Xi Weakens Role of Beijing’s No. 2
December 21, 2013[The Wall Street Journal] By Jeremy Page, Bob Davis and Lingling Wei Expanding His Own Remit Further, President Takes Lead on Economy, Traditionally Premier’s Turf BEIJING—British officials were finalizing details of Prime Minister David Cameron‘s visit this month to Beijing when they received a last-minute scheduling change: President Xi Jinping would host a read more →
North Korea is more accessible to foreign journalists than Tibet is
December 18, 2013Two Tibetan women look out over the snow in Guoluo Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in China. (Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images) By Max Fisher [The Washington Post] The Tibetan Autonomous Region of China has been largely closed to the outside world since it was wracked by popular protests in 2008. But the extreme read more →
Dear President of China
December 16, 2013Police in Tiananmen Square. A duel between China and Western media seems to be coming to a head/Reuters Photo [The New York Times] By Thomas L. Friedman MEMO to: China’s President Xi Jinping. From: A Friend of Your Country. Dear President Xi, in recent years there’s been a tug of read more →
Japan pledges $20bn to ASEAN in bid to dilute China’s influence in the region
December 14, 2013Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks during a news conference after his Cabinet approved a massive stimulus package. Photo: EPA [AFP/The Telegraph] Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe offers aid and loans over five years to Southeast Asian bloc against the backdrop of an ongoing territorial dispute with Beijing Japan pledged read more →
Tibet’s Tense New Reality
December 14, 2013Chinese soldiers on patrol in Lhasa, capital of China’s Tibet Autonomous Region. (Anastasia Corell) By Anastasia Corell [The Atlantic] Checkpoints with fire extinguishers, pincer-wielding police officers, and spies disguised as monks—welcome to daily life in Lhasa. From nearly any point in Lhasa, capital of China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, read more →
BBC Report: Tibetans displaced within region ‘amid rampant mining’
December 14, 2013Campaigners and researchers say that mining operations have gathered apace in recent years By Navin Singh Khadka Environment reporter, BBC News A record number of Tibetans have been displaced in their own homeland amid rampant mining and river damming in vacated areas, according to reports. Tibetan leaders and researchers claim read more →
Chinese authorities increase pressure on foreign correspondents
December 13, 2013[FCCC] International journalists working in China complain that the Beijing authorities are making life difficult for them, sometimes making it impossible for them to do their work. Visas are being delayed or denied. Reporters are finding it increasingly difficult to conduct interviews because people who speak to them suffer from police read more →
US calls on China to release Liu Xiaobo
December 10, 2013Liu Xia, pictured in 2012, has been under virtual house arrest since 2010. Her husband Liu Xiaobo was jailed in 2009. Photograph: Ng Han Guan/AP By Tania Branigan [The Guardian] Secretary of state John Kerry says Nobel prize winner should be freed and his wife released from house arrest The read more →
THE MEANING OF CHINA’S CRACKDOWN ON THE FOREIGN PRESS
December 9, 2013By Evan Osnos [The New Yorker] The Chinese government is threatening to expel nearly two dozen foreign correspondents, working for the Times and Bloomberg News, in retaliation for investigations that exposed the private wealth of Chinese leaders. It is the Chinese government’s most dramatic attempt to insulate itself from scrutiny in the thirty-five years since China read more →
Biden decries China squeeze on US media
December 7, 2013By Anthony Zurcher [BBC] China is putting the squeeze on the New York Times and Bloomberg News, and it could have severe consequences for press freedom. The nation has blocked internet access to the two organisations’ websites, denied access to key events, such as the recent meeting between British Prime read more →