News: February 2008 Archives
25 February 2008
Pro-democracy activists in Myanmar called Monday for the world to boycott this year's Beijing Olympics over what they said was China's continuing support of Myanmar's military dictatorship.
The 88 Generation Students group, which was instrumental in last year's pro-democracy demonstrations in Myanmar, urged ''citizens around the world ... to boycott the 2008 Beijing Olympics in response to China's bankrolling of the military junta that rules our country of Burma with guns and threats.'' Myanmar is also known as Burma.
The 88 Generation Students joined a growing group of critics urging an Olympic boycott over complaints ranging from Beijing's human rights record to its failure to more actively press Sudan -- where China is a major oil buyer -- to end violence in the Darfur region.
Hollywood director Steven Spielberg quit earlier this month as an artistic adviser for the Beijing Olympics, saying China was not doing enough about Darfur.
The 88 Generation Students accused China -- one of Myanmar's key trading partners -- of arming their country's junta and failing to facilitate a meaningful dialogue between it and detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party.
''Our constructive outreach to China has been met with silence and more weapons shipments,'' the group said in a statement.
By HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHINA
February 20, 2008
Human Rights in China has learned that Shanghai rights defense lawyer Zheng Enchong (郑恩宠) was detained again on February 20 after several days of harassment by police and unidentified thugs. Zheng was released in the evening, but while in detention he was beaten by an unidentified person. Sources in China told HRIC that Zheng was taken away because of legal advice he gave to petitioners and interviews he had recently given to internet news outlets. HRIC condemns the recent beating and harassment of Zheng and is concerned for his safety in light of this escalating persecution. Zheng was wounded and bleeding due to the beating, and reportedly plans to sue the authorities.
"Flouting growing international criticism in the lead-up to the Olympics, the message sent by Chinese authorities is clear: freedom of expression does not encompass any unapproved media interviews, despite new, widely-touted media regulations," said Executive Director Sharon Hom. "If China is serious about rule of law, it must immediately cease the crackdowns on and detentions of lawyers and legal advisors, including Zheng Enchong, Chen Guangcheng (陈光诚), and Guo Feixiong (郭飞雄)."
Human Rights in China also calls on China to demonstrate respect for independent international decisions and release all individuals who have been determined by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to be in detention arbitrarily. This group includes barefoot lawyer Chen Guangcheng, journalist Shi Tao (师涛), labor activist Yao Fuxin (姚福信), political dissident Hu Shigen (胡石根), and religious activist Li Chang (李昌).
Zheng was also reportedly beaten by the police officers who were following him and his wife Jiang Meili (蒋美丽) on February 16 and 17. Later on the 17th, Zheng was summoned to the police station; he was kept in detention for over 12 hours and was beaten by unidentified men. The police asked him about the recent legal aid he provided to petitioners, as well as the interviews he gave to the Epoch Times on February 12, in which he talked about the corruption case of Shanghai tycoon Zhou Zhengyi (周正毅) and the possible involvement of former CPC leader Huang Ju (黄菊). The interview went to press on February 19.
>> Read complete report
TIME Magazine
February 20, 2008
SpongeBob SquarePants, Mickey Mouse and Pokemon are officially persona non grata on Chinese prime time.
China is extending a ban that virtually locks out all foreign cartoons from airing between 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. in a bid to protect its fledgling domestic cartoon industry.
According to a new ruling Wednesday by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, no foreign cartoons or programs introducing foreign cartoons can be shown during "the golden hours" on all domestic cartoon channels and children channels starting May 1.
The move is intended to help "spur the domestic cartoon industry," the agency said.
Only domestic cartoons approved by SARFT are allowed to be aired, according to the regulations. Cartoons co-produced by domestic and foreign producers will have to get approval.
The new regulation expands an earlier ban, imposed in August 2006, that kept foreign cartoons off the air between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Domestic cartoon programming increased by 38 percent, SARFT said.
In recent years, a huge influx of foreign cartoons, especially from Japan, have flooded the airwaves, becoming highly popular with Chinese children.
Recent regulations have been aimed at allowing the country's struggling animation studios space to compete. The ban will "enhance the SARFT's management over cartoon programs and will create a favorable environment for the domestic cartoon industry," the agency said.
Aside from foreign cartoons, China has made concerted efforts to control other aspects of pop culture, recently issuing bans against sexually suggestive audio and video products as well as films that contain horror or the supernatural.
Regulators have also issued new warnings against pornography and restrictions on video-sharing Web sites, which are accused of broadcasting pornography.
By BBC Sports | BBC World News
February 14, 2008
But that has not stopped some sportsmen and women registering their unhappiness with the country's involvement in war-torn Sudan.
Thousands have been killed and millions more affected by the conflict in the western region of Darfur - and the finger of blame has been pointed at countries like China for not doing enough to stop the suffering.
China responded to the growing criticism on Thursday, with its foreign minister saying it was "understandable if some people do not understand the Chinese government policy on Darfur, but... that some people may have ulterior motives".
Here, British badminton player and former Olympian Richard Vaughan , a member of pressure group Team Darfur, explains why he felt it was right for him to speak out, and why he thinks GB athletes should be allowed to do so in the build-up to the Beijing Games.
WHY THE CONCERN OVER CHINA?
In my mind, China has an indifferent political record internationally, be it in Darfur, Burma, or many other nations in Africa they do business with.
This, mixed with human rights issues within China itself, and the lack of a free press, means there are always going to be issues with the decision to stage the Olympics in Beijing.
I think the IOC and the Chinese government would have expected some opposition to a certain degree.
IS IT IMPORTANT FOR SPORTSMEN AND WOMEN TO SPEAK OUT?
I believe free speech is very important for everyone.
If athletes feel strongly about a humanitarian topic, they have the right to comment on it, as does any member of the public.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | The New York Times
February 12, 2008
Film director Steven Spielberg and actress Mia Farrow joined activists worldwide Tuesday in using the Olympics as a backdrop to address human rights concerns, urging Beijing to exert political leverage on Sudan's government to help end the crisis in Darfur.
Spielberg announced he would no longer act as an artistic adviser for the opening and closing ceremonies, saying he could not reconcile working on the Olympics while China and other nations were not doing enough to ease the suffering.
''Sudan's government bears the bulk of the responsibility for these ongoing crimes but the international community, and particularly China, should be doing more,'' Spielberg said in a statement. ''China's economic, military and diplomatic ties to the government of Sudan continue to provide it with the opportunity and obligation to press for change.''
Farrow joined former Olympic swimmers Shannon Shakespeare and Nikki Dryden in delivering an open letter addressed to Chinese President Hu Jintao at the Chinese Mission to the United Nations, condemning Beijing's support of the Sudanese government.
The letter was part of a ''Global Day of Action'' that focused on Darfur, where more than 200,000 have died and an estimated 2.5 million have been displaced since 2003.
''We are all aware of the tremendous potential for China to help bring an end to the conflict in Darfur,'' said the letter, signed by Nobel Peace Prize laureates, celebrities and 13 former Olympians.
Farrow suggested China use its influence to disarm the janjaweed, the government-backed Arab militia, demand the Khartoum regime halt bombings and ground attacks on civilians, and use its economic clout to force the government to ensure safety for U.N. peacekeepers.
China buys two-thirds of Sudan's oil exports. In turn, China sells weapons to the Sudanese government and has defended Khartoum in the U.N. Security Council.
''How can Beijing host the Olympic Games at home and underwrite genocide?'' said Farrow, a U.N. goodwill ambassador, shivering in freezing weather outside the Chinese Mission. ''Time is running out for the people of Darfur.''
By AFP | via (uncensored) Yahoo! News
February 09, 2008
Chinese authorities have barred Mikael Haafstroem from shooting his film "Shanghai", set to star John Cusack and Gong Li, in China, the Swedish director said in an interview published Saturday.
"This obviously comes as a shock to all of us. We don't know exactly why we have been turned down" for a filming permit, Haafstroem told the Dagens Nyheter daily by phone from Shanghai.
The director said the authorities' decision to block the shoot came as a complete surprise, pointing out that the movie's production team had been in China since last September preparing for the filming.
"We wouldn't have spent millions of kronor (hundreds of thousands of dollars, euros) in this country over the past six months if we hadn't been completely sure we would receive a permit," Haafstroem said.
He said he had heard that 56 other foreign film shoots had also recently been blocked in China, but said he did not know why his film, which is set in Shanghai in 1941 and features scenes of opium-smoking and prostitution, had been targeted.
By Ben Shpigel | The New York Times
09 February 2008
When a caterer working for the United States Olympic Committee went to a supermarket in China last year, he encountered a piece of chicken -- half of a breast -- that measured 14 inches. "Enough to feed a family of eight," said Frank Puleo, a caterer from Staten Island who has traveled to China to handle food-related issues.
"We had it tested and it was so full of steroids that we never could have given it to athletes. They all would have tested positive."
In preparing to take a delegation of more than 600 athletes to the Summer Games in Beijing this year, the U.S.O.C. faces food issues beyond steroid-laced chicken. In recent years, some foods in China have been found to be tainted with insecticides and illegal veterinary drugs, and the standards applied to meat there are lower than those in the United States, raising fears of food-borne illnesses.
In the past two years, the U.S.O.C. has tried to figure out how to avoid such dangers at the Olympics. It has made arrangements with sponsors like Kellogg's and Tyson Foods, which will ship 25,000 pounds of lean protein to China about two months before the opening ceremony, but will hire local vendors and importers to secure other foods and cooking equipment at the Games.
By RADIO FREE ASIA
February 06, 2008
Chinese curbs on the traditional Muslim culture of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region have left Uyghur youth in crisis, according to experts and Uyghurs at home and overseas.
According to exiled Uyghur businesswoman Rebiya Kadeer, for many years the Uyghur people were able to preserve their identity and way of life under Chinese rule, which began after the demise of a short-lived East Turkestan republic in the late 1930s and 1940s.
"We never heard of Uyghurs stealing, picking pockets, or robbing people," said Kadeer, who came to the United States in 2005 after serving a prison term in Xinjiang for attempting to meet with a human-rights delegation of the U.S. Congress.
But she accused Beijing of beginning a concerted attack on Uyghur traditions in 1987, saying the authorities began to move "common criminals" into the region from other parts of China.
Editorial | The New York Times
February 03, 2008
The F.D.A. -- and American consumers -- got another warning last week about the need for vigilant monitoring of imported drugs from the developing world, especially from China. The contamination of a drug used to treat Chinese leukemia patients should also raise alarms at multinational pharmaceutical companies that plan to outsource manufacturing to China.
There is no sign that the leukemia drug was exported to the United States. So far, some 200 people in China appear to have been paralyzed or otherwise harmed. Given the manufacturer's expanding role in the export of drugs and active ingredients around the world, the lax practices revealed could sooner or later harm patients virtually anywhere.
The case was described last week in an article by The Times's Jake Hooker and Walt Bogdanich. Shanghai Hualian, a division of a huge state-owned pharmaceutical company, produced a leukemia drug that was somehow contaminated with another cancer drug during production. When the product was injected into the patients' spinal area, it caused paralysis and other side effects.
When Chinese regulators began to investigate the cause of the adverse reactions, plant workers tried to cover up what had happened, delaying corrective action. The government has now closed the factory and detained two company officials in a criminal investigation.
The same company is the sole supplier to the United States of the abortion pill known as RU-486. That pill is made at a different factory that passed an F.D.A. inspection in May and was inspected three times in recent months by Chinese drug regulators. Still, in light of the company's current difficulties, the F.D.A. would be wise to reinspect the plant promptly to ensure that the RU-486 production facility is adhering to rigorous quality control procedures.
This incident is one more frightening reminder of why Congress and the White House need to move quickly to strengthen the F.D.A. and other regulatory agencies to ensure that they can adequately monitor foreign producers and intercept dangerous products before they can harm American consumers.
By Michael Bristow | BBC News
February 01, 2008
A prominent Chinese activist has been formally arrested more than a month after being taken into custody.
Hu Jia, who publicises human rights abuses across China, has been accused of inciting subversion of state power.
Campaigners say his arrest shows that China is not keeping its promise to improve human rights ahead of this year's Beijing Olympic Games.
But the government says China is a country ruled by laws, and Hu Jia will be dealt with according to the law.
Sudden detention
Two days after Christmas, about 30 security officers burst into Hu Jia's flat and took him away.
Officials were apparently tired of his efforts to support human rights cases across the country.
He had become a kind of one-man clearing house for information, passing it on to journalists, organisations and foreign embassies.
His wife Zeng Jinyan, also a prominent activist, has been put under house arrest with the couple's two-month-old baby.
The BBC was not allowed to visit her when we went to the couple's flat on the outskirts of Beijing last month.
Since he was detained, there has been little word about Hu Jia's condition and whereabouts. His lawyers have not been allowed to see him.
But officials have now sent his family formal notification that he has been arrested.
"After 37 days a suspect has to be either released or formally arrested. Hu Jia has been arrested," said a family friend, lawyer Teng Biao.
Mr Hu faces charges of subverting state power, a serious charge that could lead to a long prison term.
Rights groups say Beijing is cracking down on dissent ahead of the Olympics in August.
"The preparations for the Olympics are having an overall negative impact on human rights developments in China," said Sophie Richardson of Human Rights Watch.
The United States and the European Union have also voiced their concern about Hu Jia's arrest. But so far, this criticism has had no visible effect.
By Eijiro Ueno and Takashi Hirokawa | Bloomberg(.com)
February 01, 2008
Chinese-made dumplings containing pesticides sickened 175 Japanese in a scandal the government says may damage relations with its neighbor, which exported $56.7 billion of food to Japan last year.
``There might be a negative impact on Japan-China ties,'' Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said at a press conference in Tokyo today. ``If both governments cooperate and take measures, the negative impact can be minimized.'' China said it's ordered a police investigation.
The dumplings, known as ``gyoza'' in Japan, are being recalled by Japan Tobacco Inc. and Maruha Corp. in the latest quality scandal involving China. Two weeks ago, China deemed a fourth-month campaign to eliminate ``non-food materials'' from produce a success, after contaminations including industrial dye in eggs and carcinogenic fungicides in fish.
``It makes you scared to buy imported food -- you worry about your kids,'' said Hiroko Date, a 38-year-old mother of two, outside a Fujimart supermarket in Tsukishima, Tokyo. ``I think the government's being slow on this. We've been hearing about other problems with things from China, like lead in toys.''
Yukio Hatoyama, the Secretary General of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, also criticized what described as a ``slow response'' by the Japanese government.
Some Chinese food imports may be banned under Japan's food- safety regulations, Japan's health minister Yoichi Masuzoe said today in parliament.
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