One Chinese ballistic missile worth a bottle of vinegar

One Chinese ballistic missile worth a bottle of vinegar
Two Tibetan cousins set themselves on fire in China
China Unicom ditches Cisco hardware in move seen as retaliation
AIT to answer Taiwan visa waiver questions on Facebook
ZTE denies massive layoff plan
Taiwan to hold first education fair in US
China Unicom ditches Cisco hardware in move seen as retaliation
ZTE denies massive layoff plan
Taiwan to hold first education fair in US
AIT to answer Taiwan visa waiver questions on Facebook
Sensata outsourcing rattles Illinois community: 'Jobs need to stay here'
Chinese protesters clash with police at chemical plant demonstration – video
Elderly Chinese coming down with the "urbanization blues"
Converting China to coffee
The fine wine market in China turns sour
Smartphone division chief of China's Shanda Group steps down
Greedy 'buckers: Starbucks raises China prices as popularity grows
Badly implemented rare earth policy brings market chaos in China
Hoarders drive caterpillar fungus prices through the canopy
Protests Against Expansion of China Chemical Plant Turn Violent

One Chinese ballistic missile worth a bottle of vinegar

Posted: 28 Oct 2012 03:18 AM PDT

When Chinese scientists successfully developed China's first strategic ballistic missile 30 years ago, they were rewarded each with a bottle of vinegar or liquor, such was the times, reports our siste...

Two Tibetan cousins set themselves on fire in China

Posted: 27 Oct 2012 07:33 PM PDT

Latest protest calling for Tibetan independence brings the number of self-immolations in China to seven in one week

Two Tibetan cousins set fire to themselves in their village to protest Chinese rule, bringing the total number of self-immolations this week to seven, the highest since the protests began last year, a rights group said on Saturday.

The London-based group Free Tibet said cousins Tsepo, 20, and Tenzin, 25, called for independence for Tibet as they set themselves on fire on Thursday in front of a government building in their village in Biru county north of Lhasa, Tibet's main city.

Tsepo reportedly died and Tenzin's condition was unknown after he was taken away by authorities, Free Tibet said.

Dozens of ethnic Tibetans have set themselves on fire in heavily Tibetan regions since March 2011 to protest what activists say is Beijing's heavy-handed rule in the region. Many have called for the return of the Dalai Lama, their exiled spiritual leader.

The protests have intensified as Beijing nears a once-a-decade power transfer in early November.

On Friday, a 24-year-old Tibetan farmer, Lhamo Tseten, died from self-immolation near a military base and a government office in Amuquhu town in Xiahe county in western China's Gansu province, Free Tibet said.

China's official Xinhua News Agency reported the self-immolation of a Tibetan man by the same name, though it gave slightly different details. Xinhua said Lhamo was a 23-year-old villager and that he set himself on fire near a hospital.

Later on Friday, Tsepag Kyab, 21, set fire to himself and died, also in Amuquhu town, the self-declared Tibetan government-in-exile said.

Earlier reports said three other Tibetans died after setting themselves on fire in the past week in Xiahe county.

Calls to local governments in the area rang unanswered Saturday.

Xiahe is home to Labrang Monastery, one of the most important outside of Tibet and the site of numerous protests by monks following deadly ethnic violence in Tibet in 2008 that was the most sustained Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule in decades.

Police in the region are offering a reward of $7,700 (£4,700) for information about planned self-immolations in a bid to stem the protests.

China Unicom ditches Cisco hardware in move seen as retaliation

Posted: 28 Oct 2012 02:26 AM PDT

China Unicom, one of China's three main state-owned telecoms, is replacing hardware supplied by Cisco Systems, a move seen as retaliation after the US government branded Chinese companies Huawei and Z...

AIT to answer Taiwan visa waiver questions on Facebook

Posted: 28 Oct 2012 02:26 AM PDT

The American Institute in Taiwan said Friday that it will answer questions about the new US visa waiver program on its Facebook page. The AIT, which represents US interests in Taiwan in the absence o...

ZTE denies massive layoff plan

Posted: 28 Oct 2012 02:26 AM PDT

Chinese telecom equipment giant ZTE denied this month that the company is planning a massive cut back in staff numbers. The announcement followed recent reports that the company registered a major d...

Taiwan to hold first education fair in US

Posted: 28 Oct 2012 02:26 AM PDT

Taiwan will hold an education fair in the United States for the first time on Oct. 27 as part of efforts to attract foreign students to study in the country, the Ministry of Education said Thursday. ...

China Unicom ditches Cisco hardware in move seen as retaliation

Posted: 28 Oct 2012 02:22 AM PDT

ZTE denies massive layoff plan

Posted: 28 Oct 2012 02:22 AM PDT

Taiwan to hold first education fair in US

Posted: 28 Oct 2012 02:22 AM PDT

AIT to answer Taiwan visa waiver questions on Facebook

Posted: 28 Oct 2012 02:22 AM PDT

Sensata outsourcing rattles Illinois community: 'Jobs need to stay here'

Posted: 27 Oct 2012 08:51 AM PDT

Workers residents have held protests to prevent vehicles shipping parts destined for China from Bain-owned company

At the age of 86 retired plumber Paul Holz has just been arrested for the first time in his long life.

Clutching an American flag, the elderly resident of Freeport, Illinois, was handcuffed by police outside a Sensata car parts plant which is shipping jobs to China and has become a national symbol for the outsourcing of American manufacturing jobs abroad.

"I am totally against outsourcing work from America. Jobs need to stay here, so I decided to go down and join the protests," he explained.

That decision ended in a trip to the local police station and a mugshot for the lifelong union supporter.

But Holz is far from alone. Workers, ex-workers and local residents have set up an encampment outside the gate. They have held protests, tried to deliver petitions and sought to prevent vehicles shipping out plant parts destined for China from leaving the site.

Because Sensata is majority owned by Bain Capital – the controversial former company run by Republican challenger Mitt Romney – the camp has been dubbed Bainport.

So far there have been more than 20 arrests, including this week veteran civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson.

But Holz is no doubt the oldest to end up behind bars for seeking to keep the Sensata jobs in the town.

"I guess everyone is allowed one time to get arrested. But they did put on the cuffs a little tight," he said, though he added that police gave him back his American flag when he left the station.

"I got it back and when I went outside there was a little crowd and they cheered," he said.

What is happening at Freeport has also become a part of the 2012 election.

Romney still owns stock in Sensata and thus has benefited financially from cost-cutting in Freeport even as the Republican candidate has made a point of lambasting China and outsourcing jobs a key part of his election pitch.

As a result fired workers and those soon to lose their jobs have staked out Romney rallies and even travelled to the Republican convention in Tampa, Florida.

Liberal cable TV channel MSNBC has regularly broadcast shows from Bainport and Reverend Al Sharpton has hosted a rally there.

The actions and publicity have rattled Sensata too.

Local officials and union organisers say that the company has this week threatened to close the plant early if the protests and civil disobedience continue.

"It was management's attempt to threaten and intimidate and scare the workers," said local union organiser Caleb Jennings.

"But the greater threat to them is their jobs going to China."

The move has prompted current workers to launch two official complaints with the National Labor Relations Board about the threat of early closure and also for increasing plant security and barring off-duty workers from entering the site.

An investigator from the NLRB is expected to arrive in Freeport on Monday.

Sensata has denied the allegations. "We believe the charges are without merit," the firm said in a memo posted on its website.

Joanne Penniston, 35, is a still current Sensata worker who has also been arrested during the protests.

So too has her daughter. Penniston said she was not afraid of the threat to shut down the plant early, potentially depriving the last remaining workers of a few weeks pay.

"It made me want to protest more after we got threatened. It is already shutting down, so they can take their scare tactics elsewhere.

We have a right to do what we are doing," she said. Penniston's current termination date for her job is 16 December. She has no idea what she will do after that date passes.

"There are no jobs here in Freeport. It's like a ghost town. Probably I will have to move," she said.

Paul Harris

Chinese protesters clash with police at chemical plant demonstration – video

Posted: 27 Oct 2012 07:45 AM PDT

More than 1,000 people gather in the eastern Chinese port city of Ningbo on Saturday in a protest denouncing the expansion of the Zhejiang chemical plant by a subsidiary of the China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation