: Friday, 17 August 2007, 10:33 GMT 11:33 UK

Some spectators attending the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing face serious health problems due to air pollution, a leading health expert has warned.

Dr Michal Krzyzanowski of the World Health Organisation told the BBC that those with a history of cardiovascular problems should take particular care.

He also said the city's poor air quality could trigger asthma attacks.  The warning came as Beijing began a four-day test scheme to take 1.3m vehicles off the city's roads.  During the test period, cars with registration plates ending in odd and even numbers will each be banned from the roads for two days.  All of the cities are pretty highly polluted by European standards, but even by the standards of Asia, Chinese cities are pretty highly polluted.      more ...

Thousands Rally to Hail Communist Party's Disintegration

By Cindy Drukier
Epoch Times Staff

WASHINGTON DC—The Chinese Communist Party is in a state of near collapse under the weight of its moral deterioration, crimes against humanity and the mounting withdrawals from its ranks, said speakers at a mass rally held on July 20 at the Washington Monument in DC.

The rally, followed by a parade through downtown Washington, was organized to celebrate the 24 million Chinese who have renounced their ties to the CCP or its affiliated organizations over the last 2.5 years since the Quit the CCP movement began.

Dr David Gao, Co-founder and President of the Global Service Centre for Quitting the CCP that co-sponsored the event, described the peaceful yet powerful process of the communist regime's disintegration.

The Chinese people carry "5000 years of glorious history and great moral standing," said Gao, adding that they were now emerging from the "terror and fear" of living under the CCP.         more ...

China's democracy debate: The end is nigh

By Kent Ewing
Epoch Times
Jul 25, 2007

HONG KONG - Let's all savor, while we can, the remarkable debate over political reform taking place in China, as it is unlikely to last much longer. This sustained argument, which has played out in state media and academic journals over the past several months, could be brought to an abrupt halt once this autumn's 17th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party has passed.

For now, Chinese leaders do not want to alienate either side in the increasingly heated battle over the country's political direction, but after they consolidate their power at the congress, they may very well change their tune. It would not be the first time in Chinese politics that a refreshing period of openness had been followed by heavy-handed suppression.

Publication this month of two articles - one a nostalgic tribute to controversial ex-premier Zhao Ziyang and the other a harsh criticism of the sluggish pace of democratic reform for the past 18 years - has raised the political temperature in Beijing to a new level. Both articles appeared in China's most liberal-minded journal, Yanhuang Chunqiu (Spring and Autumn in China).       more ...

Chinese Dubious of State Media Reports

Reuters Jul 23, 2007

BEIJING—When the Chinese government said scandalous TV footage of a Beijing snack vendor stuffing steamed buns with flavoured cardboard was a hoax, some quipped that even the news in China is fake.

But since the authorities detained hidden-camera-wielding reporter Zi Beijia and a handful of others last week, many ordinary Chinese have said they doubt the government's line and believe the story of the cardboard "baozi", as the buns are called in Mandarin.

True or not, the original report came at a sensitive time, with China under mounting pressure from abroad over food and product safety scandals and just days after the government blasted foreign media for blowing the story out of proportion.

Suspicion of the government's denial of the story, and arrests, highlights an underlying scepticism that many Chinese have towards government propaganda, which tends to be sanguine and almost never reflects poorly on the ruling Communist Party.     more ...

China postpones pollution report

By Michael Bristow
BBC News, Beijing
Last Updated: Monday, 23 July 2007, 11:30 GMT 12:30 UK

Pollution is a big problem for many parts of China
China has indefinitely postponed the release of an environmental report on the costs of economic development.
Several local governments are reported to have objected to the release of "sensitive" information about the pollution they cause.

Government officials from different departments also appear to disagree on how to calculate the figures.

But despite the setback, the man in charge of the scheme says the research should continue.

The project - to calculate how much money pollution costs China each year, the so-called "green gross domestic product" - was launched in 2004.

But the scheme seems never to have progressed smoothly.            more ...

China Issues Catalogue of Products under the Restricted Category in Processing Trade

24.7.2007

On 23 July, the Ministry of Commerce and the Customs issued the Catalogue of Products under the Restricted Category in Processing Trade, which will come into effect on 23 August 2007. The newly promulgated catalogue covers a total of 1,853 products under 10-digit commodity codes mainly coming from labour-intensive industries such as plastic raw materials and products, textile yarn, fabrics and furniture.

Enterprises engaging in the processing trade of products under the restricted category are subject to the customs duty deposit system. They are required to open a customs duty deposit account at a designated bank and pay into this account an actual deposit when they file their processing trade contracts with the commerce departments. Categories A and B enterprises have to pay a deposit equivalent to 50% of the import-related taxes. Category C enterprises are required to pay a deposit equivalent to 100% of the sum of payable import tax and value-added tax of all bonded imported materials.

In the central and western regions, Categories A and B business enterprises with their processing units located in the same regions are subject to "nominal payment" of customs duty deposit. As for Category C enterprises, 100% actual payment of customs duty deposits is required.

For details of the above catalogue and its implementation measures in Chinese, please visit:

http://www.mofcom.gov.cn/aarticle/b/c/200707/20070704918873.html

China unable to commit on climate

BBC News - Last Updated: Thursday, 5 July 2007, 16:49 GMT 17:49 UK

China is not able "for the time being" to commit to binding agreements to cut carbon emissions, a government official has told British parliamentarians.

The deputy director-general of China's Office of Global Environmental Affairs, Lu Xuedu, spoke to the joint committee on the UK's draft climate change bill.  He said: "We hope that we will have the capability very soon but that depends on the development process."  He added that China believes it will "suffer seriously" from climate change.  "But anyhow we will continue to make every effort to address climate change," Dr Lu said.   We believe the poor will suffer much more than rich because the poor have less capability

China's part in cutting emissions is crucial, as many analysts believe it could overtake the US this year as the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases.  But China has repeatedly said that its first priority must be its economy, and that rich countries must take more responsibility for tackling climate change.     more ...

Labour Contract Law Clarified Economic Compensation

4.7.2007
Hong Kong Trade Development Council

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) adopted the Labour Contract Law of China on 29 June 2007. The new law will come into effect on 1 January 2008.

The law has clarified the method of calculating economic compensation made to workers, which is an issue of great concern to Hong Kong companies. Under Article 46 of the law, an employer should make economic compensation to an employee if it revokes or terminates the labour contract under certain circumstances. The amount of the economic compensation should be calculated according to the duration of service and wage of the employee concerned (Article 47).

Article 97 stipulates that the starting date for the calculation of the economic compensation should be the effective date of the new law (i.e. 1 January 2008). Before the implementation of the new law, any employer making economic compensation to an employee should do so in accordance with the relevant rules at that time.

For the full text of the Labour Contract Law in Chinese, please visit:
http://www.npc.gov.cn/zgrdw/common/zw.jsp?label=WXZLK&id=368169&pdmc=110106

China's grave offense: Ghost wives

Asia Times - Jun 29, 2007
By Antoaneta Bezlova

BEIJING - Ghost stories might have been recently exorcised from bookshelves by Chinese censors for the horror they inflict on the public, but equally grisly tales of "ghost wives" have been unfolding in real life.

When Shen Wentang, a peasant from central China's Hebei province, bought a "ghost wife" for his dead father, he asked no questions about where the body had come from - and showed little curiosity about finding this out.

He knew that things had changed from the past, when an afterlife marriage was nothing out of the ordinary and families of both the "bride" and "groom" would have celebrated it with toasts and a feast. Authorities now frown on these feudal customs, so Shen wanted the marriage done quickly and without much ado. Still, he was grateful that the body of the ghost wife was dressed in a shroud in the auspicious color for weddings - red.

He had had to borrow funds to pay for the body, and 3,500 yuan (US$454) exceeded the annual earnings of many of his home village. Then, working swiftly with two relatives one spring dawn, Shen unearthed his father's grave, lifted the coffin's lid and slipped the female body inside.     more ...

Air-con limits for China workers

By Roger Harrabin
BBC Environment Analyst
BBC News - Last Updated: Wednesday, 27 June 2007, 08:41 GMT 09:41 UK

China is the world's top producer of carbon dioxide emissions

Workers in Chinese government offices are going to be made to sweat this summer.  The government has decreed that they cannot use air conditioning to take the temperature below 26C (78.8F), the official Xinhua news agency reports.

Until recently, the Chinese solution to providing energy in buildings was simply to build more power stations.  Now they are building two a week and still cannot satisfy demand, so they are focusing on saving energy, too.    more ...

Police Beat Villagers, Torture Community Leaders

By Xin Fei
Epoch Times Staff
Epoch Times - Jun 23, 2007

Nine community leaders from Changpo Village, Xincui Township, Lingshui County in China's Hainan Province were brutally suppressed for exposing local government corruption. They are currently pursuing an appeal in Beijing but must also remain in hiding from the Lingshui County police who continue to hunt them down.

Human rights representative Huang Zhengfei said that authorities are trying to silence this community who has struggled to expose these local government officials for the past ten years. On May 16, an order from the Lingshui County government sent several thousand police officers to violently beat Changpo villagers, causing many injuries, some very severe. Officials have continued to harass villagers daily since this initial beating and community representatives have had their homes smashed. On their way to report their case in Beijing, two community leaders were apprehended by police, arrested, and tortured to disability.      more ...    

Click here to read the original article in Chinese

Chinese activist 'beaten in jail'

A leading Chinese human rights activist has been severely beaten in jail by other prisoners on the orders of his guards, Amnesty International has said.

Last Updated: Friday, 22 June 2007, 13:07 GMT 14:07 UK

Chen Guangcheng was reportedly beaten after he insisted on his right to appeal against his sentence and refused to allow his head to be shaved.  The human rights group said it feared for his life and that he was at risk of further torture and ill-treatment.

Mr Chen was jailed in 2006 for damaging property and disrupting traffic.  But his lawyers said the real reason was Mr Chen's exposure of violations of China's one-child policy, including forced sterilisations and abortions.       more ...

U.S., China Aim to Mend Ties
Increased Exchanges Between Military Officials Are Cited

By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 14, 2007; Page A23

A Pentagon official yesterday cited plans to establish a crisis hotline between Washington and Beijing as well as expanded exchanges involving top U.S. and Chinese defense officials as signs of improving U.S.-Chinese military ties.

"We believe these exchanges and mechanisms have the potential to improve mutual understanding, reduce miscalculation, and contribute over time to 'demystifying' one another," Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Richard P. Lawless said at a hearing before the House Armed Services Committee.    more ...

Pentagon accuses China of deception

By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer
June 13, 2007

WASHINGTON - The
Pentagon said Wednesday that China is concealing its spending on weapons programs, including technology to disrupt U.S. space efforts.

Testifying before a mostly supportive House Armed Services Committee, the deputy undersecretary of defense for Asia said, "What we see is a deliberate effort on the part of China's leaders to mask the nature of Chinese military capabilities.

As a result, Richard P. Lawless said, "the outside world has limited knowledge of the motivations, decision-making and key capabilities of China's military or the direction of its modernization."

Still, Lawless said China's goals are clear.  "We are seeing China emerge as a growing international space power" while rapidly developing its armed forces to compel Taiwan to bend to its demands, he said.      more ...

China Pushes Public To Mind Its Manners
Curbing Bad Habits Is Pre-Olympic Goal

By Maureen Fan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, June 13, 2007; Page A01

BEIJING -- In the downtown Environmental Sanitation Bureau, 100 public toilet cleaners sat at rapt attention in neat rows, red armbands pinned to the sleeves of their immaculate purple jumpsuits.

The small army of mostly migrant workers who help keep Beijing clean are trained routinely in the mechanics of their jobs. But on this day, a senior lecturer from a government-run institute was driving home a specific point.

A group of public toilet cleaners in Beijing gets an etiquette lesson from Zhuang Zeping, a lecturer from a government-run center that is urging citizens to get rid of unseemly habits ahead of the 2008 Olympics.

"As long as you have come to Beijing, you are a Beijinger," said Zhuang Zeping, urging the toilet cleaners to match their shoes and socks, keep their tools clean and speak softly and politely to strangers. "You represent the image of China to the rest of the world."

Zhuang's guidance was delivered with a certain context in mind: the 2008 Olympic Games, when an estimated 500,000 foreigners are expected to descend on this fast-developing capital for a crucial two-week period.     more ...

China alarms ringing

The Washington Times
By John J. Tkacik
May 10, 2007

Fifteen years ago, the U.S. intelligence community judged that the People's Liberation Army of China was more than 20 years behind the West. In January, the PLA brought down a satellite with an ultra-sophisticated "kinetic kill vehicle" weapon. Today, no one views China's nuclear or missile capabilities as anything other than cutting-edge.

In the last five years, China has brought 20 state-of-the-art, super-quiet, diesel-electric submarines on line, increasing its fleet of modern subs to 55. Now there is speculation the Chinese are developing Polymer Electrolyte Membrane fuel cells that allow their subs to stay submerged far longer and eliminate any detectable mechanical noise.     more ...

As mirror images emerge, Taiwan and China can reconcile

By John C. Bersia - ORLANDO SENTINEL
Updated: 05/06/07 6:54 AM

Like bad Chinese food, the Beijing-Taipei flap over the 2008 Olympics torch relay leaves a funky, disappointing aftertaste. It is not what one should expect in connection with an event that celebrates human capability, spirited competition, collective pride and unity.

Ironically, the torch relay — advertised by China as the most inclusive in history — has ignited a firestorm of divisiveness more than a year before it is scheduled to light up the Olympics’ Opening Ceremony. Beijing wishes to run the torch through Taiwan as a continuation of its trek across parts of China, thus underscoring its claim to the island. Taipei seeks a route through third countries.    more ...

Chinese Catholic Bishop Martin Wu Missing

By Xin Fei
Epoch Times Staff - Apr 30, 2007

Vatican ordained Bishop Martin Wu from Zhouzhi County, Shaan'xi Province, was arrested by local police on March 18. His whereabouts remain unknown.

On April 26, several Catholic parishioners from Zhouzhi County confirmed the bishop's disappearance to The Epoch Times . Mr. Zhang said, "Martin Wu was not appointed by the government but the regime has tried to pressure and entice him on numerous occasions to join the governmental church organization 'Three-self Patriotic Movement Committee,' but he refused them every time. Hence the regime became furious and arrested him."

One follower from Guojiahao, Lintong County, near Xi'an City told an Epoch Times journalist, "We heard that he (Wu) was being held in our district, but no one can confirm the exact location. We heard they (the regime) want to brainwash him and make him capitulate."     more ...

Beijing spring: Democracy is in the air

By Kent Ewing

HONG KONG - Spring has not proved to be a hopeful season in the politics of China's past, but that could be changing. These days, there is democracy as well as pollen in the air. All this seems to pave the way for the introduction of a more democratic election system in the all-important 17th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) this autumn.

Start with the fact that both President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have recently spoken positively about democratic development both in Hong Kong and on the mainland. In addition, a number of articles on political reform have appeared in the state-controlled media and Communist Party journals. There has also been speculation by veteran commentators overseas on the possibility of a democratic future for China.

And all this comes at a particularly sensitive time. This month marks the 18th anniversary of the death of the reform-minded Communist Party general secretary Hu Yaobang, which inspired tens of thousands of students to pour into the streets in mourning. But that mass exercise in grief soon transformed into a mass demonstration for democracy that ended in the Tiananmen Square massacre on June 4, 1989. more ...

CHINA AND APPEASEMENT

China's misguided 'experts' on the US
By Henry C K Liu

(See also Part 1, Beyond Munich: Geostrategy and betrayal
and Part 2, Not much rise, and even less peace.)

Wang Jisi, director of the Institute of American Studies, is known in the West as China's foremost expert on the United States, called a major "America handler" who is "always giving guest lectures in the US and very, very plugged-in with the senior leadership".

Wang reportedly spent a whole day briefing Chinese President Hu Jintao for his April 2006 US visit, which turned out to be a perfunctory summit with no milestone diplomatic breakthroughs. It was obvious that Hu had not been adequately warned by his expert about not-so-latent US hostility. The most memorable moment of the summit was a televised heckling by a Falungong fanatic during the official welcoming ceremony on the White House lawn. Many Chinese think that the heckling was deliberately staged by anti-China forces to embarrass publicly the leader of the world's most populous nation, Wang Jisi's well-known upbeat views of US friendship notwithstanding. more ...

China miners risk deadly disease

BBC News - Monday, April 30, 2007

The lung disease known as "black lung" or pneumoconiosis accounts for three quarters of all occupational deaths, health officials said.China's coal mines are the most deadly in the world.  An average of 17 miners are killed in mining accidents each day, the official People's Daily newspaper reports.  Independent labour groups believe the death toll is much higher.

Human cost

Of 677,000 occupational disease cases reported in China since the 1950s, more than 90% were pneumoconiosis cases, health ministry spokesperson Su Zhi said.  Last year alone, the black lung disease accounted for 76% of the 11,000 new occupational disease cases reported.   more ...

China Military's Lack of Openness Raises Risk of Crisis Misstep

By Ken Fireman and Allen T. Cheng

March 12 (Bloomberg) -- Last July, as North Korea prepared for ballistic missile tests, Admiral William Fallon picked up the telephone to warn his Chinese military counterparts of the U.S.'s deep concern, and urge them to weigh in against the launches.

There was just one problem: The commander of all U.S. forces in the Pacific, who had spent two years cultivating ties with Chinese leaders, couldn't reach anyone to deliver his message. ``I just couldn't get somebody to answer the phone,'' Fallon says. ``Nobody wanted to talk.''       more ...

CNN Segment Apparently Blocked in China

Mar 10, 5:58 PM (ET)
By SYLVIA HUI

HONG KONG (AP) - China on Saturday apparently blacked out parts of a CNN interview with Hong Kong's leader when he began discussing moves toward democratic reform in the territory.

During CNN's "Talk Asia" program, Donald Tsang was talking about his plans to consult the Hong Kong public on how to bring universal suffrage to the territory, which is ruled by China but has a wide degree of autonomy. He said he was eager to address the democracy issue if he wins a second term as chief executive of Hong Kong later this month.

The show then abruptly went to commercials, after which the screen blacked out momentarily. When the show resumed, Tsang was speaking about his relationship with Beijing state leaders.        more ...

China Military in Legislative Spotlight

Mar 9, 2:22 PM (ET)
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN

BEIJING (AP) - Anyone seeking a reminder of the People's Liberation Army's influence on Chinese politics need only look at the swaths of green-and-blue uniforms amid the sea of delegates to the national legislature.

With a spectacular test of an anti-satellite weapon, the roll-out of a sophisticated jet fighter and talk of building an aircraft carrier, the Chinese military is raising eyebrows abroad and picking up support in China's corridors of power.

The government announced a 17.8 percent boost in defense spending, the 17th double-digit increase in 18 years. Active servicemen and women make up nearly one in every 10 members of the National People's Congress, assuring the military a voice in government.

"It's still the case that 'the party controls the gun,'" Jin Linbo of the China Institute of International Studies said, using a maxim for civilian control of the military.

But, he said, "the armed forces want to see real improvements and upgrading, and if they don't, they might be less inclined to take heed."

The rising capabilities and political influence of the 2.3 million-member People's Liberation Army weigh heavily on a shifting global security order.

China, with its juggernaut economy, is making inroads in Latin America and the Middle East. Washington has expressed concern about Chinese competition for energy resources, and Beijing and Tokyo are already sparring over gas deposits in the East China Sea.

The army trains relentlessly for one scenario - retaking Taiwan, the democratically ruled island China claims, and fending off interference by the United States, Taiwan's main source of weapons and political support.      more...

US warns China on military build-up

ZeeNews.com Washington, Mar 06

The United States warned China on Monday that its announced military spending boost was "inconsistent" with peaceful growth and hinted that Beijing was understating its defense expenditures.

"This kind of spending not only concerns us but raises concerns among China's neighbors. This is inconsistent with China's policy of peaceful development," said White House national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

"We hope they will demonstrate more transparency in the future," Johndroe told a news agency by telephone.

He declined to elaborate, but US officials in the past have used such language to mean that they do not believe that China's declared military budget accurately represents their actual defense spending.

Johndroe's comments came after Beijing announced a nearly 20 percent increase in defense expenditures in 2007.

And Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Monday that China would continue to strengthen its armed forces, remarks applauded by military leaders who want to counter new threats and take back Taiwan.      more ...

China welcomes the Year of the Pig

CNN News
POSTED: 8:15 a.m. EST, February 18, 2007

BEIJING, China (AP) -- Asians flocked to temples, parks and Disneyland on Sunday to pray, play, eat, and celebrate the first day of the Lunar New Year, ushering in the Year of the Pig.

At Beijing's Lama and White Cloud temples, faithful burned incense and tossed coins at incense burners in the hope one would land in the pot and bring them good luck for the year ahead.

At a traditional fair in Beijing's Ditan Park, performers sang folk songs and snippets of Peking opera for throngs of people snaking through the park, many carrying balloons and pinwheels. Vendors sold pork dumplings and other treats, such as freshly made caramel candy sculpted into chubby pig shapes. (Watch happy Beijing residents welcome the Year of the Pig)

The pig is one of 12 animals (or mythical animals, in the case of the dragon) on the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac, which follows the lunar calendar.

According to Chinese astrology, people born in pig years are polite, honest, hardworking and loyal. They are also supposed to be lucky, which is why many Chinese like to have babies in a pig year.       more ...

Japanese Reporter's Attempt to Interview Gao Zhisheng Obstructed

Epoch Times
By Ren Zihui
Epoch Times Staff
Feb 06, 2007

TOKYO—Following Chinese communist regime's announcements that restrictions will be relaxed for overseas reporters, a Japanese reporter in Beijing made attempts to interview the famous human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng. However his interview was obstructed by the authorities with the excuse that Gao Zhisheng is "different from ordinary Chinese citizens."

Japan's Sankei Shimbun reporter in Beijing later published a report on the Internet explaining his attempt to interview the famous lawyer.

At noon on January 16, after searching for some time, the reporter finally succeeded in finding the apartment building that Gao Zhisheng lives in. However, as soon as he stepped into the building and approached Gao's aparment, he was stopped by four men. The men interrogated the reporter and demanded him to go away. According to the reporter's web-published report, the men, who were all public security personnel, had even set up beds inside the building so they could monitor Gao and people who entered the building 24-hours a day.      more ...

Japan mulls China WTO complaint

BBC News
Last Updated: Tuesday, 6 February 2007, 13:07 GMT
Akira Amari

Japan says it is considering joining the US in filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization against China.  It is concerned over claims that China, its largest trading partner, gives national firms preferential taxes, giving them an unfair advantage.  The US has already complained to the WTO that China is essentially subsidising some of its industries.  Washington argues this means US firms cannot compete fairly and last week started legal action against China.  Japan said it was now trying to find out more about the claims after the issue was raised by US trade representative Susan Schwab.     more ...

Imprisoned Chinese Democratic Party Members Protest for Improved Prison Conditions

By Ding Xia
Radio Free Asia
Feb 06, 2007

CHINA—Imprisoned China Democratic Party Member He Depu wrote a letter to the Minister of Justice recently protesting about the prison diet and insufficient activity time outside the cell. He also requested improvements to prisoners' rights to maintain good health. A reporter interviewed He's wife, Jia Jianying, on February 2.     more ...

China tries to stop AIDS activist's visit to U.S., friend says

Associated Press
Page 8
2007-02-06 12:06 AM

An elderly doctor who embarrassed China's government by exposing blood-selling schemes that infected thousands with HIV has been stopped from going to Washington to be honored by a charity supported by U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, a friend said yesterday.

Retired physician Gao Yaojie, in her 80s, is among China's most prominent and tenacious AIDS activists. She received numerous awards for efforts a decade ago to alert people in her home province of Henan, in eastern China, to an AIDS outbreak being spread by tainted blood transfusions.      more ...

Ban Thwarts 'Year of the Pig' Ads in China

NPR News
by Louisa Lim

Morning Edition, February 6, 2007 · A ban on pig references in commercials illustrates problems with China's advertising industry. The Year of the Pig begins Feb. 18, and many advertisers planned pig themes. The pig ban is meant to protect the sensibilities of 20 million Muslims.

Hong Kong airwaves crackle under government review

CNN News
POSTED: 6:59 p.m. EST, February 4, 2007

HONG KONG, China (Reuters) -- For decades now, broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong has held a trusted place in the public eye as a champion of editorial freedom, not unlike the BBC after which it was modeled.

RTHK, which functions as a government department with full public funding, is arguably the most liberal and critical public broadcaster operating on Chinese soil today.

Its airwaves buzz with talk-show barbs against contentious government policies and human rights cases in China, including the five-year jailing of Singapore Straits Times journalist Ching Cheong on spying charges.

Now, some say, a major public broadcasting review initiated by the city's government last year threatens to mute its unique voice and heighten tensions in an already bristling newsroom.

Critics call the review an ill-disguised attempt to muzzle RTHK under pressure from conservatives in Beijing, who in recent years have been cracking down on already scant mainland media freedom -- despite some relaxation of rules for international reporters in the run-up to the 2008 Olympics.      more ...

Don't discuss Tiananmen, Tibet or Taiwan, French government advises businesspeople

By John Leicester
ASSOCIATED PRESS
3:21 a.m. January 4, 2007

PARIS – A new guide co-produced by the French Tourism Ministry advises businesspeople not to mention Tibet, Taiwan and the Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators when negotiating with the Chinese.

France's League of Human and Citizens' Rights said it was scandalized that a government agency was offering such advice.

Destined for tourism professionals, the 65-page guide, “Chinese tourists: How best to welcome them?” has plenty of handy tips. It recommends, for instance, that restaurateurs put out soy sauce and chili paste so Chinese tourists can spice up French dishes, “which they can find bland.”       more ...

2006: China's Economic Difficulties and the

By Hu Shaojiang
Radio Free Asia - Jan 02, 2007

In the past year, the Chinese economy has not gradually begun to cool down as expected by the Chinese communist regime's plan, but continued to increase at a speed higher than any previous year. For years, different opinions on the Chinese regime's macro-control policy have been held between the central and local authorities, experts and policy makers. Regardless of whether China needs a macro-control policy, almost everyone agrees that the effect of the regime's macro-control policy has not been good. For example, over-investment is not effectively controlled; real-estate prices continue to grow; foreign trade surplus and foreign exchange storage has steadily increased.

Macro-control means that the Chinese regime takes on not only monetary policies and finance policies used by western governments, but also some administrative duties inherited from a planned economy. The failure of these policies accumulatively reflects the seriousness and complexity that the Chinese economy faces. Many difficulties have actually been accumulating for a long time. Lacking a cyclic, complementary system and depending on policy adjustment and administrative intervention cannot solve these problems. There are four main problems that are most prominent in the Chinese macro-economy.       more ...

Over 200 Arrested on Tiananmen Square on New Year's Day

By Zhao Zifa and Ji Jian
Epoch Times Staff - Jan 01, 2007

On the morning of January 1, 2007, Chinese authorities arrested over 200 protesters on Tiananmen Square. Tiananmen public security, armed police and plainclothes officers were on the scene to interrogate and arrest demonstrators.

Voicing a variety of complaints, the majority of these protesters came from all across China. Demonstrators were arrested in several groups near the exit of an underground tunnel leading to the Square. Police hauled off five vehicles full of protesters.

Tiananmen Square was not the only location where New Year's dissidents have been apprehended. Laying bait for attests, authorities infiltrated several villages, circulating rumors of a planned protest at Shijing Hill on New Year's Day. Caught in this trap, individuals later found at Shijing Hill were taken into police custody. Beijing human rights advocate Liu Anjun believes that a dozen people were arrested at Shijing Hill and are being kept by local authorities.      more ...

China's Hu calls for powerful navy

CNN News - POSTED: 11:17 p.m. EST, December 27, 2006

BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- Chinese president and commander-in-chief Hu Jintao urged the building of a powerful navy that is prepared "at any time" for military struggle, state media reported on Thursday.

At a meeting of delegates to a Communist Party meeting of the navy on Wednesday, Hu said China, whose military build-up has been a source of friction with the United States, was a major maritime country whose naval capability must be improved.

"We should strive to build a powerful navy that adapts to the needs of our military's historical mission in this new century and at this new stage," he said in comments splashed on the front pages of the party mouthpiece People's Daily and the People's Liberation Army Daily. "We should make sound preparations for military struggles and ensure that the forces can effectively carry out missions at any time," said Hu, pictured in green military garb for the occasion.

China's naval expansion includes a growing submarine fleet and new ships with "blue water" capability, fueling fears in the United States that its military could alter the balance of power in Asia with consequences for Taiwan.

China has said it would attack if the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own formally declares independence.     more ...

Simplification of Chinese Characters by the Chinese Communist Party

Speech on the "Chinese Liberal Culture Movement" first annual meeting (abbreviated)

By Peng Xiaoming
The Epoch Times Dec 27, 2006

An elderly man practises Chinese calligraphy at a parkin Nanjing, China. During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the way Chinese characters are written was changed. (China Photos/Getty Images)The topic of my speech is also the title of a book that I am going to publish soon. My speech traces the history of the simplification of Chinese characters, which has turned out to be a major issue affecting the whole of China's culture.

The simplification movement started soon after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) came into power. It used a lot of manpower and financial resources to quickly change the way of writing Chinese characters that had been in use for over 2,000 years. Within a few months, and without any comprehensive discussion or agreement from the public, the CCP announced that the way Chinese characters are to be written was being changed. Those who had different opinions were accused of being right-wing. It was actually a forced reform that has had serious consequences.     more ...

Student Directed To Bang His Head Against a Wall 80 Times for Punishment

The Epoch Times Dec 27, 2006

A mathematics teacher of Yutong primary school at Chaigou Village, Huiguo Township of Gongyi City, Henan Province was very "strict" with the pupils. The pupils were punished by having to bang their heads against the wall ten times for each mistake in mathematics. Thirty-six pupils have been punished, and one schoolboy had to bang his head up to 80 times in one class. The parents poured in their denouncements of this practice and received an apology from the school.    more ...

Chinese higher education fails the test

Asia Times - Dec 21, 2006
Page 1 of 2
By Robert Hartmann

HONG KONG - Opinion polls in China in the past year have generally listed the country's higher education as one of the three major targets of growing public discontent, with the other two being health care and housing.

As such, the current higher-education system is potentially a major factor of social instability. Therefore, to implement President Hu Jintao's blueprint for building a "harmonious society", the Chinese government must make efforts to deal with
the crisis facing higher education.

In China, where learning used to be highly esteemed because of the Confucian tradition, university graduates were once regarded as "heaven's favored ones" who would never worry about employment. But in recent years, it has become increasingly difficult for university graduates to find jobs. This year, quite a number of university graduates have taken jobs as housemaids, security guards or unpaid trainees. Even so, half of the more than 4 million graduates remained jobless months after leaving school.

In light of this, Ministry of Education officials in charge of student affairs have made a public appeal that university graduates should be prepared to compete with "ordinary laborers" in the job market, which raises the question: If a university graduate is like an "ordinary laborer", what is China's higher education for?       more ...

Sino-American friction builds

Asia Times - Dec 20, 2006
Page 1 of 2
By Benjamin A Shobert

SHANGHAI - In an already eventful year for US-China relations, over the past month the recent generation of new US congressional and administration reports coupled with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's recent trip to Beijing have closed out 2006 with an unusual flurry of activity.

This past month represents a portion of the year probably second in significance only to Chinese President Hu Jintao's April trip to the US. It seems impossible to view the recent US-China Economic and Security Commission report and the just-released US Trade Representative report (USTR 2006) to Congress on China's World Trade Organization (WTO) compliance without sensing that the stress to the foundation of US-China relations is now beginning to show additional strain.

Inevitably, US interests as an established international power and the rapidly modernizing power of China are bound to generate friction; but if the USTR report released on December 11 is any indication, 2006 may mark a pivotal year when US politicians began to view China's growing influence as a perfectly legitimate issue by which to confuse an increasingly frustrated electorate eager to find a body of issues that can be blamed for their own sense of economic malaise.

Polls, which already showed that 57% of Americans believe the US is "not tough enough" during negotiations with China, are worsening, which leaves little doubt that politicians are not going to be left behind if a new whipping boy for collective US economic ills is to be found.
more ......

Boost for Hong Kong democracy hopes

Associated Press
Page 5
2006-12-12 01:31 AM

Democracy supporters said yesterday they won enough seats on an election committee to put a candidate on Hong Kong's leadership race ballot for the first time since the British colony returned to Chinese rule nearly 10 years ago.

The pro-democracy groups needed at least 100 positions on the 800-member election panel, which will decide who can run in the March vote for the city's leader, or chief executive. Only candidates backed by at least 100 members of the committee - which acts like an electoral college - can join the race.

Yeung Sum, a senior member of the pro-democracy movement, said his camp won 114 seats in Sunday's vote to fill openings on the election committee. The pro-democracy supporters also have an additional 18 lawmakers - who automatically have positions on the panel - inclined to vote for their candidate.

The pro-democracy camp's candidate in the race, lawmaker Alan Leong, said he now had a good shot at being on the ballot.       more ...

Woman Killed For Writing Quit CCP Slogans on Bank Notes

By Cheng Jie and Wen Zhen
New Tang Dynasty Television Dec 07, 2006

CHINA—Cao Aihua from Akesu City, Xinjiang province was tortured to death within one week of being interned in a labor and re-education camp for writing a slogan of quitting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on a Chinese bank note (Renminbi).

Cao was arrested in August by the communist regime because she wrote "Quitting the party" and Nine Commentaries related information on bank notes. She was sent to Urumqi Women Labor and Re-Education Camp, and died there several days later.   more ...

Thousands of Appellants Arrested on Legal System Promotion Day

By Fang Xiao and Yang Guang
Epoch Times Staff Dec 07, 2006

A crowd of civilian-clothed and uniformed policemen arrest and abduct people into a public transportation vehicle outside the east door of CCTV station on December 4. (The Epoch Times)

In the early morning of December 4, the Legal System Promotion Day as denominated by the Chinese communist regime, thousands of appellants gathered in front of the CCTV station to protest social injustices. Hundreds of appellants also gathered at Tiananmen Square and Xinhuamen to protest. Among those appellants, 300 people from the Daxing district of Beijing city went to protest around Zhongnanhai. Consequently, appellants at different sites were soon arrested in batches and sent to different places. Most appellants went to the CCTV station. The appellants held appeals written on banners, some wore clothes with written appeals, and shouted slogans in protest against the deceiving nature of propaganda on Legal System Promotion Day.

According to one appellant, he and several hundreds of appellants spontaneously went to Tiananmen Square to protest at 9 a.m. But soon they were sent to a building for dispersion by the Tiananmen police force.

The appellant group from Daxing district arrived at the west door of Zhongnanhai, Xihuamen to protest. But soon this group were scattered to Fuyou Street Police Station.     more ...   
Click here to read the original article in Chinese

Envoy fears for Tibet when Dalai Lama dies

Reuters - Tue Dec 5, 2006 1:47am ET

BEIJING, (Dec 5) - The Dalai Lama's top envoy, in rare remarks on a dialogue process with China, has warned of potential instability unless the issue of Tibet is resolved within the lifetime of the 71-year-old spiritual leader.

Lodi Gyari also stressed the Dalai Lama's commitment to greater autonomy within China, rather than independence, but said that in return the Chinese government should redraw provincial borders to unite ethnic Tibetans in one region.

"The Chinese government has redrawn internal boundaries when it has suited its needs and could do so again in the case of Tibet to foster stability and to help ensure Tibet's characteristics remain intact," he said in a speech at the Brookings Institution in Washington.      more ......

China punishes officials for poison river spill

Reuters - Wed Nov 22, 2006 8:32am ET17

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has disciplined officials for a chemical leak that contaminated a river and cut off drinking water and pledged action against those responsible for two other environmental disasters, state media reported on Wednesday.

Hu Zhirong, Communist Party boss of Linxiang, in the central province of Hunan, received a disciplinary warning for initially protecting the polluting plants with special government documents and then being slack in investigating their problems after the spill, state radio reported.

Senior managers at the factories have already been detained.

Drinking water to the area was cut for four days in September, after the factory was discovered discharging cancer-causing arsenide directly into the Xinqiang river.        more ...

China opens first lesbian hotline

BBC News - Last Updated: Wednesday, 22 November 2006, 14:35 GMT

China has opened its first telephone support helpline for lesbians, state media has reported.

The free service launched in Shanghai is staffed by lesbians trained in counselling and offers psychological help and support, Xinhua agency said.  The initiative follows the success of a similar service for gay men in the country.

Homosexuality was listed as a mental disorder by the Chinese authorities until 2001.      more ...

China's HIV/Aids cases jump 30%

BBC News - Last Updated: Wednesday, 22 November 2006, 05:48 GMT

China has announced a big jump in reported cases of HIV/Aids, officials and the state media have said.  More than 180,000 people are now confirmed to have the infection, a rise of nearly 40,000 cases in a year.

Authorities say the increase is partly due to better testing and reporting of cases, as the government has made tackling the disease a priority.      more ...

Pollution turns part of China's Yellow River red: report

Associated Press
2006-11-22 01:48 PM

Waste water contaminated with dye that was discharged into a section of China's Yellow River has turned it red for the second time in a month, state media reported Wednesday.

China's second-largest river turned red for more than an hour Tuesday in Lanzhou, a city of 2 million and the capital of the western province of Gansu, the Beijing Youth Daily newspaper said.

The newspaper said the polluted section was two 2 kilometers (1.24 miles) long.

The river was polluted by waste water discharged by a heating station, Xinhua News Agency said. The discharged water likely came from boilers in which hot water was dyed red to prevent people from diverting it for their own use.      more ...

Hostages freed in China dispute

A tense stand-off in a Chinese village has ended after police freed eight officials held hostage by angry residents for nine days, reports say.

Last Updated: Sunday, 19 November 2006, 08:15 GMT

Residents of Dongzhou in southern Guangdong province seized the officials following the arrest of anti-corruption activist Chen Qian.  Eyewitnesses said police stormed a temple where the hostages were kept firing warning shots and tear gas.  Three people were shot dead by police in a land protest there in 2005.

Rural unrest, often blamed on illegal land grabs, is a growing problem.  There are thought to be thousands of protests a year across China, with farmers in villages whose land has been taken often directing their anger at corrupt local officials who skim off the profits when it is sold to developers.      more ...

Horrific New Evidence of China Organ Harvesting Revealed

By Jan Jekielek
Epoch Times Staff on assignment in Warsaw Nov 16, 2006

A Chinese military surgeon had eight Chinese citizens killed to supply a single foreign patient with a new kidney, said former Canadian Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific David Kilgour on November 14. Kilgour spoke as a special guest at the Asian Human Rights Week forum in Warsaw, on day two of a five day program.

"The incredible thing is that the doctor would…go down the names on sheets of paper looking for blood types and tissue types and so on, and he [the patient] would point at names on the list. The doctor would then go away and come back with organs," said Kilgour.    more ...

China 'unblocks' Wikipedia site

China's year-long block on the US-based online encyclopaedia Wikipedia has been lifted, activists say.

BBC News - Last Updated: Thursday, 16 November 2006, 13:39 GMT

The Chinese-language version of the website was reported to be fully accessible this week.  The press freedom group Reporters without Borders praised the bosses of Wikipedia, who they said had "always refused to go in for self-censorship".  Other internet giants have been criticised for censoring their services or complying with strict Chinese rules.      more ...

Chinese Police Crack Down on Protestors in Shandong

37 injured, seven arrested so far

By Li Jianjun
Radio Free Asia - Nov 16, 2006

On November 5, 2006, armed policemen injured 37 villagers during a violent crackdown on nearly 1,000 unarmed protesters who gathered around the government office of Zhangzhuang Village, Jinan City, Shandong Province on China's northern coastline. The protest broke out after the government arrested two village representatives.

The conflicts between the villagers and the local government are rooted in the unsatisfactory compensation the local government had, and had not, provided for the expropriated land of the village. The villagers protested that the houses the government built as their new homes were jerry-rigged and in danger of collapse.     more ...

Independent Media

Internet blockade breakthrough software is popular

By Wu Xue'er
Epoch Times Bangkok Staff Nov 15, 2006

In a recent interview, Mr Jia Jia, former general secretary of the Shanxi Provincial Association of Scientists and Technology Experts currently residing in Thailand temporarily, said that it is popular amongst the Mainland public to get internet breakthrough software to understand the outside world.

Many Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials are considering the problem of the CCP's collapse; many of them have escaped, transferred assets and sent children overseas to study abroad beforehand, etc.

He said that he listened the Voice of America and read news on the Epoch Times website regularly when he was in China. These independent media had a great influence on him.    more ...

Hu's purge for both power and purity

Asia Times - Nov 15, 2006
By John Ng

HONG KONG - An intensified campaign to crack down on official corruption is sweeping across China, with public attention focused on which big fish will be netted next after the Communist Party's announcement last month of the dismissal of Chen Liangyu as its Shanghai chief.   Chen, who was also one of the 24 members of the politburo - the power core of China - is alleged to have been involved in the

The anti-corruption drive has won the wholehearted support of the general public, with the growing expectation that President Hu Jintao will restore some social justice by fighting corrupt officials.      more ...

India and China row over border

BBC News - Last Updated: Tuesday, 14 November 2006, 10:53 GMT

A verbal spat has broken out between India and China days before Chinese President Hu Jintao visits India to discuss trade and bilateral ties.

China's ambassador to India reiterated his country's claim to a large area of north-eastern India.  But India's Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee rejected the claim, saying Arunachal Pradesh was an "integral part of India".

The border dispute dates to a conflict in 1962.

The Chinese ambassador, Sun Yuxi, told an Indian TV channel the state was "Chinese territory".     more ...

Environment woes found seriously hurting Chinese

Agence France-Presse
Page 5
2006-11-14 12:40 AM

The degradation of China's environment is reaching a critical point where health and social stability are under threat, China's top government official on the environment said.

"In some places, environmental problems have affected people's health and social stability, and damaged our international image," Zhou Shengxian was quoted as saying in yesterday's China Daily.

Rapid industrialization over the past two decades had transformed China into one of the world's most polluted countries, with local governments and industries shunning ecological protection in the pursuit of short-term gains.

Zhou, the head of the State Environmental Protection Administration, noted half the country's rivers were severely polluted and a third of its territory was damaged by acid rain in an address to the annual meeting of China's top environmental thinktank.     more ...

Police Kill Three Students During Riot in Sichuan, China

The Epoch Times - Nov 13, 2006

CHINA—On November 11, a major riot broke out in Guangan City in Sichuan Province. According to the source, three high school students were shot to death, and one policeman was killed.  It was also reported that a police vehicle was burned. Currently, Guangan is under martial law and Internet access is blocked.

According to one local resident, the conflict was triggered by the death of a 4-year-old child from the countryside near Guangan City. On November 7, the child was sent to the Guangan City Second People's Hospital for emergency rescue because he accidentally ingested a pesticide. The hospital refused to pump the child's stomach because the family did not have enough cash (800 yuan, or US$100). The family promised to go back home and get more money, but the hospital was not dissuaded and the child died. Later, the hospital refused to pay, as required by law, compensation to the family for the death.      more ...

Taiwan and China tensions

By Fred Stakelbeck Nov 12, 2006, 16:47 GMT
Recent U.S. intelligence reports indicate that communist China has accelerated preparations for a possible invasion of Taiwan. Approximately eight hundred Chinese missiles of increasing range and sophistication are now aimed at the small island, placing Taiwan’s population under constant threat of attack. China has also escalated cyber attacks on global U.S. and Taiwan defense installations and increased espionage and spying activities.

At the same time, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) continues to modernize its forces by purchasing Russian-made Kilo attack submarines and Sovremenny frigates, improving its nuclear forces and creating a rapid attack force. Reports last month of suspected Chinese land-based laser attacks on U.S. communication and navigation satellites have heightened concern among some senior U.S. military officers that Beijing has taken another step toward open confrontation with the U.S. and its Pacific allies. “We don’t want to portray them as the 10-foot panda, but we shouldn’t be too naïve about their capability and intent either,” said one official.       more ...

Communist Officials Destroy House Church

By Ding Xiao
Radio Free Asia - Nov 06, 2006

CHINA—Chinese communist authorities forcefully demolished an influential house church in Changchun City, in northeastern China. Hundreds of police were involved in the demolition. Authorities did not offer any compensation or any plan for to resettling the church.

The Nongda House Church was a two-story building with several adjacent houses. The church was located inside the Changchun Agricultural University. At 4 p.m., on Oct 26, authorities sent out a large contingent of police officers to demolish the houses.

Pastor John, who currently resides in the United States and who used to do missionary work in Changchun, described what he knew about that day.      more ...

Chinese Defector Wins Wide Support
Statements of support, quitting the CCP pours in

By Feng Changle
Epoch Times Staff Nov 06, 2006

Chinese defector, Mr. Jia Jia, former General Secretary of the Shanxi Provincial Association of Scientists and Technology Experts, arrived in Thailand on November 3, 2006. Over the past ten days after Jia left his tourist group in Taiwan and publicly denounced his separation from Chinese authorities, his courageous decision has won wide support from Chinese people, and has encouraged many other Chinese to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Every day during the past week, supporting messages poured in at The Global Service Center for Quitting the CCP (The Service Center) and at the Epoch Times' website for helping people to quit the CCP.    more ...

China: From steel mills to diploma mills

By David Fullbrook - Asia Times - Nov 4, 2006

BANGKOK - Life is no walk in the park for many students in China, especially if they flunk entrance exams for the most prestigious universities. For those without connections, a degree from a top university is their only hope in a job market saturated with degree-holders.

There have been illegal demonstrations, marches and minor clashes at colleges around the country involving up to 10,000 students at a time, including two schools in Nanchang, capital of southern China's Jiangxi province on October 23.

State television accused the private Clothing Vocational College in Nanchang of offering diplomas it could not award to lure up to 20,000 students. That report, however, did not stop China Daily removing a post about the trouble from its bulletin board, underlining authorities' sensitivity to student protests. Beijing fears that grumpy students might provide the intellectual spark to light the tinder of peasant discontent.      more ...

'Kneeling Appeal' Organizer Formally Arrested

By Xi Wen
The Epoch Times Nov 04, 2006

Zhou Zhirong. (The Epoch Times)

November 1st marked 30 days since Zhou Zhirong, the organizer of the "Kneeling Appeal" on Tiananmen Square, was detained. His formal arrest order was finally issued by Chibi City police.

On September 26, 2006, at about 9:15 am, 32 farmers displaced from their land went to Tiananmen Square to protest under the national flag. At that time, all 32 knelt down after opening a banner. The appeal continued for about 10 minutes before the police carried them away. This appeal was the culmination of many previous attempts to obtain redress from the government at various levels.

When Zhou's wife, accompanied by famous political dissident Mr. Yu Zhijian, went to visit her husband at the Chibi City Detention Center in Hubei Province, the police rejected their visitation request. Later, the police forwarded a formal arrest order to the family; the crime was "Suspicion of Disturbing Social Order." Mr. Yu indicated that it was 30 days after Zhou was taken from Tiananmen before the authority issued the formal arrest.      more ...

China, Africa's 'angel in white'

Asia Times - Nov. 3, 2006 - By Scott Zhou

China used to send doctors - "angels in white" - to Africa to win friends among countries just emerging from colonialism. These days it sends traders to exploit the continent's resources, opening itself to charges of neo-colonialism.      more ...

Chain gang economics
China and the United States are locked in a symbiotic relationship detrimental to global economic stability. American consumption powers China's overproduction, while Chinese credit keeps the US economy afloat. Thanks to Chinese factories and American consumers, the overproduction crisis will only get worse.       more ....

China overturns activist sentence

BBC News - Last Updated: Wednesday, 1 November 2006, 06:34 GMT

A Chinese court has thrown out a guilty verdict against Chen Guangcheng, an activist who raised concerns about forced abortions.  "It was found that there have been serious violations in the legal procedures," said Mr Chen's lawyer.  Mr Chen, 34, was found guilty of public order offences in August, and sentenced to more than four years in jail.  His case drew international criticism, with rights advocates saying he did not receive a fair trial.       more ...

China woos Africa before summit

CNN News - POSTED: 2:35 a.m. EST, October 31, 2006

There's a "growing perception that China's interests in Africa are very self-serving, if not predatory, that China is interested in making inroads into markets that are good for its energy needs -- especially with countries that are not paragons of democratic virtue," said Garth le Pere of the Institute for Global Dialogue, a think tank based in Midrand, South Africa.

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund have raised concern that freely lavished Chinese aid money is compounding Africa's debts. China's exports of oil from Angola, seen as one of Africa's most corrupt governments, and Sudan, among the most repressive governments, have raised alarms from human-rights and good-governance groups.     more ...

China students clash with police

BBC News - Thursday, 26 October 2006, 16:39 GMT 17:39 UK

College students in China's southern Jiangxi province have clashed with police during protests about their academic status, reports say.    The action began after students learned that their degrees from two private universities might not be recognised.

Reports say between a few hundred and several thousand people took part.    more ...

Democracy with Chinese characteristics

Asia Times - By David Fullbrook

BANGKOK - In 1976, chairman Mao Zedong died after leading a decade of the murderous Cultural Revolution that nearly broke China. Three decades later, the contrast could not be starker, except for one thing: the Chinese Communist Party's continuing grip on power.      more ...

China Forms a New Team to Regulate Internet Blogs

By Li Jianjun
Radio Free Asia Oct 26, 2006

The Ministry of Information Industry recently committed itself to a new mission in public censorship. It has charged the Internet Society of China with the task of establishing a team to study the administration of Internet blogs, according to a repor by 21st Century Economy News published on Thursday.

The team consists of representatives from thirteen major websites and five other experts on law and I.T. in China. Last week the team held a discussion on the potential regulation of blogs whereby users would be forced to register with their real names. The discussion also covered the issues of the real-name registration, bloggers rights and obligations, the registration of personal information, and the potential problems of real-name registration. They concluded with a potential timetable for carrying out the regulations.     more ...

How Long Will Mao Rule China?
Longstanding Party Leaders Insist on a Change

By Tan Hohwa
The Epoch Times Oct 23, 2006

While overseas Chinese are discussing Jung Chang's recently published book, Mao – The Unknown Story, many average mainland Chinese still hang Mao's portrait in their room to express their dissatisfaction about the huge wealth gap in China — caused by over 20 years of one-sided economic reform. Many foreign tourists are also surprised to see Mao's image sold as a souvenir on the streets of Beijing, or his picture hanging from the mirror of a Taxi for spiritual protection.

Why is this tyrant, a truly evil being, who was responsible for mass murders on a national scale similar to, or greater than, those committed by Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, as described in Chang's book, still respected by the people who suffered at his hands not long ago?

One can not help but sigh at how deceptive the communist regime's meticulous propaganda machine is! Living inside a black box, the Chinese people's existence is truly pitiful.     more ...

Powerful Party Members Urge Hu to Re-Evaluate Mao

By Yue Shan
Chengming Magazine Oct 23, 2006

Recently Chinese leader Hu Jintao was pressured on the issue of re-evaluating Mao Zedong's value to China, Hu said, "It's a big task left by history, an important issue of concern inside the Party, as well as in the society. Re-evaluation is necessary, but need to create a suitable environment."

New Direction on Mao's Thirtieth Death Anniversary

September 9 is the thirtieth anniversary of Mao's death. The regime did not hold any activities. Initially, a commemorative conference for 200 attendees was supposed to be held at the Central Party School on Sept 8, involving organizations including the Chinese Communist Party History Research Office, Party Documentary Research Office, State Organs Working Committee. The conference was suddenly cancelled by Party Central Committee Office, with the reason of "not enough time to prepare."     more ...

Chinese Authorities Formally Arrest Two Underground Priests

By Ding Xiao
Radio Free Asia Oct 16, 2006

Two Catholic priests were arrested in the southern Chinese city of Wenzhou on Wednesday, October 11. Deputy Bishop Shao Zhumin and Secretary General Jiang Shuonian of the underground Catholic Church had visited Rome in September 2006. Both were formally charged with "illegal emigrate crimes." Catholics around the world are worried about the safety of these two priests now in the custody of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).    more ...

China lawyer held for incitement

BBC News - Friday, 13 October 2006, 09:07 GMT 10:07 UK

An outspoken Chinese rights lawyer is being investigated for allegedly inciting subversion, his lawyer says.

Gao Zhisheng was formally arrested in September and his lawyer, Mo Shaoping, said he had only recently been told of the charges his client faced.  His family say they have been denied permission to see him since he was detained in Beijing, in August.  Earlier this year, Mr Gao organised a protest over what he called widespread police brutality against activists.   more ...

毋忘六四17年...自由花 Never Forget Tiananmen Square 1989



Chinese guards 'kill Tibetans'

BBC News - Thursday, 5 October 2006, 12:23 GMT 13:23 UK

At least two Tibetans were killed and seven others wounded when Chinese border guards opened fire on them, a refugee support group has said.  The head of the UN-sponsored Tibet Refugee Reception Centre in Nepal, Loudhup Dorjee, said the alleged incident happened on Saturday.

He said about 70 Tibetan men, women and children had been trying to cross the Nangpa La pass from China into Nepal.   Forty-two managed to enter. He had no information on the fate of the others.     More ...

Top China leader fired for graft

BBC News - Last Updated: Monday, 25 September 2006, 08:52 GMT 09:52 UK

Mr Chen is the most senior official to be sacked in a decade
The most senior Chinese Communist Party official in Shanghai has been sacked for corruption, state media reported.
Party secretary Chen Liangyu was dismissed after a high-level probe into alleged misuse of the city's pension fund, Xinhua news agency said.

He has also been suspended from the Politburo, the party's top leadership council, Xinhua added.     more ...

Hu purge nets Shanghai's biggest fish

Asia Times - September 25, 2006

Beijing has sacked Shanghai's Communist Party chief Chen Liangyu over alleged involvement in a multimillion-dollar scandal. Chen is the highest-ranking official netted in a nationwide crackdown on corruption in more than a decade. His downfall considerably strengthens the hand of President Hu Jintao in his power struggle with former president Jiang Zemin. - Wu Zhong
more ...

China tightens media controls

CNN News - Posted: 9:49 p.m. EDT, September 10, 2006

SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- China has announced new controls over the distribution of news by foreign news agencies, further restricting foreign access to the already tightly regulated Chinese media market.

The new measures took effect immediately upon being issued by the government's Xinhua News Agency on Sunday. The regulations give Xinhua broad authority over foreign news agencies, requiring them to distribute news, photos and other services solely through Xinhua or entities authorized by Xinhua.

The rules would affect The Associated Press, Reuters and other foreign news agencies seeking wider access to the rapidly expanding Chinese market. Under a decade-old set of regulations, foreign news agencies were allowed limited distribution of financial data and other information -- deals that the new rules also appear to rule out.      more ...

China jails NY Times researcher

BBC News - Last Updated: Friday, 25 August 2006, 04:33 GMT 05:33 UK

A Chinese researcher for the New York Times has been acquitted of leaking state secrets, but sentenced to three years in jail for fraud.  A Beijing court decided there was insufficient evidence to convict Zhao Yan of illegally providing foreigners with state information.

While Mr Zhao's lawyers welcomed the acquittal, they said their client was likely to appeal the fraud conviction.    more ...

Man who revealed PRC forced abortion gets jail term

Associated Press - 2006-08-25 02:44 AM

A blind activist who was arrested after recording complaints of forced abortions was sentenced yesterday to four years and three months in prison on what his supporters say were phony charges, a defense lawyer said.

Chen Guangcheng was convicted of damaging property and "organizing a mob to disturb traffic" after a trial in the eastern province of Shandong, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Chen's supporters say local officials fabricated the charges against him in retaliation for his activism.

Chen's wife, Yuan Weijing, said he would appeal. "I did not expect such a harsh sentence," Yuan said by phone from their home, where she was under house arrest.     more ...

China jails blind rights activist for over 4 years

Rueters - Thu Aug 24, 2006 10:00 AM ET

By Chris Buckley

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court jailed a blind human rights campaigner for four years and three months on Thursday, state media announced, prompting other activists to warn of a clampdown on China's "rights defenders."

Chen Guangcheng, who was tried last Friday without his own lawyers present, drew international attention last year by accusing officials in east China's Shandong province of enforcing late-term abortions in a population control drive.

Chen, 34, was charged with damaging property and disrupting traffic after a protest erupted in his home Dongshigu village in February, but his family and lawyers said the charges were concocted.

The verdict from Yinan County Court in Shandong came as a shock to Chen's wife, Yuan Weijing, who had not been notified by the court.      more ...

Vietnam Communist Party leader to visit Communist China

August 15, 2006

Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh will pay an official visit to China next week, the Party Central Committee Commission for External Affairs announced Tuesday.

The visit, scheduled for August 22-26, comes at the invitation of his counterpart in the Chinese Party and president, Hu Jintao.   more ...

Activists accuse China of killing Falun Gong members for organs

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

It's been called a new form of evil - claims that the Chinese Government is killing members of the Falun Gong movement for their organs. A recent report published by two Canadian human rights activists has backed up the assertions, but there's no hard evidence of the systematic murder of Falun Gong members. We'll speak to one of those activists, who says thousands are being murdered for the organ transplant trade.       more ...

A history of China-Taiwan relations

Saturday, August 12, 2006 · Last updated 10:31 a.m. PT
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Taiwan was claimed by China's Manchu dynasty in 1683 after large-scale immigration from the Chinese mainland to the island.

Japan gained control of Taiwan in 1895 after defeating China in the first Sino-Japanese war. The Chinese government of Chiang Kai-shek took Taiwan back at the end of World War II, and retreated to the island following its overthrow by Mao Zedong and his communists in 1949.      more ...

U.S. walks fine line with China, Taiwan
Saturday, August 12, 2006 · Last updated 10:30 a.m. PT
By PETER ENAV
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

ILAN, Taiwan -- The weaponry is heavily American - F-16s bombarding a simulated Chinese flotilla, Cobra helicopters targeting invading ground troops, Patriot missiles streaking across the azure Asian sky. more...


China denies forced abortions common

Agence France-Presse , Reuters
Page 5
2006-08-11 12:36 AM

China denied yesterday that late-term forced abortions were common and insisted they were against established practice, as a man who exposed such cases languished in jail. "Regarding the abortion of eight-month-old fetuses, this is definitely something the Chinese government is opposed to," Vice Health Minister Jiang Zuojun told a news conference. "We do not allow the abortion of elderly fetuses, such as eight-month fetuses...even if there are such cases, they are isolated cases."

Jiang declined to give an update on a case in east China's Shandong province, where blind activist Chen Guangcheng was locked up after he tried to help village women caught up in the nation's draconian population policies.

The women were forced to undergo sterilizations and later-term abortions by officials enforcing the one-child program. Jiang did not say whether anyone had been punished. But he defended China's two-decade-old one-child policy, saying it had prevented about 300 million births and helped postpone the time when the world's population reached six billion people.   more ...

USA Hypocrisy? We Tell Cuba To Free It's People. But Not China
Important CNN Video more ...

China, Largest Command Economy, Isn't Responding to Commands

July 31 (Bloomberg) -- China's leaders are finding that the world's largest command economy no longer responds to their commands.

Growth is hurtling along at the fastest pace in a decade, defying official efforts to curb investment in unneeded factories and real-estate projects. The government's immediate concerns are that overheated growth will saddle China with excess capacity, create more asset bubbles, and increase friction with the U.S. and other trading partners.

``China's unbalanced growth model has now gone to excess and seems in danger of veering out of control,'' says Stephen Roach, chief global economist at Morgan Stanley in New York. ``The longer China's economic boom runs, the tougher it will be to avoid a more treacherous endgame.''        more ......

China clash as church demolished

BBC News - Last Updated: Monday, 31 July 2006, 11:05 GMT 12:05 UK

There have been clashes between police and Christians protesting against the demolition of a church in eastern China's Zhejiang province, reports say.

The violence occurred when up to 500 police tried to break up a 3,000-strong protest, a rights group said.
more ... .

Riot Erupts in Southwest China After Boy Beaten

Reuters Jul 27, 2006

BEIJING - About 2,000 people in a southwestern Chinese city attacked officials and smashed offices and cars last week after a 14-year-old student was beaten up by officials, a witness and a human rights group said on Thursday.

The riot in Bazhong in Sichuan province began after a middle school student tried to help a street vendor who was being harassed by city officials, a hotel worker who saw the incident said.

The officials then turned on the student and beat him up, the witness told Reuters by telephone.

That prompted some 2,000 people, including hundreds of middle school students, to barge into government buildings and attack officials, destroy cars and smash office desks and windows, said the worker, who declined to give her name.

"People were very angry because they (the officials) had gone too far," she said.

"They beat the young boy so seriously that five or six of his ribs broke," she said, adding that she heard the boy later died.    more ...

China to Canada: Dalai Lama award could hurt ties

CNN News - Wednesday, July 26, 2006; Posted: 2:56 p.m. EDT (18:56 GMT)

OTTAWA, Canada (Reuters) -- China said on Wednesday that Canada's decision to bestow honorary citizenship on the Dalai Lama could hurt commercial relations between the two countries, which have been steadily growing stronger.

The Tibetan leader-in-exile, who fled his homeland in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, is considered by Beijing to be a separatist.

Canada's Parliament unanimously approved the award of an honorary citizenship last month, which will be bestowed on the Dalai Lama when he visits Vancouver in early September.     more ...

China slams Israel over UN deaths

Last Updated: Wednesday, 26 July 2006, 08:24 GMT 09:24 UK

China has condemned an Israeli attack in south Lebanon which killed four United Nations observers, including a Chinese national.

"We are deeply shocked by this incident and strongly condemn it," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said.

Israel's ambassador to Beijing was summoned and authorities asked for an investigation and an apology, Mr Liu said in a statement.     more ...

Checking China's vital signs: The social challenge
how far it has come and how far it has yet to go.

Jonathan R. Woetzel

The pace and scope of the socioeconomic transformation now under way in China defies exaggeration. Consider, for example, the fact that since Deng Xiaoping's first experiments with market reforms, in the early 1980s, about 400 million Chinese have left the ranks of the impoverished. Or that in the past decade alone about 120 million people—twice the population of France—abandoned agriculture in search of the economic opportunity created by China's dual embrace of urbanization and industry. An additional 60 million to 70 million people will join them by 2010.      more ...

CNPC buys into Russian oil giant

(Xinhua Online) [20 Jul 2006]

China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), the nation's largest oil company, has bought US$500 million worth of shares in Russian oil giant OAO Rosneft.

CNPC announced yesterday it had bought the 66.2252 million shares in Rosneft at US$7.55 per share.

The Russian firm is scheduled to go public on both the London and Moscow stock exchanges in an initial public offering (IPO), one of the largest of its kind worldwide.

'CNPC's subscription of Rosneft shares will further expand co-operation and deepen the long-term co-operative relationship,' CNPC said in a statement.

The two companies set up a fundamental principle of complementary co-operation for common development in a long-term co-operation agreement signed in July 2005, according to the statement.      more ...

The Great Firewall of China
Beijing Developing Electronic Chains to Enslave Its People

For nearly a thousand years the Great Wall of China protected the Asian empire from foreign invasion. Today, red China is installing a great "firewall," hoping to stem the tide of foreign ideas from invading the authoritarian one-party state.

Despite claims to be an open society, China has an extraordinary fear of free information. For example, when President George Bush recently visited the Shanghai economic conference inside China, the communist government removed blocks on the Web sites of several U.S. news services.

Immediately after President Bush left Shanghai, the paranoid red forces quickly re-imposed the Internet blocks. Today, the ordinary Chinese citizen cannot indulge in reading the perverted online views of CNN or the Washington Post.     more ...

Former Beijing Policeman Reveals an Assembly Line System of Organ Harvesting
By Zeng Ni
The Epoch Times
Jul 17, 2006

Interview with Sun Liyong. (The Epoch Times)

A former Beijing policeman and member of the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG) revealed that there is an 'assembly line' system of organ harvesting in Beijing and the Chinese Communist regime forcefully removes people's organs without their consent. After a prisoner is sentenced to death in China, the actual date of his death seems to depend on the needs of transplant operations.

The Assembly Line Begins on Marco Polo Bridge and Continues to Beijing Friendship Hospital      more...

China law aims to 'shut up media'
Officials deny censorship, but propose fines for unauthorised reporting by local and foreign media
The Age
Wednesday, July 5, 2006

By Mary-Anne Toy

Beijing --- A controversial Chinese draft law that would allow local officials to fine media outlets up to the equivalent of $A17,000 every time they publish unauthorised reports on public emergencies would also apply to foreign media.

The law could also inhibit the much freer Hong Kong press, which often exposes unreported events such as public disasters, mass protests and riots and infectious disease outbreaks.

A senior official of the National People's Congress, Wang Yongqing, denied that the proposed law was censorship, saying it was necessary to prevent false reports and irresponsible journalism.      more ...

CHINA: Record labels to sue Yahoo China for pirate links
China's second-largest search engine faces copyright infringement lawsuit for providing links to websites offering illegally copied music
South China Morning Post
Tuesday, July 4, 2006

Yahoo China, the nation's second-largest search engine, will be sued by record labels for infringing copyright laws within "a few weeks," according to a group representing companies including EMI Group.

"We've started the process and as far as we're concerned we're on a track to litigation," said John Kennedy, the chairman of the International Federation for the Phonographic Industry. "If negotiation can prevent that, then so be it."

Yahoo China, operated by Alibaba.com Corp which is 40 per cent owned by Yahoo, provides links on its website to illegally copied music on non-affiliated sites. About 90 per cent of all recordings in China are illegal, with sales of pirated music worth about US$400 million annually, according to the federation.     more ...

Chinese Regime Regulates Satellite Dish Installation

By Xin Fei
The Epoch Times Jul 04, 2006
(The Epoch times)An article from the Guiyang Evening News on June 30 reported that "starting on June 30, Guiyang launched actions against illegal satellite signal receiving devices. Privately installed satellite dishes will be subject to a maximum fine of 50,000 yuan" (about US$6,000).

Informants say that other cities in China will issue similar policies to strengthen control of the production, sale and use of satellite TV signal receivers.       more ...

中共禁“卫星锅” 被指“越打越火”

【大纪元7月1日讯】(大纪元记者辛菲采访报导) 《贵阳晚报》昨天一则文章中称，贵阳市昨起展开非法卫星地面接收设施整治行动---私装“卫星锅” 最高罚5万。据消息人士透露，中国大陆其它城市近期也有类似政策出台，加强管治卫星电视接收设施的生产、销售以及使用。
总部设在美国纽约的新唐人电视台副总裁周先生(Samuel Zhou)、贵阳著名时事评论员曾宁先生今天接受大纪元采访时表示，这是中共面临危机的反应，其政策也不会取得任何效果，越打越火，越禁传播得越快。

导因：中共危机

周先生指出，从中共的历史上来看，每当他面临巨大的危机，并且意识到自己内部的危机已经到了一种非常严重的程度时，总是要加强信息的封锁和控制，就像抓住救命稻草一样，以更大力度的愚弄百姓，煽动人民的各种情绪，从而达到自己政权苟延残喘的目的。
更多 .....

Immigration Judge Severely Criticized For Bias Against Chinese

By David Hsieh, World Journal

Original translation by Independent Press Association New York

In a recent ruling, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reprimanded an immigration judge who is known for his prejudice against Chinese asylum seekers and reassigned the case due to Judge Jeffrey Chase’s perceived bias.  Chinese immigration lawyers hailed the decision as justice finally served.
more ...

Thousands demand Hong Kong rights

BBC News - Last Updated: Saturday, 1 July 2006, 12:33 GMT 13:33 UK
Tens of thousands of people have joined a rally in Hong Kong calling for full democracy in the territory.

Organisers say 58,000 took part; police put the figure at 28,000. The marchers, some blowing whistles, carried banners reading "Justice, Equality, Democracy".   more ...

China navy chief sacked for graft

BBC News - Last Updated: Thursday, 29 June 2006, 09:41 GMT 10:41 UK

A top-level Chinese military official has been sacked for corruption after his mistress turned him in, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Wang Shouye, 62, was sacked as deputy commander of the navy and expelled from the national legislature.

According to official documents, an unmarried young woman reported Wang's activities and admitted an "improper relationship" with him.

Wang is one of the most senior victims of an ongoing