Doing business in China: April 2008 Archives
By JOE McDONALD, AP Business Writer | via (uncensored) Yahoo!PHILIPPINES news
April 24, 2008
An activist group that wants peace in Darfur said Thursday it will organize protests against Beijing Olympics sponsors that it said are failing to use the Games to press China to help end fighting in the region.
Dream for Darfur said 16 companies including General Electric Co., Coca-Cola Co. and Microsoft Corp. showed "moral cowardice" and will be the target of protests. In a 61-page report, the group said Eastman Kodak Co., Adidas AG and McDonald's Corp. have taken adequate action and would not face protests.
With actress Mia Farrow as its spokeswoman, Dream for Darfur is the most prominent of a series of groups that are waging a public relations campaign to prod sponsors to lobby Beijing to pressure its ally Sudan to end the conflict.
"The majority of the 2008 Olympic corporate sponsors in this report have distinguished themselves for moral cowardice in the hopes of safe profitability," the report said.
Dream for Darfur said it also would protest at company headquarters and urge viewers to turn off commercials during the Games in August. It said the first demonstration will be this weekend against Coca-Cola but gave no other details.
By Andrew Jacobs | The New York Times
24 August 2008
In little more than 100 days, China will open its arms to a deluge of foreigners, many of whom will be pleasantly surprised to find a dizzying array of designer boutiques and painfully hip martini bars that divert expatriates and middle-class Chinese in this once dowdy capital.
But even as Beijing is promising to welcome 1.5 million visitors to the Olympic Games, public security officials are tightening controls over daily life and introducing visa restrictions that are causing anxiety among the 250,000 foreigners who have settled here in recent years.
The visa rules, which were introduced last week with little explanation, restrict many visitors to 30-day stays, replacing flexible, multiple-entry visas that had allowed people to remain for up to a year. The new rules make it harder for foreigners to live and work in Beijing without applying for residency permits, which can be difficult to obtain. The restrictions are also complicating the lives of businesspeople in Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore used to crossing the border with ease.
"I can't begin to explain how serious this is going to be," said Richard Vuylsteke, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. "A barrier like this is going to have a real ripple effect on business."
The government wants to present a blemish-free image of Beijing for the Olympics. Police officers have cleared away street beggars and closed down shops selling pirated DVDs, while also forcing some migrant workers to go back to the countryside.
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Because the government has not issued formal guidelines about the new visa rules, rumors and uncertainty have been rife, and travel agents say that a handful of tourists have been denied visas without evident rationale.
Cloris Yip, the manager of Smiley Travel in Hong Kong, cited the example of two tourists, a Swiss and a German; the Swiss citizen received a 30-day visa while his German companion was given one for five days. The men, she said, canceled their trip.
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By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | via The New York Times
April 23, 2008
European business officials warned Wednesday that anti-French protests in China could spark a backlash against Chinese exports, while reports surfaced that protesters had confronted an American outside an outlet of French retailer Carrefour.
The incident with the American occurred when dozens of protesters confronted 22-year-old James Galvin, an English teacher working in the southern city of Zhuzhou, mistakenly thinking he might have been French.
Galvin was quickly whisked away by police and was not hurt in the Sunday incident, said Helen Claire Sievers, executive director of the WorldTeach program based in Cambridge, Mass.
''It was frightening for him because he didn't know what was going on,'' Sievers said.
France and high-profile French retailer Carrefour have been targeted by Chinese nationalists who felt insulted by raucous anti-China protests that accompanied the April 7 Paris leg of the Olympic torch relay.
Anger spiked this past weekend with protests at the French Embassy in Beijing and at Carrefour outlets in at least nine Chinese cities. Carrefour has denied rumors that it supports the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled Buddhist leader.
Joerg Wuttke, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, said a boycott of French products, as some activists are calling for, would likely hurt Chinese workers and companies, and could be met by similar action against Chinese products in Europe.
France télévision - france2.com
Le 20 avril 2008
De nouvelles manifestations anti-occidentales ont eu lieu dimanche dans plusieurs ville de la République populaire.
Les rassemblements de dimanche
Plus d'un millier de personnes se sont rassemblées devant le magasin Carrefour de la ville de Xian (nord-ouest). Des attroupements similaires ont eu lieu à Harbin (nord-est) et Jinan (est), selon la même source.
Des manifestations antifrançaises avaient déjà eu lieu la veille dans cinq villes chinoises. Elles visaient principalement l'enseigne d'hypermarchés Carrefour, très présente dans le pays, pour protester contre l'attitude de la France sur le Tibet. Dans une interview publiée dans le "Journal du Dimanche", le président du directoire de Carrefour, José Luis Duran, dit prendre la situation "très au sérieux".
Selon une "source informée, citant la police", a indiqué l'agence France Presse sans plus de précision, les centaines, voire les milliers de manifestants de la ville industrielle de Wuhan (centre) étaient "très bien organisés". Mais comme pour les autres cortèges, il était difficile de mesurer les niveaux de spontanéité et d'encadrement du mouvement. Certains portaient un drapeau français maculé de croix gammées et traitant Jeanne d'Arc de "prostituée". Des manifestations de l'ampleur de celles de Wuhan sont rares en Chine et sont souvent encadrées, voire organisées, par des organisations officielles, comme la Ligue de la jeunesse communiste.
La fièvre semblait retombée dimanche matin avec le déploiement d'effectifs policiers aux abords des magasins cibles de la vindicte des manifestants. Le calme était apparemment revenu à Wuhan et Qingdao (est).
Le gouvernement chinois n'a pas condamné les appels au boycott des produits français.
>> france2.com
By BBC World News
April 19, 2008
Protesters in several Chinese cities have gathered to demand a boycott of French products and denounce campaigns for Tibetan independence.
Hundreds of people demonstrated in cities including Beijing, Wuhan, Hefei, Kunming, and Qingdao - often outside stores of the French chain Carrefour.
Passions ran high, but the protests were closely patrolled by police.
Protesters say they are angry at the scale of protests that accompanied the Olympic torch relay in Paris.
They have also denounced French President Nicolas Sarkozy's refusal to confirm whether he will attend the opening ceremony of the Games.
Pictures from the central city of Wuhan showed large crowds congregating outside a Carrefour supermarket.
'No to French goods'
The chain, which reportedly operates more than 100 outlets in China, has restated its support for Beijing's hosting of the Olympics this August, but is accused by some protesters of backing the campaign for Tibetan independence.
By DENIS D. GRAY Associated Press Writer | ABC News
April 17, 2008
FRIENDSHIP BRIDGE, Nepal-Tibet Border
Three lithe Chinese security men shift silently into position so they are anchored abreast exactly midway across Friendship Bridge, high above a Himalayan river gorge.
It's the only international gateway into Tibet. As a small group of foreigners approaches, the guards' unspoken message is clear: the rebellious territory behind them is off-limits.
After anti-government riots erupted March 14, Beijing closed off Tibet to foreign and domestic tourists and cracked down on Tibetans trying to escape. And China's security apparatus doesn't stop at the border.
Chinese security police in athletic wear can be seen lounging in tea shops and strolling the sole street in the border town of Liping. They shadow three Associated Press journalists from the moment they arrive, ordering them not to take photographs -- on Nepalese territory.
And in the capital Katmandu, Tibetan exiles say China is pressuring the Nepalese government to crush anti-Chinese activities by the world's second-largest Tibetan exile community.
"The Chinese asked us unofficially to cooperate on securing the border. They are far stricter now," said one Nepali immigration official, requesting anonymity since he was not authorized to speak to the press. "Even an Austrian lady who was studying Chinese in Lhasa (Tibet's capital) was not allowed to enter."
Before the current unrest, some 1,500 foreigners a month would make the rough, four-hour car journey on a Chinese-built road from Katmandu to the border and then on to Lhasa.
Now, Chinese authorities have reversed an earlier decision to reopen Tibet to tourism on May 1, tour operators in Beijing said last week. There has been no official indication of when the border would reopen. The International Campaign for Tibet, a U.S.-based activist group, says it has information the region may remain sealed until after the Beijing Olympics in August.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | The New York Times
April 14, 2008
Beijing has backtracked on a proposed public smoking ban ahead of this summer's Olympics, with a city official saying Monday that restaurants will no longer be included due to concerns it would hurt their business.
Lighting up in restaurants will be allowed after the citywide ban goes into effect May 1 as long as they have separate smoking and nonsmoking areas, said Zhang Peili, an official with Beijing's municipal government supervising the ban.
Restaurants that do not comply will be fined $714, Zhang said, though she added that implementing the regulation will be ''extremely difficult.''
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | The New York Times
April 07, 2008
Western reporters in China have received harassing phone calls, e-mails and text messages, some with death threats, supposedly from ordinary Chinese complaining about alleged bias in coverage of recent anti-Chinese protests in Tibet.
The harassment began two weeks ago and was largely targeted at foreign television broadcasters, CNN in particular. But the campaign broadened in recent days after the mobile phone numbers and other contact information for reporters from The Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today were posted on several Web sites, including a military affairs chat site.
''The Chinese people don't welcome you American running dog. Your reports twist the facts and will suffer the curse of heaven,'' said one e-mail received by the AP. One text message said: ''One of these days I'm going to kill you.''
Those sending the messages and making the calls say they are ordinary Chinese, a claim that could not be verified.
Spokesmen for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the government's State Council Information Office and the national police ministry did not respond to telephone calls and faxed questions Monday seeking comment about the threats.
By BBC News
April 01, 2008
China must ensure open access to the internet during the Beijing Games, Olympic officials have warned.
Inspectors from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said China was obliged under its Games contract to provide journalists with web access.
The IOC's Kevan Gosper said there was concern that the web had been blocked during recent unrest in Tibet. He said this could not happen during the Games.
IOC inspectors are on a final visit to Beijing before the August Games begin.
Internet 'management'
Mr Gosper said blocking the internet during the Games would "reflect very poorly" on the host nation.
"There was some criticism that the Internet closed down during events relating to Tibet in previous weeks - but this is not Games time," he said.
"Our concern is that the press is able to operate as it has at previous Games during Games time."
Some 30,000 journalists are expected to be in Beijing to cover the Games.
China frequently blocks access to certain websites - often restricting access to foreign media sites.
But foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told the Associated Press that China's "management" of the internet followed the "general practice of the international community".
She declined to say if the internet would be unrestricted for journalists during the Olympics, AP noted.
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