Tag Archives: Country: China

AP: The 2012-2015 blueprint is the second of its kind and has the “aim of expanding democracy, enhancing the rule of law, improving the people’s livelihood and safeguarding human rights,” said Wang Chen, director of the State Council Information Office. His comments in a speech Tuesday appeared in Wednesday’s edition of China Daily.

Reuters: China’s Foreign Ministry warned U.S. officials on Thursday not to meet with visiting exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, saying it hoped Washington “appropriately dealt” with Tibet-related issues.

Baptist Press: Despite restrictions due to the Chinese Communist Party’s 90th anniversary, members of Shouwang Church in Beijing continued to meet outdoors July 3, leading to at least 19 arrests.

Yahoo: op US lawmakers plan Thursday to welcome the Dalai Lama in a show of support as China stepped up pressure on President Barack Obama not to hold his own meeting with Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader.

BBC News: China has blocked internet references to retired leader Jiang Zemin after rumours circulated that he had died.

LifeNews.com: A new campaign is placing emphasis on lobbying the Chinese embassy in Washington on behalf of Chen Guangcheng, a blind attorney who was jailed for years for his part in exposing a brutal campaign of forced abortions.

Liu Junning at WSJ.com: China has indeed made great strides since 1978′s “Reform and Opening” in alleviating poverty, opening up to the world, and making slow steps down the road of legal reform. Yet on closer inspection, the most significant transformations from the perspective of boosting prosperity have involved loosening of control over the people, not some alchemy of power and Marxism.

Catholic Culture: Catholics in Hong Kong rallied on June 29, under the leadership of Cardinal Joseph Zen, to call for religious freedom in mainland China and the release of the imprisoned bishops and priests of the “underground” Church.

Catholic Culture: For the 2nd time this month, Chinese officials have abruptly abandoned plans for the ordination of a bishop—after the priest who was to have been consecrated as a bishop obtained the approval of the Holy See.

AP: China’s local governments have piled up debts of $1.6 trillion, the national audit agency announced Monday, amid mounting concern Chinese banks might be hurt if borrowers cannot repay loans.

Telegraph: It is in the interest of cash-rich China to help resolve the eurozone debt crisis, but Chinese premier Wen Jiabao, who is visiting Britain and Continental Europe, will want a share of the West’s buying power in return .

China.org.cn: While talking about making genre movies in China on Wednesday in Shanghai, some well-known film directors explicitly expressed their great disappointment at China’s film censorship. “The only reason that we cannot make genre movies is the barrier that censorship sets,” Chinese director Jia Zhangke said.

WSJ.com: Indications are emerging that dissenting voices are gaining traction in the public square. For instance, ordinary Chinese are running for election in local legislative bodies that are usually rubber-stamp bodies filled with reliable worthies chosen by the Party.

The Guardian: In 1979 China signed a $50m four-year deal with a UN body designed to help it control its spiralling population through family planning. It was the largest foreign aid package Beijing had accepted in almost 20 years.

LifeNews.com: he human rights organization ChinaAid has obtained a letter from Yuan Weijing, the wife of blind attorney and forced abortion opponent Chen Guangcheng on Wednesday that offers details, for the first time, of the torture and beatings both have faced.

FT.com / Global insight – The global order fractures as American power declines: Harold Macmillan, the prime minister who watched US power rise as the British empire crumbled, used to say that Britain would play ancient Greece to America’s Rome. These days it looks as if Rome is declining too. The US finds it increasingly hard to drive forward its vision of international trade and economics over the objections of big emerging-market countries . . .

Asia News: Wang Guangya wants students to foster understanding of Chinese history, especially from Mao until today. The Office for public education makes a “popular” request to dedicate up to 50 hours of national education per year to issues. Many fear a form of “brainwashing”.

Catholic Culture : Latest Headlines : Catholic opposition forced China to halt illicit ordination: China’s plans to ordain a new bishop without permission from the Holy See were thwarted by the concerted opposition of the Catholic laity, and the resistance of the priest who was chosen for episcopal office, according to Sandro Magister of L’Espresso.

Yahoo! News: A Chinese ratings house has accused the United States of defaulting on its massive debt, state media said Friday, a day after Beijing urged Washington to put its fiscal house in order.

AP: China rejected pressure from a U.N. human rights panel about more than 300 Tibetan monks and said Thursday that local authorities are “conducting legal education” for the monks to maintain order.

CNBC: The dollar fell to a one-month low against a basket of currencies on Tuesday and a record low against the Swiss franc after a Chinese official said the greenback would continue to weaken versus other major currencies.

U.S. Dept. of State: As Secretary Clinton has said, “when China lives up to [its] obligations of respecting and protecting universal human rights, it will not only benefit more than one billion people, it will also benefit the long-term peace, stability, and prosperity of China.”

AP: China’s government-controlled Catholic church is preparing to ordain a new bishop, and the leading candidate is a priest who lacks the Vatican’s backing, potentially adding fuel to a long-running feud between Beijing and the Holy See.

Religion Clause: Yesterday’s Morung Express explained in greater detail how these and other planned moves undercut extensive plans that China allegedly has to control Tibet in the future.

Reuters: China warned on Tuesday that a European draft resolution asking the U.N. Security Council to condemn Syria would not defuse tension in the region, suggesting Beijing could block it if it is submitted for a vote.

AP: hina has responded to more than a week of surprising protests in Inner Mongolia with its well-honed strategy: deploy overwhelming force, keep potential protesters from gathering and pledge to address at least some grievances.

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers on EarnedMedia.org: How does this affect us? We are helping finance the infrastructure used in coercive family planning in China. The international community funds UNFPA (United Nations Family Planning Fund), as well as IPPF (International Planned Parenthood Federation), and Marie Stopes International . . .

Christian Newswire: According to a report in the Caixin Century magazine, population control officials in the Chinese province of Hunan seized at least 16 babies born in violation of the one-child policy, sent them to state-run orphanages, and then sold them abroad for adoption.

: President Hu Jintao of China praised North Korea and its ailing leader, Kim Jong-il, for giving “top priority to improving people’s lives,” according to a report on Thursday night by Xinhua, the state news agency

Washington Post: China’s Communist Party has finally got its story straight. It took 16 years of editing and four extensive rewrites. Chinese leaders, otherwise preoccupied with running a rising superpower, kibitzed throughout.

LifeNews: As Beijing continues to vigorously pursue its infamous one-child policy, PRI has gathered evidence showing that Chinese villagers who cannot afford to pay these fines have their “illegal” children abducted and sold by Chinese population control officials.

Reuters: China’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday it hoped the Vatican could acknowledge the reality of religious freedom in the country, after the pope said Beijing was putting pressure on the faithful who want to remain loyal to the Vatican.

Heritage Foundation, the Foundry: ineteen Chinese pastors have joined together to send a remarkable petition to the National People’s Congress on behalf of one of Beijing’s largest underground churches. The Shouwang church is the most recent target of Communist authorities’ crackdown on the unauthorized house church movement that now numbers some 50–70 million Chinese Christians.

AP: The European Union president called Tuesday for a level playing field in commerce between China and Europe, warning the European public could turn to protectionism if they felt China wasn’t playing fair.

The United States government currently own 33% of the GM company . . . Along with concern over China’s ownership of trillions of dollars of U.S. debt, it is truly troubling that an American company financially supported now by the U.S. taxpayer is happily promoting Communist propaganda that glosses over the atrocities of the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

AP: Leaders of underground Chinese Protestant churches condemned the government’s persecution of a fellow congregation, while Catholics voted under the watchful eye of security forces for a new government-approved bishop, reports said.

Reuters: A senior Chinese diplomat, on a visit to Hungary on Thursday, defended the government’s detention of artist and activist Ai Weiwei.

FRC: Next Tuesday, Family Research Council (FRC) will host Dr. William Jeynes, professor of Education at California State University in Long Beach and a Non-Resident Scholar at Baylor University, to deliver a talk entitled, “God, China and Capitalism: Is Christianity in China the key ingredient for economic success?” . . . .

NY Times: More than a dozen Christian leaders in China have thrown their support behind an embattled underground church, calling for the government to end its persecution and for broader religious freedoms as well.

AP: “China’s state news agency says 40 people have been arrested for allegedly trafficking at least 22 babies for sale elsewhere in the country.”

The Hill: The epicenter of the crisis is in China, where four out of five PC software programs were stolen last year at a commercial value of nearly $8 billion. In the United States, four out of five PC programs are legally purchased. That discrepancy unfairly skews trade and competition.

AsiaNews.it: Government employees abduct “illegal” children born beyond the quota allowed, but even only children. An orphanage that gave children up for adoption was taking 2760 dollars per baby sold for, the state employees 142 dollars. The plight of the one-child rule leads to forced abortions and sterilizations, selective abortions of female fetuses, arrests of activists against the abuses.

Guardian: America funding technology to break web censorship in repressive regimes, such as China and Iran

Reuters: China’s state media on Wednesday sought to play down disagreements with the United States over human rights during their latest talks in Washington, signaling a more mature approach to tackling the thorny topic.

The Hill: Chinese officials agreed to end policies that favor domestic firms, making it easier for U.S. companies to compete, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Tuesday at the end of two days of talks.

LifeNews: Chinese police are holding a South Korean Bible instructor and his wife following a raid on an underground Protestant church, an activist group said Wednesday, as the government pressures Christians worshipping outside the Communist-controlled church.

Christian Post: House churches in China are employing new methods to push the government to peacefully resolve tensions between the Communist Party and the largest unregistered church in Beijing.

AP: She responded: “They’re worried, and they are trying to stop history, which is a fool’s errand. They cannot do it. But they’re going to hold it off as long as possible.”

AP: China has banned an outspoken writer and government critic from leaving the country to attend a literary festival in Australia, and warned him not to publish any of his controversial works overseas, event organizers said Monday. Liao Yiwu . . .

AFP reports on Yahoo.

Isobel Coleman at Council on Foreign Relations Blog: Currently trailing China by more than 100 million people, India is projected to overtake its neighbor by 2025, according to the medium variant. Indeed, China’s population is projected to peak around that same year and, thereafter, to experience an eye-popping decline. By 2100, China will have 400 million fewer people than it does today—a reduction larger than the entire current U.S. population.

AP: But since the Norwegian Nobel Committee gave the Nobel Peace Prize to imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, Norwegian salmon exporters say their fish is being held up for days or even weeks by Chinese food safety inspectors – devastating its freshness.

Russell Flannery at Forbes: The number of couples that formally notified the government of the end of their marriage increased by 17% in the first three months of 2011 from a year earlier to 465,000, according to a report in today’s Beijing Times, a Chinese-language daily.

AsiaNews.it: A doctor from Xuyi county of Jiangsu province is being investigated by police over accusations of performing a failed abortion on a 17-year-old unmarried girl, and then helping her give away the baby.

BBC: China has set up a new government body to control information on the internet.

AP on Boston Globe: The U.S. is urging China to lift restrictions on foreign investors which it says are a major barrier to improving commercial relations.

AP: The wife and a friend of a prominent Chinese civil rights lawyer said he returned home Wednesday after disappearing for five days amid an ongoing government crackdown on dissent.

AP: A U.S. commission that accused Beijing of restricting religious freedom is biased and is meddling in China’s internal affairs, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

Baptist Press: For the fourth week in a row, a Chinese “illegal” church refused Sunday to follow government orders not to meet, and this time at least 31 of its members were arrested.

The Guardian: Campaigners have warned that Chinese human rights lawyers remain under intense pressure, following the disappearance of another high-profile legal figure. Li Fangping went missing on Friday after ringing his wife to say state security agents were waiting for him – just as lawyer Teng Biao returned home after a two-month disappearance.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today released its 2011 Annual Report and recommended that the Secretary of State name the following nations “countries of particular concern” or CPCs: Burma, China, Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

AP: “Tibetan religious leader on Friday asked Chinese authorities to immediately release nearly 400 monks detained from the blockaded Kirti monastery in Sichuan province where two people died in a clash with police.”

Rasmussen Reports: A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just eight percent (8%) of adults now think China is a bigger threat militarily. Seventy-six percent (76%) disagree and say the Asian giant represents a bigger threat economically.

C-FAM: A US appeals court ruled that a Chinese man whose wife underwent a forced abortion and IUD insertion is not eligible to asylum, despite US law to the contrary. Even though the court recognized the couple’s clear desire to …

NY Times: The chief United States representative to human rights discussions with China offered a cheerless portrait of those talks after their conclusion on Thursday, saying the United States was worried by “a serious backsliding” of freedoms in China and at loggerheads with Beijing officials over many aspects of the issue.

LifeSiteNews: The surfing champ was faced with a difficult decision earlier this year when it was announced that the prestigious 2011 World Tour would be held in Hainan, China. “I felt like I had two choices: I could go with my reservations and wear a ‘Free Tibet’ shirt, or something trite like that. Or, I could stand up for what I believe in and hopefully call more attention to these issues through a boycott,” she told the Del Mar Times.

AP: An American human rights envoy said Thursday that China provided no useful information when probed about specific cases of individuals who have been detained or who disappeared in a major crackdown on dissent in recent months.

AP: Entrepreneurs could face new challenges under a government plan to modernize Chinese industry that would expand the dominance of state companies in coal mining, steel and other fields.

AP: China will maintain the strict family planning policy it imposed a generation ago to keep the birth rate low and the economy growing, President Hu Jintao said in remarks before new census data are released.

The Hill: The American Chamber of Commerce in China said in its annual report that there is an emerging pattern of Chinese industrial policies that favor domestic companies while stifling foreign competition, including regulations related to indigenous innovation, licensing, standards, government procurement, competition law and intellectual property enforcement.

Washington Times: The International Monetary Fund says the “Age of America” will end in the ash heap of history in 2016, give or take a year or so, to be replaced by the “Age of China.”

Reuters on Yahoo: “When it comes to differences between China and the United States over human rights, the two sides can enhance mutual understanding on a basis of equality and mutual respect,” Hong told a regular news conference. “We oppose any country using human rights issues as an excuse to interfere in China’s domestic affairs.

Heritage Foundation Morning Bell: “The IMF’s assumption that our economy will be weak indefinitely is all too reasonable. China might run its economy into the ground, but we are running our economy into the ground. Reasonable people can sharply disagree over what to do, but what’s killing U.S. leadership is obvious to the IMF and anyone looking at the global picture: our budget deficit.”

Xinhuanet: China should reduce its excessive foreign exchange reserves and further diversify its holdings, Tang Shuangning, chairman of China Everbright Group, said on Saturday. The amount of foreign exchange reserves should be restricted to between 800 billion to 1.3 trillion U.S. dollars, Tang told a forum in Beijing, saying that the current reserve amount is too high.

For the first time, the international organization has set a date for the moment when the “Age of America” will end and the U.S. economy will be overtaken by that of China. And it’s a lot closer than you may think.According to the latest IMF official forecasts, China’s economy will surpass that of America in real terms in 2016 — just five years from now.