China General News and Discussion

jakojako777

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8461643.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8461643.stm

A Chinese gay pageant, said to be the first held in the country, was ordered by police to close an hour before opening, organisers say.

The Mr Gay China event was thought to mark a new openness toward the gay community in China.

Organisers said police informed them it could not go ahead because they had not applied "according to the procedures".

Homosexuality was illegal in China until 1997, and officials described it as a mental illness until 2001.

The event's organiser, Ben Zhang, said he had been hoping the event would mark another step towards greater awareness of gay people in China.

One of the judges, Weng Xiaogang, told the AFP news agency: "In my opinion, I believe it [the cancellation] had something to do with the issue of homosexuality."

The eight contestants were competing for the right to represent China at the Worldwide Mr Gay pageant next month in Norway.

The event, in an upmarket Beijing nightclub, would have included a fashion show and question-and-answer sessions with the contestants.

Some 150 people who turned up to watch, many of them from media organisations, were left to view a deserted stage.

Contestant Jiang Bo, 29, told Reuters: "It's a disaster. I'm full of disappointment. I thought the government was becoming more and more tolerant.

"They were making a big step. The whole world was thinking China was doing a very good thing. But now I think everybody will be disappointed."

In June last year, the organisers of China's first Gay Pride Festival were told to cancel two of their sessions - and that they would face "severe consequences" if they went ahead.
Things change in China....In "good" old days they would let them gather together so that they can arrest them and shoot them :D
West is much more advanced in gay rights.
Everything is "cool" and "in" that is not hetero. Even pedophiles are not persecuted so much lately in Europe.
Some articles and rumors are out that high EU administration is crating laws favorable to pedophilia (I saw few videos on youtube on subject last year)
Family in Europe is decomposing
Soon heteros will have to start to fight for their rights in the near future if things continue this direction:)>
 

nitesh

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speculative report:
Asia Times Online :: Japan News and Japanese Business and Economy

TOKYO - With the world economy's center of gravity shifting from the West to the East, led by China's rising economic and corresponding political power, the year 2010 may witness a series of epoch-making events in Asia.

A grand rapprochement between Japan and China could be one such happening, and the idea has been recently floated through the media by some anonymous diplomatic sources in Tokyo and/or Beijing, attracting a lot of attention among experts worldwide.

The French newspaper Le Figaro reported from Tokyo last Wednesday that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had delivered to the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) the script of a spectacular reconciliation this year between the two countries. The report said the CCP had proposed that Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama begin the process by going to Nanjing, where a mass killing of Chinese civilians by the Japanese Imperial Army took place in December 1937 and subsequent months.

This first visit to Nanjing by a Japanese prime minister since the war would present to the Chinese people Tokyo's official apologies without ambiguity, easing lingering anti-Japan sentiment among the Chinese public. In return, some months later, on August 15, the anniversary of the Japanese surrender in 1945, Chinese President Hu Jintao would go to Hiroshima, the first city to experience atomic bombing, and declare the three non-nuclear principles: China will not make a nuclear first strike, will not attack any non-nuclear country and will not export nuclear arms. :rofl: The French paper named as its source only "our information".

Meanwhile, the Yomiuri, Japan's largest daily newspaper, also reported from Beijing on Wednesday that China had unofficially sounded out Japanese government sources on a visit by Hatoyama to Nanjing, likely around the time he goes to the Shanghai Expo's Japan Day on June 12, with Hu visiting Hiroshima around the time of the November Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit to be held in Japan. The Japanese paper said reciprocal visits would aim at improving feelings between the two peoples. Still, unlike Le Figaro, the Yomiuri mentioned nothing about apologies or nuke promises. It cited "several Japanese and Chinese sources".

China's Foreign Ministry denied the Yomiuri report on Thursday, with a ministry spokeswoman, Jiang Yu, saying the media rumors of a Nanjing trip were "groundless". But she also said, in what sounded like a non-denial-denial, "It is too early to confirm the details." On the same day, Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Hirofumi Hirano, also denied the reports, saying "at this point, we are not considering" a visit by Hatoyama to Nanjing.

"I have not heard of any such plan," a top Foreign Ministry official also told Asia Times Online, speaking on condition of anonymity. "My guess is that some persons involved might have presented their wish list to have better relations. There is nothing concrete about it." This official's comment suggests that such talks are still going on either at lower government-to-government levels or through party-to-party channels.

The reports by Le Figaro and the Yomiuri, however, followed a similar report in November by the Japanese business magazine, Weekly Toyo Keizai. It reported a secret diplomatic schedule being prepared by relevant Chinese and Japanese players. It predicted that the visit to Beijing one month later by Ichiro Ozawa, secretary general of the DPJ, accompanying more than 600 people, including 143 DPJ lawmakers from the upper and lower houses of the Diet (parliament), would be the first of several Japan-China exchanges. The visit was conducted as part of regular exchanges between the DPJ and the CCP, whose general secretary is Hu.

The media reports have triggered strong reaction. After Le Figaro's report, China's Global Times posted a questionnaire about this possible Japan-China grand rapprochement on its Chinese-language website. More than 30,000 Internet users have responded.

When asked whether the Japanese leader should apologize at the Memorial for Compatriots Killed in the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Forces of Aggression, 95.1% said "yes". Only 1% said "no". When asked whether the Japanese leader's apology would lead to Japan-China reconciliation, 24.7% said "yes" and 29.5% said "no".

Japanese leaders' visits to this memorial are nothing new. Hiromu Nonaka, then acting secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, visited the victims' memorial in Nanjing on May 9, 1998, laying flowers at the site and becoming the first leader from his party to do so. In the same month, former Japanese prime minister Tomiichi Murayama visited the site.

Even if speculation over Hatoyama's visit to Nanjing and Hu's visit to Hiroshima turns out to be nothing, it is still intriguing, as it may indicate that Japan's shift toward Asia, especially China, and away from the United States, is taking shape.

China seems to have refrained from using the Japan historic card to control its own people since 1996, when then-prime minister Shinzo Abe chose Beijing for his first overseas visit out of a desire to strengthen ties with the leaders of Japan's important neighbor. Historically, the CCP's one-party regime has been legitimized, in part, by its struggle against the Japanese invader.

Why then does China want Hatoyama to visit Nanjing? There are conflicting views among Japanese experts. Some say that in preparation for a succession of power in 2012 and beyond, Beijing's secret battles are intensifying. A faction of ex-president Jiang Zemin, who annoyed Japanese leaders by bringing up the history issue during a banquet with the emperor, has been gaining ground recently. Others believe Beijing wants to settle historic issues once and for all, to enable the two nations to build a future-oriented relationship of mutual trust, much like the Franco-German reconciliation that president Charles de Gaulle of France and West German chancellor Konrad Adenauer started by signing the Elysee Treaty in 1963, a foundation of Franco-German cooperation that led to European integration.

Some US officials and experts, especially right-leaning military planners, may be displeased to see Tokyo's approach to Beijing at a time when the relocation issue of the US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa prefecture has been deadlocked.

In a commentary titled "Japan's risky rapprochement with China" published on December 21 by The Wall Street Journal, Kelly Currie, a non-resident fellow of the Project 2049 Institute, a think-tank in Washington, wrote:

Prime Minister Hatoyama will likely continue his promised efforts to "rebalance" Japanese relations with the US and China, but now that he's actually responsible for governing, Mr Hatoyama needs to ask himself: Which country would ultimately keep the Japanese people's best interests at heart - democratic America or authoritarian China? If the prime minister answers the latter, then the Japanese public - and the Obama administration - really will need to start worrying.

Well, the relationship between Japan and China has been rapidly improving since Hatoyama's China-friendly administration was inaugurated last September, as is the relationship between Beijing and Taipei since the mainland-friendly administration of President Ma Ying-jeou took office in Taiwan in May 2008. The US administration of Barack Obama has followed suit.

Every country, driven by economic and political pragmatism, is rushing to cash in on China's huge consumer market. Japan is no exception. As a result, Japan-China-US trilateral relations are giving off a lot of heat in the unsettled state of affairs of Northeast Asia.
 

enlightened1

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8467064.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8467064.stm

A Chinese court has sentenced a former Supreme Court judge to life in prison for taking bribes and other corruption charges, state-run media have reported.

Huang Songyou is the most senior judge to have been convicted in China on such charges, Chinese media have said.

He was convicted of accepting 3.9m yuan($570,000; £348,000) in bribes while he was deputy head of the Supreme Court.

He has been thrown out of the Communist Party and will not be allowed to hold public office again.

Huang was also convicted of embezzling 1.2m yuan in government funds in 1997 when he was president of a lower-level court in the southern province of Guangdong.

Hefty sum

He confessed to the charges after he was removed from his position on the Supreme People's Court in 2008. His property had been confiscated, the official Xinhua news agency said.

"Huang knowingly violated the law by trading power for money and taking a hefty sum of bribes, which has produced a bad impact on society, and should be punished severely," Xinhua quoted the court verdict as saying.

China has launched an anti-corruption drive, targeting top officials - but Huang, 52, is the most senior judicial figure to fall since the Communist Party took power in 1949, a Supreme Court official told Xinhua.

Courts in China are theoretically independent, but are tightly controlled by the Communist Party, correspondents say. Huang is the most senior judge to have been removed from office in China
 

Armand2REP

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He has been thrown out of the Communist Party and will not be allowed to hold public office again.
Is there something special about that for it to be in bold? The guy is spending life in Chinese labour camps, CCP membership is the least of his worries. :sarcastic:
 

enlightened1

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China says Google row is unconnected to US relations

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8471922.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8471922.stm

China says its dispute with US search giant Google should not be linked to Beijing's relations with Washington. Google has one-third of the Chinese search market.

Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister He Yafei said the rift with the web firm should not be "over-interpreted", according to state news agency Xinhua.

Washington said it would protest to Beijing, after Google last week threatened to pull out of China.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due to make a speech on internet freedom later on Thursday.

Awkward

Google said on 12 January that hackers had tried to infiltrate its software coding and the e-mail accounts of Chinese human rights activists, in a "highly sophisticated" attack.

The California-based firm - which launched in China in 2006 - said it would remain in China only if the government relaxed censorship.


On Tuesday, the Chinese government said Google and other foreign firms must obey the country's laws and traditions.

The same day, Google said it was postponing the launch of two mobile phones in China.

Analysts say a Google withdrawal would be awkward for Beijing because a number of Chinese and foreign businesses rely on its services, such as e-mail.

Another US internet giant, Yahoo, is also reported to have been targeted by hackers in China, although it has not given any official confirmation of this.

When Google launched google.cn four years ago, it was criticised for agreeing to Beijing's demands to make certain search results off-limits - such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, Tibetan independence or Falun Gong.

Google currently holds about one-third of the Chinese search market, far behind Chinese rival Baidu, which has more than 60%.

China has more internet users - about 350 million - than any other country and provides a lucrative search engine market worth an estimated $1bn (£618m) last year.
 

enlightened1

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8474011.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8474011.stm

China has denounced US criticisms of its internet controls, saying it could harm ties between the two countries.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Thursday for China to lift restrictions on the internet.

Mrs Clinton also urged Beijing to investigate Google's complaints that cyber-attacks had originated in China.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said the US should "respect the facts" and stop making "groundless accusations against China".

"The US has criticised China's policies to administer the internet and insinuated that China restricts internet freedom," he said in a statement posted on the foreign ministry website.

"This runs contrary to the facts and is harmful to China-US relations."
 

kuku

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Its clear that PRC government does all this hacking to monitor people and organisations, however its no issue USA should be concerned about (they f-ing invented all of this spy on everyone), PRC is a separate state which has every right to form its own policies if the people dont like their government and its policy its the work of people of PRC to change their government.

Stupid of USA to be preaching to PRC about such things, what business is it of theirs?

As far as this google goes, they should let this be a issue between the commercial organisation and the regulating body of the PRC government, not one between USA and PRC.
 

amoy

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China seems to have refrained from using the Japan historic card to control its own people since 1996
If u had been China u would have known how bitter and tragic the war was - during WW II Japan captured the whole coastal areas of China. Even most recently chemical weapons left by Japan were unearthed and causing heavy casualties.

A 'historic card'
the war victims won't agree to such wordings while they're still appealing for compensations.

a Japanese prime minister...present to the Chinese people Tokyo's official apologies without ambiguity, easing lingering anti-Japan sentiment
ya that's the justice wanted.

go to Hiroshima, the first city to experience atomic bombing, and declare the three non-nuclear principles-
Hiroshima ? it wasn't Chinese who threw the bombs on those unrepented warlords. Thanks to the bombs by the US the war was ended and calamity over. Nanjing, the pain, is repeatedly telling why China shall regain its dignity.
 
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singa

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Censorship is common in Internet content management. Even Singapore government is censoring the content of internet. Mostly for
1) Racial content issues
2) Porn content issues
3) National security issues.

In my past experience to China government, it is Google who will lower its head finally. How can a company to conflict a government?
 

amoy

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Glad to find balanced views altogether here
- Google's complaint and threat of withdrawal (which I never believe will happen)
- the US gvnmt stance
- China gvnmt's dismissal of criticism
- the world's practice of censorship

Ya, purely a 'commercial org.' stuff.
 

Singh

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CHINA :Internal Doc of the Domestic Security Department of the Public Security Bureau

Internal Document of the Domestic Security Department of the Public Security Bureau (Part I)

The Domestic Security Department (国内安全保护支队)is a branch of the police force within the Ministry of Public Security, specializing in collecting intelligence, infiltrating and dealing with political dissidents, human rights activists, petitioners, religious groups as well as “subversive” activities in the cultural, educational and economics domains. It is a massive, secretive and omnipotent security apparatus within the giant police machine of the PRC.

The following excerpts are from China’s online interactive site Baidubaike , translated by CDT:

国内安全保卫的目的。国内安全保卫的目的是巩固共产党执政地位,保卫人民民主专政的政权和社会主义制度,保障社会主义现代化建设的顺利进行。

The goal of domestic security protection is to strengthen the ruling position of the Chinese Communist Party, protect the regime of the People’s Democratic Dictatorship and socialist system, ensure the smooth carrying out of the socialist modernization construction.

And the following three types of people are the main targets of DSD police:

1, People who have social influence – they do not need to be social celebrities, but within China, they have broad social networks or become spokespeople of a group with common experience.

有一定的社会影响力——他们不一定是社会名人,但是他们在中国国内,有广泛的人际关系或为一群共同命运伙伴的代言人

2, People who have their own distinct views in the economic, cultural and political domain, they possess different views from the authorities or “main melody” and insist on expressing their views.

有自己独特的主张——在经济、文化或政治领域,与当局或“主旋律”持有不同的观点并且坚持表达自己的意见

3, Possibly related to rights protection – protecting economic rights, such as apartment owners of urban residential blocks or peasants who lost their land; protecting political rights, such as journalists, writers who insist on freedom of the press or freedom of expression, or house church members who maintain their beliefs, or Tibetan Buddhists who support the Dalai Lama.

可能涉及维权——或者维护经济权益,如小区业主和失地农民等;或者维护文化权益,如画家和艺术家;或者维护政治权利,如坚持新闻和表达自由的记者、作家,坚持信仰的家庭教会成员和支持达赖喇嘛的藏传佛教信徒等

And the following excerpt is from Chinese wikipedia, which is partially blocked by the Great Firewall:

Within the Domestic Security Department, the general components are office; information, intelligence and external liasion branch; social investigation and local work-directing branch; ethnic and religious investigation branch; anti-subversive and sabotage investigation branch; university, cultural and economic domain domestic security protection work-directing branch; domestic security protection case investigation branch; and anti-cult investigation branch.

国保支队内设机构一般为办公室、情报信息与对外联络科、社会调查与基层基础工作指导科、民族宗教领域侦察科、反颠覆破坏侦察科、高校文化及经济领域国内安全保卫工作指导科、国内安全保卫案件侦察科(机动侦察大队),反邪教侦察科。

The following internal document, a paper written by a local Domestic Security Officer from Shaoxing city, Zhejiang Province, was leaked into Chinese cyberspace recently, and reveals many details about how this secretive police force works day-to day at the local level to control Chinese society. The original passage is excerpted from a book entitled Collected Essays on Domestic Security that is circulated internally within the Domestic Security Department (DSD). CDT translated the selected text here; thanks to the translator who wishes to remain anonymous.

Internal Document of the Domestic Security Department of the Public Security: Follow the Path of Staying Close to the Masses; Strengthen the Foundation of the Domestic Security Department
走群众路线 实国保根基

Yang Guangwei (Political Commisioner of Domestic Security Department [DSD] of the Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Public Security Bureau)
杨光伟(浙江省绍兴市公安局国保支队政委)

These last several years, the DSD system in our city has made it its number one priority to protect social and political stability. [The DSD system has] used “the experience at Fengqiao,”* which gave rise to the DSD’s work, as a powerful weapon to further the work of the DSD, persisted in its unmoving commitment of following the path of working with the masses, continued to strengthen the foundation of the DSD, powerfully promoted the healthy development of the DSD’s work, and effectively ensured the social and political stability of the city.

近年来,我市国保系统以维护社会政治稳定为第一责任,把源于政保工作的“枫桥经验”作为开展国保工作的有力武器,坚持走群众工作路线不动摇,进一步夯实国保基层基础,有力推动了国保工作的健康发展,有效确保了全市社会政治稳定。

I. Using the “Four Uniteds” to clarify the direction of working with the masses.

[We have striven to] use “the experience at Fengqiao” to organically integrate the four aims of grasping the actual situation, understanding development, understanding discipline, and accomplishing work goals. [We have striven to] locate the DSD work’s focus, difficulties, and points of integration so as to clarify the direction of the DSD’s foundational work of following the path of staying close to the masses.

A. Become united in spirit; clarify the direction of the work (omitted)
B. Become united in actual reality; clarify the focus of the work (omitted)
C. Become united in discipline; clarify the direction of development (omitted)
D. Become united in work goals; clarify work protocols (omitted)

一, 以“四个结合”为内容,明确群众工作方向

把运用“枫桥经验”,把握现实形势,洞悉发展规律和实现工作目标四者有机结合起来,找准国保工作的重点,难点和结合点,从而明确国保基层基础工作 “走群众路线”的大方向。
(一) 结合精神实质,明确工作方向 (略)
(二) 结合现实形势,明确工作重点 (略)
(三) 结合发展规律,明确发展走向 (略)
(四) 结合工作目标,明确工作步骤 (略)

II. Use the “Five Reliances” to create a mechanism for working with the masses

It has consistently been the DSD’s utmost priority to establish mechanisms to work with the masses, and to continually perfect these mechanisms through examination and through guidance. After several years of exploration and experience our city has basically developed a comprehensive and thorough scheme implemented in cities, counties and townships to correlate the work of the DSD with the masses.

二, 以“五个依靠”为主线,打造群众工作机制

始终把建立群众工作机制作为国保工作的重中之重,并通过考核和指导不断完善。经过几年的探索和实践,我市基本形成了市,县,镇三级横向到边,纵向到底的国保群众工作机制体系。

A. Rely on the Party Committee and Government; perfect the leadership mechanisms

We proactively acted as intermediaries with the Party Committee and Government and actively sought their recognition and support. We established and perfected a mechanism called “Three Groups, Three Meetings, Three Reports.”

(一) 依靠党委政府,完善领导机制

我们主动当好党委政府参谋,积极争取重视支持,建立完善了以“三组三会三报”为内容的国保工作上层机制:

(1) The “three groups” ensure organization between the work of the DSD and the work of ensuring social stability. The first group is the Party Committee and Government head leadership council. The Public Security Bureau branch leaders participate in the work of preserving social stability within the region. The next set of groups is the various specialized small leadership groups attended by those responsible within the DSD and organized by the top Party and government branch leadership. The final group conducts meetings involving the main leaders of the Party committee and government. Those responsible within the DSD participate in small groups that focus on preventing large mass incidents and punishing and trying those involved.

一是以“三组”为形式,确定国保工作和社会稳定工 作的组织体制。首先是建立党委政府主要领导挂帅,公安分管领导参加的维稳工作领导小组组织,协调区域内的国保维稳工作;其次是建立由党委政府分管领导牵 头,国保部门负责人参加的各种专门工作领导小组;再次是党委政府主要领导牵头,国保部门负责人参加的重大群体性事件防范和处置领导小组,开展对重大群体性 事件的预防,研判和处置指挥工作。

(2) The “three meetings” refer to regularly scheduled domestic security report meetings, serious incident analysis meetings, and specialized work correlation meetings. These meetings ensure the timely communication of intelligence information and the correlation of command mechanisms. They also aid in ensuring the Party committee government leadership’s complete control over the direction and content of the DSD’s work. This in turn helps the Party committee government leadership understand and support the DSD’s actual work.

二是以国内安全形势定期报告会,重大情况分析会,专门工作协调会为形式,确保情报信息的及时沟通和指挥协调,也利于党委 政府领导全面掌握国保部门的工作动向和工作内容,从而理解和支持国保部门的具体工作。

(3) The three reports refer to a system of reporting in which the head of the Public Security Bureau regularly reports to the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress on the periodic work of the DSD and the Government Stability Preservation Leading Group Office, a system of reporting in which DSD intelligence information is carried through executive channels, and a specialized system of reporting in which in specified circumstances, the DSD will use special channels to report directly to major leaders within the Party committee and government. In addition, in 2004, the municipal Party Secretary instructed DSD departments that certain specific intelligence information should be carried directly to him/her through specified confidential channels.

三是实行“三报”制度,即公安局长定期向常委会报告阶段性国保工作和 维稳工作制度,通过行政渠道的国保情报信息例报制度和特定情况下由国保部门通过特殊途径直接送达党委政府主要领导的专报制度。2004年,市委书记还指示 国保部门,对一些专门内容的情报信息可以通过特定的机要渠道直接送达其本人。

[To be continued]

* “The experience at Fengqiao” is a term coined in 1963 when Mao Zedong visited Zhuji City in Zhejiang province. Mao praised the local leaders for their ability to rely on the masses, diffuse contradictions, safeguard stability and ensure that “minor problems can be settled without going out of the village, major problems can be resolved without going out of the town and conflicts are not passed on to the leadership.”

(Image source: hedong.cn: DSD officers of Hedong region, Linyi City, Shandong Province.)

http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2010/0...artment-of-the-public-security-bureau-part-i/
 

neo29

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Profiling of people seems to be more like what the SS of the Nazi regime did. On a world level when various issues are discussed, chinese people do question their free will in their country. Hence the great firewall to stop such thoughts. the free world is influencing chinese people and PLA sees this as a threat to itself.
 

RPK

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EU Presidency Mulls Lifting China Arms Embargo

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4470356&c=ASI&s=TOP

BRUSSELS - The European Union's Spanish presidency is considering whether to lift the bloc's arms embargo on China, Spain's Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said Jan. 26.

Spain is "weighing the pros and cons" of the embargo, which Europe introduced after the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on Chinese pro-democracy protesters, Moratinos told a press conference.

The European Union has long agreed to reconsider the decision to ban the sale of arms to China, Moratinos said.

France has been one of the main supporters of lifting the ban and "Spain is following that line," he added.

"We are all aware of the new role which China is assuming in the world," and the desirability "to improve relations with China to ensure the best possible dialogue," said Moratinos, whose country holds the EU presidency for the first half of the year.

The time is right to "consider whether the consequences allow" for the embargo to be lifted, he underlined.

In 2008, the European parliament voted to retain the arms embargo as long as Beijing helps armed forces and groups involved in African conflicts in general.

Moratinos was reacting to reporters' questions on comments made by Spain's ambassador in Beijing.

"We hope to deepen discussions on lifting the ban" during Spain's six-month EU presidency, ambassador Carlos Blasco Villa tod the official English-language China Daily.

There is, nonetheless, a reticence to lift the embargo unless done in tandem with the United States, due to security implications, a diplomat added.
 

nitesh

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well this clearly shows the IQ level of average Chinese and there so un critical behavior:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/world/asia/27iht-letter.html

...........
The agoge of Sparta took 7-year-old boys and molded them into an elite corps of disciplined warriors loyal to the state. At Chinese school a powerful blend of Communist and Confucian ideologies demands obedience to hierarchy, bone-hard study and uncritical thinking.
............
 

amoy

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well this clearly shows the IQ level of average Chinese and there so un critical behavior:
The obedience system also produces a herd instinct.
Consequently, given the IQ level of Chinese China can't be threatening at all. Not bad news to u!

The Dalai Lama will be 75 in July. He is revered by the Tibetans and admired around the world. Any deal with him will have the unquestioned legitimacy and support that is so vital to China's aspirations. And his absence will spell uncertainty and a lack of moral authority over Tibetans—which can only hinder China's aim of becoming a global superpower.
'unquestioned legitmacy'? explain what ligitimacy pls. Uncertainty? what's uncertain? Time is on the side of China. Since Qing Dynasty incarnation of Dalai Lama has to be conferred by CN governmt as a procedure
Dalai Lama is one of the titles for the highest leader and Living Buddha of the Gelu Denomination of Tibetan Buddhism, and he is regarded as incarnation of the Bodhisattva Guanyin. "Dalai" is transliterated from Mongolian, which means "sea". "Lama" is transliteration of Tibetan, which means "great master". "Dalai Lama" means "a great master who transcends worldliness and attains holiness, and has broad and profound sea of knowledge". This title started in the sixth year of the Wanli period in Ming Dynasty (1587), and it originated from the honorific title "Dalai Lama Wachi'edala with broad and profound knowledge" to the leader Suonanjiacuo of the Gelu Denomination by leader Anda Khan of the Tumote Mongolian. Suonanjiacuo was the Third Dalai Lama (the two before him were admitted posthumously by later generations). In the tenth year of the Shunzhi period in Qing Dynasty (1653), the Qing government conferred officially a title upon the Fifth Dalai Lama Awangluosangjiacuo, which is "His holiness the Dalai Lama Wachiladala who leads Buddhist people all over the land". The title and Dalai Lama's leading position in Tibetan Buddhism were fixed since then, and it became world-famous. Since then, it became an established rule that the incarnation of every generation of Living Buddha should be conferred by the central government. In the 16th year of the Qianlong period (1751), the Qing government authorized the Seventh Dalai to administer the local Tibet political power, and Dalai Lama became the most powerful political and religious leader of Tibet. In 1959, after the democratic reform, bound of politics and religion was strictly distinguished, and Dalai Lama's feudal privilege in politics was abolished. The Dalai Lama now is the 14th.
Frankly from here being educated in a doctrine of 'separation of church and state', hardly is anyone fond of Lama's medieval reign which was no Shangri-La.
 
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amoy

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Rethinking The Population Crisis

Thirty years after the start of the One Child Policy, reformers are asking, why not a two children policy?
link: http://english.caing.com/

A crisis is developing among the nearly 100 million households throughout China, one that has been building gradually and will affect the country greatly in the near future. This crisis involves the imminent risk of negative population growth (NPG).

It's hard to imagine that China, for years concerned about a population explosion, could be worried about too little growth. The country has a population of 1.32 billion people, and though that total is still going up, the increases are getting smaller and smaller. So even though China's population has increased since 2000, when compared with the previous generation in terms of the actual number of children born, the birthrate has declined 40 percent.

According to demographic researchers, Chinese couples have an average of only 1.5 children, which is well below the replacement rate of 2.1. That means the population will inevitably begin declining in the near future. The impact will be huge, all but unavoidable and may take a century to reverse.

In terms of the country's policy on population control, 2010 will be a crucial year because of three key factors. First, the consistently low birth rate since the 1990s will cause a noticeable contraction in newly available labor. The section of the population between 20 and 24 years of age will decrease sharply from 125 million in 2010 to just 68 million in 2020, a 50 percent decline in only 10 years.

Second, the government will soon initiate a new nationwide census. This survey will once again confirm that China's birth rate is extremely low and the population is gradually getting older. (One reason: Chinese life expectancy is getting longer, increasing 16 percent from 62 years in 1970 to 73 in 2007.)

Third, 2010 is the 30th anniversary of the first significant implementation of the One Child Policy. Calls for change will become more intense, and policymakers will face more and more pressure to reform population policies.

China is not alone among low birth-rate countries facing such attendant social problems as aging labor forces and rising social security burdens. Unlike the latter half of the 20th century when the world witnessed a rapid increase in population, in the 21st century many countries, including Japan, Russia and South Korea, have already entered an unprecedented period of low birth rates and even what experts call "extremely low birth rates."

Unlike other countries, however, China still enforces strict population control. China's family planning policies appeared over 30 years ago and are now primarily characterized by the One Child Policy introduced in 1979 and implemented in the 1980s. Since then, the policy has been slightly adjusted on several occasions for both the urban and rural populations. But currently, over 63 percent of couples in China are permitted to have only one child.

Largely because of the restrictions of the One Child Policy, China has produced 104 million "single children." These youngsters account for approximately one third of the makeup of the total households in the country. Not only are they the country's future taxpayers, these sibling-less children will also bear the burden of supporting their parents as they get older. This pressure and subsequent risk to family cohesiveness will greatly surpass that of any previous generation in China.

An even more serious problem is that as long as the current family planning policies remain in place, thousands upon thousands of single children will continue to be born and the risk of labor shortages and lack of care for the elderly will only intensify. In addition, societal problems related to China's gender imbalance – according to one study, China has 119 male births for every 100 girls, compared with 107 to 100 in industrialized countries -- will become increasingly severe.

The unfortunate reality is that policymakers in the last century were unable to predict the negative consequences of the population programs and do not now see any urgency to reform them. Even though academics have already reached a common understanding on the necessity to institute policy changes, no real reforms have been able to get off the ground. This lack of progress can be explained by examining four long-standing and commonly held misconceptions.

The first misconception relates to the idea of "population determinism," which was propagated widely over 30 years ago in order to control the population growth rate. The easiest example of this oversimplified theory involves thinking of economic output as a "cake" that is largely unrelated to the total population. The fundamental theory behind the idea is that "the fewer people there are to eat the cake, the bigger the individual slices will be."

This seemingly reasonable argument has had a hard time standing up to scientific examination. When this so-called population denominator theory started losing ground in academic and leadership circles, the idea was transplanted into the arenas of natural resources and the environment. The logic was that because natural resources are finite, as the total population increased, per capita possession of each resource would subsequently decrease.

But this is simply not the case. Statistics show that from 1990 to 2007, oil consumption in China increased 189 percent, natural gas consumption increased 375 percent, and electricity consumption has increased 424 percent. Yet during the same period China's total population increased by a mere 15.6 percent. Clearly, China's rapid increase in energy consumption is largely the result of the country's economic growth and not simply due to an increase in population.

On a similar note, population growth alone cannot be used to explain increases in environmental pollution. From 1994 to 2004, China's total carbon dioxide emissions rose from 4.06 billion tons to 6.11 billion tons, an increase of 50.49 percent over ten years, which is an average increase of 4.87 percent per year. For the same period the average annual rate of population growth was only 0.812 percent, not even one-fifth of the average annual rate of carbon dioxide emissions increases.

Despite a continuous growth in population, technological advancements can still help reduce environmental pollution and resource consumption. From 2000 to 2004, exhaust emissions from Chinese industry rose 72 percent while sulfur dioxide emissions rose 13 percent. Yet during the same period, the proportion of sulfur dioxide emissions caused by individuals actually decreased from 19 percent in 2000 to 16 percent in 2004.

The second common misconception relates to those who equate normal birth control measures with the One Child Policy. In the early 1970s, high birth rates combined with slowing mortality rates to produce a rapid population increase. In response, the central authorities began implementing family planning policies, including the promotion of contraceptive measures and the popularization of new birth control technology. The response was not only timely, it was also deeply welcomed by a vast number of Chinese women of child-bearing age.

In fact, even before the government actively promoted the policies of "getting married later, practicing birth intervals, and having fewer children" in the early 1970s, many couples had already taken the initiative to seek out and use contraceptives. The biggest decrease in China's birth rate did not occur after the implementation of the One Child Policy in the 1980s, but a decade earlier. This period became known as China's "golden era for family planning."

The fact that China's most successful measures to control population growth occurred well before the One Child Policy points to the limited and short-term effectiveness of such artificial control measures. A more useful course would be for the government to continue developing the economy, promoting education and popularizing birth control technology and awareness. The majority of appeals for reforming China's family planning policies currently call for the immediate abolishment of the One Child Policy, and not for getting rid of the overall programs for population control and family planning.

The third misconception relates to those who believe there is no harm in waiting until China reaches zero population growth before instituting policy reforms. This notion reflects a lack of basic knowledge in demographics. One of the most basic laws of demographic change states that existing birth rates and mortality rates not only influence a country's current population growth, but they also determine future population growth as well as age distribution. China's current population growth is largely due to the fact that current age distribution – almost 50 percent of the population is of childbearing age -- has lead to a birth rate slightly higher than the mortality rate. It is not because couples are having too many children.

When China's central authorities first began implementing the One Child Policy, many were already aware that it was a rather rash course of action that had few alternatives. The government appealed to the masses to make sacrifices, at the same time stating unequivocally that the policy would be permanent. At the time the government's overall rationale for implementing the One Child Policy included controlling the rapid rise in China's population, reducing consumption and improving the accumulation of capital. Since that time these issues have been largely resolved, so why do we still have to force 100 million families to make senseless sacrifices? Thirty years ago, the right to make financial decisions was returned to households and individuals. When will the fundamental right to choose how many children to have finally be returned to families?
 

amoy

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Door for talks with Dalai still open: CPC official

Door for talks with Dalai still open: CPC official

Updated: 2010-02-01
BEIJING: Chinese authorities said Monday that the door for contacts and talks remains open to the Dalai Lama, but no concessions would be made on issues concerning national sovereignty.
Du Qinglin, head of the United Front Work Department (UFWD) of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, had met with Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen, private envoys of the Dalai Lama, in Beijing, said a statement from the department Monday. No exact date was given in the statement.


During the meeting, Du had pointed out that issues concerning China's territory and sovereignty were non-negotiable and no concessions would be made on those issues, the statement said.

Du said the so-called "Greater Tibet" and "high-level autonomy" violated China's Constitution and only if the Dalai Lama completely abandoned such claims, could there be a foundation for contacts and talks.

The contacts and talks would have no progress if the Dalai Lama side continued activities against China and refused to show basic respect and sincerity, said Du, also vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

"Tibetan people cherish peace and stability. It is no use to cheat them and act against their will. The activities of infiltration and provocation, which are doomed to fail, will only create barriers for the talks and isolate the Dalai Lama and his followers," the statement quoted Du as saying.

The central government had been consistent and clear in policy concerning the Dalai Lama, Du said. "The door for contacts and talks is open, and the policy has not been changed so far."

If the Dalai Lama really hoped to make progress in contacts and talks and remedy relations with the central government, he should "respect history, conform with the times, clearly understand the reality, and cast aside illusions," Du said.

The Dalai Lama "should profoundly reflect on his words and deeds," Du said.

"To essentially rectify his position, he should match his actions with his words, and win the central government and the Chinese people's trust through actions," he said.

"It won't be a way out to seek 'Tibet independence' or 'independence in a disguised form' through violence or non-violence," he told the Dalai Lama's private envoys.

"Nor will it be a way out for them to seek internationalization of the so-called 'Tibet issue' or to give support to international anti-China forces," he said.

During the meeting, Du also outlined the achievements made by the Tibet Autonomous Region under the leadership of the CPC, according to the statement.

"There's no country or party in the world like our country and the CPC which, in more than a decade, pool the whole nation's strength to support the development of an ethnic region," he said.

"It is the CPC, the central government and local Tibetan governments who can represent the fundamental interests of all Tibetan people, and can ensure them a happy life," he said.

The statement said UFWD Executive Vice Minister Zhu Weiqun, UFWD Vice Minister Sita and Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Tibet regional People's Congress Nyima Cering had held talks with Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen, the statement said, without giving a specific date.

The statement said the officials had reiterated during the talks that "the so-called 'Tibet government-in-exile' is utterly illegal."

"It can neither represent Tibet nor the Tibetan people."

The private envoys could talk only about the future of the Dalai Lama and people around him under the precondition of completely abandoning secessionist words or activities, the officials said.

"We hope the Dalai Lama can envisage reality, and get back on the track of patriotism," the statement quoted the officials as saying. "Only by doing so, can the Dalai Lama have a future."

The Dalai Lama's private envoys expressed their opinions on relevant issues.
 

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