June 2005 Archives

A flood in Shalan town, Heilongjiang Province of China caused the death of 200 students. The parents of the flood victims believe the deaths were preventable.

The victims’ parents wrote demands on white paper with black ink full of rage and sorrow. Then they knelt as one in the middle of a road crying out that their sons and daughters died unjustly. It was a result of the irresponsibility of the town government and the police department. Some town people point directly to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and further criticize Central Chinese Television (CCTV)’s inaccurate reporting.

By STEPHAN GRAUWELS, Associated Press Writer
Tue Jun 28,10:25 AM ET

BEIJING - Textbooks headed for a Japanese school in China were seized by customs officials who objected to the way maps in the books depicted the Chinese mainland and rival Taiwan, an official said Tuesday.

The maps showed the mainland and the island in different colors, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao, indicating that Beijing was concerned this might make Taiwan seem like a separate country.

China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949, but the communist government in Beijing claims the self-governed island as part of its territory and rejects any suggestion that it is a sovereign nation.

"The Japanese textbooks showed China and Taiwan in different colors," Liu said at a regular news briefing. "The 'one-China principle' is paramount, so it is legitimate for China's customs to handle this according to the law."

Friday, June 3, 2005 (SF Chronicle)
ENVIRONMENT IN FOCUS
Vanessa Hua and Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer

A half-century feud between China and Taiwan has flared up again in San Francisco this week at the United Nations World Environment Day conference.

The conference on urban pollution control and conservation has drawn dozens of mayors from around the globe. But delegates from China are staying away because the vice mayor of Taipei and the mayor of Tainan, two cities in Taiwan, are attending.

"Taiwan, as a part of China, cannot participate in United Nations activities," the Chinese consulate in San Francisco said in a statement.

"To show our support and our flexibility and cooperation," the consular statement continued, "we agreed that the San Francisco government can invite representatives from Taiwan -- under the name 'Taiwan province of China.'

June 7, 2005
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- Authorities have ordered all China-based Web sites and blogs to register or be closed down, in the latest effort by the communist government to police the world of cyberspace.

Commercial publishers and advertisers can face fines of up to 1 million yuan ($120,000) for failing to register, according to documents posted on the Web site of the Ministry of Information Industry.

Private, noncommercial bloggers or Web sites must register the complete identity of the person responsible for the site, it said. The ministry, which has set a June 30 deadline for compliance, said 74 percent of all sites had already registered.