July 2006 Archives
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | The New York Times
28 July 2006
OTTAWA (AP) -- China has complained to the Canadian government about its decision to bestow honorary citizenship on the Dalai Lama, saying the gesture could harm relations.
Zang Weidong, minister-counselor at the Chinese embassy in Ottawa, said China has relayed its disapproval to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and its demand that Canada continues to recognize Tibet as a part of China.
''We said that Dalai Lama is a separatist, so I don't think he should be honored with that and that will harm the Canadian image and also harm the relationship between China and Canada,'' Zang said told reporters at a news conference on Wednesday.
Parliament adopted a motion on June 22 conferring the honorary status on the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader. The honor has been awarded only twice before, to South African leader Nelson Mandela and Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who saved Jews from extermination during World War II.
The Dalai Lama won a Nobel peace prize for his lifelong struggle for Tibetan autonomy and his pursuit of peace. He fled into exile in northern India in 1959, following a failed uprising against Chinese rule, and is still widely revered in Tibet.
By Joseph Kahn | The New York Times
21 July 2006
BEIJING, July 20 — Chinese officials postponed the criminal trial of a peasants’ rights advocate on Thursday as his supporters gathered in large numbers to protest what they say is a politically motivated prosecution.
Some 200 people gathered outside a courthouse in Yinan County, Shandong Province, where Chen Guangcheng , who is blind and taught himself law, had been scheduled to go on trial on charges of destroying property and blocking traffic.
Some supporters scuffled with the police, and participants in the gathering said 11 people had been detained briefly before the crowd dispersed.
Court officials, who had issued a written notice of the July 20 trial date, decided at the last minute to postpone the trial. But they issued no written notice of their decision and did not set a new date, Mr. Chen’s lead lawyer, Li Jinsong, said by telephone.
BBC News
July 20, 2006
Amnesty International is urging users of Yahoo, Microsoft and Google to e-mail the companies asking them to change the way they operate in China.
The human rights organisation says the companies are aiding internet censorship in the Communist state.
And it is asking them to reveal which words they have banned from blogs or web searches in China.
The internet companies say they are helping the people of China by making information more freely available.
But Amnesty says they are helping to reinforce censorship by the Chinese government.
By Rupert Wingfield-Hayes | BBC News
July 20, 2006
More than 110 million people in China use the internet regularly. The country is going through a digital revolution as it seeks to capitalise on the online world while at the same time enforcing strict censorship measures.
But what does the internet mean to people in China? BBC News spoke to a dissident, a film-maker and a journalist.
DISSIDENT WRITER LIU XIAOBO
Liu Xiaobo has taken part in every political movement in China in the last 30 years including the 1989 Tiananmen demonstrations and the 1979 democracy wall movement.
He has been to prison twice and is banned from publishing any articles inside China.
In China, where there's no freedom of speech, the role of the internet is much bigger than in Western countries which enjoy free speech.
Since the days of Mao Zedong, the authorities have created a very closed prison of information. There is only one voice. But with the appearance of the internet, cracks are appearing all over this prison.
The internet is the best gift god could send to China for the people of China to claim their rights.
By REUTERS | The New York Times
July 19, 2006
BEIJING (Reuters) - Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin has quietly emerged from retirement, an apparent attempt to influence leadership changes due next year and safeguard his own legacy, political sources and analysts said.
While many of his peers have faded from view, Jiang has kept an invisible hand on power since he was replaced by Hu Jintao as General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party in 2002, relying on loyalists in the Politburo Standing Committee.
Sources said he is anxious not to lose that leverage at the party's 17th congress next year, when the Standing Committee will be reshuffled and Hu will almost certainly be reappointed as party chief, further consolidating his power.
Hu is also expected to name an heir at the congress.
``Jiang wants to influence the 17th congress but whether he can do so is another matter,'' a retired party official who asked not to be identified, told Reuters.
Radio Free Asia
July 14, 2006
WASHINGTON—A Tibetan monk in China's southwestern Sichuan province is facing up to eight years in jail for allegedly painting separatist slogans on government property and circulating pro-independence posters, according to sources in the region.
The monk was identified as Namkha Gyaltsen, from the Gyasoktsang family in Thinley Lado village, in Ganzi (in Tibetan, Kardze), the sources told RFA's Tibetan service.
He is one of four master chanters at the Ganzi monastery, said the sources, who asked not to be named.
He allegedly painted pro-independence slogans on the walls of government buildings in Ganzi and on two iron bridges nearby in March this year.
Fearing arrest, one source said, "he ran away from Ganzi to escape to India via Lhasa," the Tibetan regional capital, but police pursued him to Lhasa, detained him, and returned him to Ganzi.
He was arrested at a bridge between Sakya (in Chinese, Saja) and Shigatse (Rigeze), the sources said.
By Richard Gere
Op-Ed Contributor - The New York Times
July 15, 2006
The opening this month of the final segment of world’s highest railway, from Beijing to Lhasa, Tibet, is a staggering engineering achievement and a testimony to the developing greatness of China. But it is also the most serious threat by the Chinese yet to the survival of Tibet’s unique religious, cultural and linguistic identity. In the words of a well-known Tibetan religious teacher who died after many years in a Chinese prison, the railway heralds “a time of emergency and darkness” for Tibet.
This railway across the roof of the world will result in an expanded Chinese military presence in Tibet, accelerate the already devastating exploitation of its natural resources and increase the number of Chinese migrants, marginalizing the Tibetan people still further. In the capital, Lhasa, Tibetans are already a minority.
In the years after China’s invasion of Tibet in 1950, thousands of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and convents were destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of Tibetans perished. Today the suppression of religion is more subtle and less visible to outsiders. Many of the monasteries have been partly rebuilt, but often they are simply showplaces for tourists. Obtaining a complete religious education in Tibet is usually impossible. Even having a photograph of the Dalai Lama is a criminal offense.
Many Tibetans lost their land to make way for the railway, and Tibetan nomads are being forced to settle in cities. Without land and religion, cultures disappear. This is particularly true in Tibet, where the land itself is regarded as sacred.
And even as their culture is undermined by the railway, most Tibetans are unlikely to enjoy any economic benefits from it. With a price tag of more than $4 billion, the Tibet railway is the most ambitious and costly element of China’s current drive to develop its western regions, known as the Great Leap West. But its construction was based upon the Communist Party’s old strategic and political objectives, and its main beneficiaries will be the Chinese military units stationed there, Chinese companies and Chinese settlers. Most Tibetans don’t have access to education that would allow them to compete in the economic environment created by China’s policies, nor are they welcome to share the fruits of its success.
The opening of the railway to Tibet could not have a greater symbolic importance to the Communist elite — it is the achievement of a goal set by Mao more than 40 years ago as part of a strategy to complete Tibet’s integration into China. And sadly, the opening of the railway takes place in an environment of intensified political repression. The new Communist Party chief in Tibet, Zhang Qingli, has said that the party is engaged in a “fight to the death struggle” against the Dalai Lama and his supporters.
China’s president, Hu Jintao, formally opened the railway on July 1. In the late 1980’s, when he was party chief of the region, he presided over the torture and imprisonment of thousands of Tibetans through the imposition of martial law in Lhasa. The Tibetans have not forgotten Mr. Hu’s role in the oppression of their people. President Hu was also personally involved in drafting the fast-track development policies that have been such a disaster for most Tibetans. They are based upon an urban Chinese model and do not take into account Tibetans’ needs, views or the way of life that has sustained them on the high plateau for centuries. The Dalai Lama has spoken frequently about the urgent need to involve Tibetans in the development of their land.
A true “great leap” would make room for a Tibetan role in economic development, protect Tibetan religious culture and identity, and welcome the involvement of the Dalai Lama in decision-making on Tibet’s future. Since 2002, there have been several rounds of dialogue between Beijing and the Dalai Lama’s representatives, following a decade-long diplomatic stalemate, but at present China’s commitment to the process is uncertain.
Tibet’s precious culture and religion, with its principles of wisdom and compassion and its message of interdependence and nonviolence, are rooted in the Tibetan landscape and Tibetan hearts. The survival of Tibetan Buddhist knowledge in its own land is vital for the world, as well as the Tibetan people. China’s journey toward greatness must not include the further destruction of this heritage.
Richard Gere, an actor, is the chairman of the International Campaign for Tibet.
The Associated Press | The Christian Post
12 July 2006
A prominent Chinese minister of an unofficial Protestant church has been jailed for seven and a half years, a U.S.-based Christian group said Sunday, a hefty punishment indicating the continued government crackdown on unsanctioned religious activity.
Zhang Rongliang was sentenced Tuesday in a court in Zhongmou county in Henan province after being held since December 2004 accused of obtaining a passport under false pretenses and illegally crossing the border, the China Aid Association said in an e-mailed news release.
According to the charges against him, Zhang traveled to the United States, Australia, Egypt and Singapore for world mission conferences on a passport obtained through fraudulent means, the group said.
A man who answered the telephone at the court on Sunday said he had no access to records because it was the weekend.
China's communist government allows worship only in state-supervised churches, which claim about 11 million members.
Worshippers and clergy in unofficial churches are regularly harassed and detained.
Reporters without Borders
July 12, 2006
Hu Jintao, President of China
Hu, in power since October 2003, has set the government’s Propaganda Department on the media and since December 2005 the management of three of the country’s most independent papers has been purged and a dozen journalists and cyber-dissidents arrested by the secret police. Hu (also head of the Communist Party and the army) personally ordered the arrest of New York Times employee Zhao Yan and Hongkong investigative journalist Ching Cheong. He expressed admiration in 2004 for Cuba’s use of propaganda, a filtered Internet and monitoring foreign journalists as a way to control the media.
By Keith Bradsher | The New York Times
"The Saturday Profile"
July 08, 2006
HONG KONG
MASS had scarcely ended on June 4 when a gaggle of young women flocked to the front of the cathedral. Groups of them took turns having their photos taken with the thin, silver-haired 74-year-old who so captured their fancy: Cardinal Joseph Zen Zi-kiun.
He smiled gently for the photos, then walked across an alley to an indoor basketball court with a concrete floor and rusty fans on the walls that barely stirred the warm, humid air. After a youth group had sung religious songs, and after a slide show depicting the Chinese military crackdown in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, he read a strongly worded message calling for residents of Hong Kong to remember their countrymen elsewhere in China.
"The young people who fought and died for democracy in Tiananmen Square were their brothers and sisters," he said in the speech. "After June 4, we can no longer fight selfishly just to win the most rights for Hong Kong."
With his charisma, erudition and dedication to human rights, Cardinal Zen has become a celebrity here, a man wielding considerable political influence as well as religious power. But his high profile and growing influence have antagonized senior officials in mainland China, particularly those who oversee the state-controlled church.
By Jim Yardley :: The New York Times
05 July 2006
GUANGZHOU, China — At a government auction inside a dingy gymnasium, a young businessman named Ding walked away a happy winner the other day. Like everyone else, he was bidding on license plates and did not seem to mind that his cost $6,750.
For the same money, Mr. Ding could almost have afforded two of the Chinese-made roadsters popular in the domestic car market. His bid was almost 20 times what a Chinese farmer earns in a year, and almost 7 times the country's per capita annual income.
And yet, in the auction in this manufacturing capital in southern China, Mr. Ding, who gave only his last name, could not even claim top price. The most expensive plate — AC6688 — fetched $10,000 on a day when officials sold hundreds of plates for a total of $366,500.
"I thought it was rather cheap," said Mr. Ding, 30, a gold chain glinting under his open black sport shirt, as he walked off with the paperwork for APY888. "Since I have a nice car, I thought I should get a nice plate."
No country is more bonkers over cars than China, where achieving the new middle-class dream means owning a shiny new vehicle. But the car is not always enough for those who aspire beyond the middle class. A license plate has become almost as much of a status symbol as the car.
BBC World News
04 July 2006
The music industry is to sue Yahoo China for allegedly providing links to pirated tracks.
"We've started the process and as far as we're concerned we're on a track to litigation," John Kennedy, chairman of the IFPI, told Bloomberg.com.
Yahoo China is the second largest search engine in the country, and is 40% owned by Yahoo Inc.
Mr Kennedy told Bloomberg he hoped that negotiation could still prevent legal proceedings from starting.
Last year the International Federation of the Phonographic Industries, whose members include EMI, Sony BMG and Warner Music, sued Baidu, the most popular search engine in China and the dispute is ongoing.
By REUTERS | The New York Times
July 04, 2006
South Korea's biggest movie at the box office, about a tyrannical king and his two court jesters, has been banned from Chinese theatres because it has subtle gay themes, a South Korean movie executive said on Tuesday.
``The movie 'King and the Clown' could not pass the deliberation process in China because of the homosexual code and sexually explicit language in the movie,'' an official with South Korean entertainment company CJ said from its Beijing office.
The movie has taken in more than $85 million in South Korea and sold about 12 million tickets in a country with a population of around 48 million.
Homosexuality was considered a mental disorder in China as recently as 2001 and is still a highly sensitive subject.
In the movie, which finished its run in South Korea earlier this year, the relations among the king and his two jesters are not well defined and there are no sex scenes, but a romance is implied.
The most heated the movie becomes is when the king shares longing looks with one effeminate clown as they put on a puppet show together.
The CJ official, who asked not to be named, said the company did receive permission from Chinese authorities to distribute the movie in China through DVD sales.
China's film censor, the State Adminstration of Radio Film and Television, was unavailable for comment.
Even though China lauded Ang Lee, the Taiwanese director who won an Oscar for the gay-themed cowboy movie ``Brokeback Mountain,'' the film has never been short listed for consideration by authorities, which is one step short of an outright ban.
The Associated Press | The New York Times
02 June 2006
SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- In its battle against near-universal Chinese piracy of Hollywood blockbusters, Warner Bros.' weapon of choice is a little white price tag smaller than a postage stamp.
Last year, the home entertainment giant began selling selected movies with price tags of only $2.75 in major Chinese cities, aiming to carve out a market for relatively affordable but high-quality, legitimate versions of movies in a sea of counterfeit products selling for less than a dollar.
''The reason why piracy's come along is that there weren't enough products at the right price soon enough,'' said Tony Vaughan, managing director of CAV Warner Home Entertainment Co., Warner Bros.' joint venture distribution company in China.
By Howard W. French | The New York Times
June 30, 2006
SHANGHAI, June 29 — Shanghai is rightfully known as a fast-moving, hypermodern city — full of youth and vigor. But that obscures a less well-known fact: Shanghai has the oldest population in China, and it is getting older in a hurry.
Twenty percent of this city's people are at least 60, the common retirement age for men in China, and retirees are easily the fastest growing segment of the population, with 100,000 new seniors added to the rolls each year, according to a study by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. From 2010 to 2020, the number of people 60 or older is projected to grow by 170,000 a year.
By 2020 about a third of Shanghai's population, currently 13.6 million, will consist of people over the age of 59, remaking the city's social fabric and placing huge new strains on its economy and finances.
The changes go far beyond Shanghai, however. Experts say the rapidly graying city is leading one of the greatest demographic changes in history, one with profound implications for the entire country.
The world's most populous nation, which has built its economic strength on seemingly endless supplies of cheap labor, China may soon face manpower shortages. An aging population also poses difficult political issues for the Communist government, which first encouraged a population explosion in the 1950's and then reversed course and introduced the so-called one-child policy a few years after the death of Mao in 1976.
That measure has spared the country an estimated 390 million births but may ultimately prove to be another monumental demographic mistake. With China's breathtaking rise toward affluence, most people live longer and have fewer children, mirroring trends seen around the world.
Those trends and the extraordinarily low birth rate have combined to create a stark imbalance between young and old. That threatens the nation's rickety pension system, which already runs large deficits even with the 4-to-1 ratio of workers to retirees that it was designed for.
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