Studies / Reports: March 2007 Archives

By AFP | via (uncensored) yahoo!news
March 28, 2007

Countries such as China will not be able to develop higher-tech economies until adequate protections are in place for intellectual property, a top US copyright official warned Wednesday.

"A nation that does not give the highest protections for intellectual property... will consistently be a source of only second-class technology. No one will want to bring their technology to a nation that doesn't protect it," said Jon Dudas, director of the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Dudas was reacting to a suggestion by a Chinese Cabinet member a day earlier that developed countries must be patient with intellectual property rights (IPR) violations in countries like China since developed countries hold most key technology patents.

Dudas, who is also undersecretary of commerce for intellectual property, is in Beijing for a global IPR forum and separate discussions with Chinese officials on strengthening protections.

Rampant IPR violations are a major source of friction in bilateral trade ties and Washington has pressured China to do more to combat them.

Dudas praised what he called China's growing recognition of the problem and its "broader, deeper" recent cooperation with the United States on the issue.

But he said Beijing needs to do more, such as lowering punishment thresholds as part of a push to create a stronger system of deterrents.

Despite increased efforts by China, 81 percent of the counterfeit products seized at US borders originate in China, Dudas said.

By The Epoch Times
March 17, 2007

Minghui.net announced that since March 5, 2007, Minghui (which means "clear wisdom" in English) Radio Station has been broadcasting programs 24 hours a day to inform people about the persecution of Falun Gong and dispel the state propaganda attacking the practice to Asia. These broadcasts are being directed primarily towards China and Taiwan via the Eutelsat W5 satellite.

Broadcast 24 Hours a Day Via Eutelsat W5 Satellite

According to Kevin (whose last name is withheld for his safety), one of the program producers for Minghui Radio, the station was founded in November 2005. Like Minghui.net, Minghui Radio provides information about Falun Gong, especially concerning the persecution against the meditation practice happening in China. Currently there are dozens of programs in its lineup. It was originally broadcast to China via short wave radio, but now, along with New Tang Dynasty TV, Sound of Hope, Voice of America, and Free Asia Radio Stations, Minghui Radio uses the Eutelsat W5 satellite to broadcast throughout Asia, including mainland China.

Kevin went on to say that the Minghui website's reader base is broken down into three primary groups: Falun Gong practitioners, the general public, and those who have participated in the persecution of Falun Gong. Minghui Radio takes all three groups into consideration when preparing programs so as to appeal to all of them.

Program Content

Kevin explained that since 1999, the Chinese communist regime has persecuted Falun Gong. Because of this persecution, a large number of Falun Gong practitioners in mainland China lost their free environment of group study, group practice, and experience sharing. In response to this, Minghui Radio developed programs such as "Group Practice Time," "Minghui Briefs," and "Cultivation World" so that Falun Gong practitioners can obtain current information regarding the situation concerning expanding awareness of the persecution and experience sharing via the Internet and/or radio.

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By Cao Changqing - Observe China Magazine | The Epoch Times
March 04, 2007

Western commentators are wondering what China's new foreign policy is, in light of communist leader Hu Jintao's recent visits to eight African countries.

Willy Lam, currently a CNN commentator on Chinese issues said that Hu's visit to Africa is an indication that he had abandoned Deng Xiaoping's attitude to "bide our time and focus on building ourselves." Instead he intends to be the leader of a rising superpower. In Lin's opinion, the destruction of a satellite last month by the People's Liberation Army was also a sign of Hu's change in foreign policy.

Recently the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has adopted a very aggressive policy towards African countries. Hu visited Africa twice within a year. Just three months ago, China invited 48 African leaders to attend a forum on China-Africa relations in Beijing and generously wrote off 33 African countries' debts with China in a bid to win them over.

Before Hu's visit to Africa, at a press conference, the CCP's Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed that the main purpose of Hu's visit was to encourage the peaceful development of Africa. At that time, the U.S. media had high hopes that Hu's trip might be able to stop the genocide in Sudan. New York Times reporter Howard French published an article from Shanghai titled "Chinese Leader to Visit Sudan For Talks on Darfur Conflict."

However, Hu actually went to Sudan to reward the Sudanese president who advocates genocide and promised to help him build a presidential palace. Washington Post columnist Sebastian Mallaby wrote a column on Feb. 5 titled "A Palace for Sudan—China's No-Strings Aid Undermines the West." In this article, Mallaby considered that it wasn't coincidental that Hu agreed to finance a palace for the Sudanese president since, in recent years, China had never agreed to build a presidential palace for any country. Hence the decision to choose Sudan was a deliberate act against the Western world.

In recent years, the Sudanese government has received much criticism from Western society for its suppression of the independent movement in the Darfur region. According to human rights organizations, in the past four years, more than 200,000 were killed in this genocide. Western countries including the U.S. have discontinued aid to Sudan and requested the U.N. to impose economic sanctions. Beijing opposed this decision and even threatened to veto it. On Hu's visit to Sudan, not only did he not censure the government for carrying out genocide, instead he agreed to give the brutal dictator 140 million yuan (US$18 million) in aid to build a presidential palace, condoning and rewarding the Sudanese dictator.

China even plans to double its aid to African countries in the next three years, offering them $3 billion in low-interest loans and $2 billion in export credits. Western critics say China is throwing its silver dollars into Africa with total disregard of the fact that 600 million people in China continue to earn less than $2 a day and 5 percent of the Chinese population (60 million) still live below the U.N.'s poverty line. Hence the CCP's African policy is an inhuman policy. It overlooks the 200,000 deaths in the genocide in Sudan and does not care whether its Chinese citizens live or die. It only cares for ideology not human lives.

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By Agence France Presse | via (uncensored) yahoo!news
March 03, 2007

China demanded Friday the United States scrap a planned sale of hundreds of missiles to Taiwan, warning the deal would harm regional stability and bilateral ties.

"We solemnly demand the leader of the United States... immediately cancel this weapons sale (and) avoid harming the peace and stability of the Taiwan Straits and Sino-US relations," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.

"The Chinese side expresses its strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition to this. We have raised solemn representations with the US side."

The US Department of Defence this week notified Congress that it planned to sell Taiwan 421 million US dollars worth of missiles, which would help boost the island's defences against rival China.

"The proposed sale will help improve the security of the recipient and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance, and economic progress in the region," the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency said.

......................

The proposed sale comes after US Vice President Dick Cheney last week expressed concerns over China's growing military might and as top US intelligence officials said Beijing was trying to achieve parity with the US in military affairs.

"China's continued fast-paced military build-up are... not consistent with China's stated goal of a 'peaceful rise,'" Cheney said while on a trip to Australia.

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By Amnesty International
March 01, 2007

Internal migrant workers in China are paying the cost of the country’s economic "miracle". Most find themselves denied their rights -- shut out of the healthcare system and state education, living in appalling, overcrowded conditions and routinely exploited by their employers.

An estimated 150-200 million Chinese rural workers are currently living and working in cities and that number is expected to continue to grow. While they make up the majority of the population in some cities, they are treated as an urban underclass discriminated against under the hukou (household registration) system, which requires them to register with local authorities as temporary residents.

"[T]he lives of migrant workers are miserable. They have to live in makeshift shelters, eat the cheapest bean curd and cabbage. They have no insurance and their wages are often delayed. And most of all, they are discriminated against by urban people,” says one of the lucky internal migrants to became a successful businessman -- Wang Yuancheng of China’s National People’s Congress.

Those who manage to complete the often laborious hukou process face discrimination in housing, education, healthcare and employment on the basis of their temporary status. The many who are unable to complete the process are left with no legal status, making them vulnerable to further exploitation by police, landlords, local residents and employers.

According to an International Labour Organization report, a random check on 134 companies by the Labour Department of Suizhou City in Hubei revealed that not a single one had issued any labour contracts.

Ms. Zhang, a 21-year-old internal migrant worker who worked in nine different factories within the space of four years, recalls her experience working 7 days a week in a garment factory in Shenzhen: “We worked overtime every day and the earliest we would get off of work would be around 11 p.m. Sometimes we would work until two or three in the morning and we would have to work the next day as usual. We started at 7:30 a.m. until 12 noon.

"They said that we had half an hour for lunch and a rest, but, in fact, as soon as we finished eating, we would go back to work. There was no rest break. The best day was Sunday when we only had to work overtime until 9:30pm. Really, we were exhausted. Some even fainted, because they were so tired.”

Employers take advantage of internal migrants' vulnerable status by withholding the equivalent of billions of US dollars in unpaid wages. Internal migrants are typically owed 2-3 months back pay. In practice, this means that an internal migrant worker who quits his or her job loses a minimum of 2-3 months of wages. Because the vast majority of internal migrant workers do not have a labour contract, they do not have recourse to legal action to claim their unpaid wages.

Housing conditions are poor to appalling. One 21-year-old man described sharing a room with more than 30 people sleeping in bunk beds in an unfinished underground storehouse without a window, showers or air ventilation. He said that they were only allowed to take a shower or bath at a nearby building once a week.

Not only are internal migrant workers unable to obtain health insurance and typically unable to pay the cost of healthcare, they are also frequently prevented from even accessing medical facilities by their bosses. According to a 26-year-old male worker,

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