| Photo: Short trip, by Mark Hobbs Posted: 27 Nov 2012 10:50 PM PST |
| U.S. Treasury: China Not a Currency Manipulator Posted: 27 Nov 2012 06:39 PM PST In its semi-annual currency report to Congress on Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury Department said the yuan "remains significantly undervalued" but stopped short of branding China a currency manipulator as former presidential candidate Mitt Romney had threatened to do. From Bloomberg: China "has substantially reduced the level of official intervention in exchange markets since the third quarter of 2011," the Treasury said in a statement accompanying its semi- annual currency report to Congress yesterday. The yuan has gained 9.3 percent in nominal terms and 12.6 percent in real terms against the dollar since June 2010, the Treasury said. "It appears that the strategy of the last two administrations to use diplomacy rather than confrontation in dealing with the yuan's value is having some positive results," William Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, a Washington-based business group, said in an e-mail after the report. "There is clearly room for further appreciation, however." In declining to brand China a manipulator, the Treasury cited the reduced intervention and "steps to liberalize controls on capital movements, as part of a broader plan to move to a more flexible exchange-rate regime." The U.S. hasn't designated another nation since 1994, when it named China.
At a forum in Beijing last week, People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said that China would seek increased convertibility of its currency as it continues to liberalize its capital markets. The yuan closed at a record high on Tuesday, according to Reuters, but one U.S. legislator reiterated his calls for China to be formally labeled a manipulator so that tangible action can be taken on the issue: Charles Schumer, the No. 3 Democrat in the Senate and a longtime critic of China's yuan policy, said the Treasury should label China a manipulator to be able to impose penalties on it. "It's time for the Obama administration to rip off the band-aid, and force China to play by the same rules as all other countries," the New York senator said in a statement.
© Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: currency, Mitt Romney, renminbi rate, Sino-U.S. Relations
Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall
 |
| Tibet Self-Immolations Moving to “New Phase”; 86th Reported Posted: 27 Nov 2012 05:21 PM PST Dharamshala-based Phayul.com reports than an 86th Tibetan self-immolation took place on Tuesday evening, marking the 24th this month. Kalsang Kyab, 24, set himself ablaze in front of a Chinese government office in Kangtsa town, raising slogans for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Kyabje Kirti Rinpoche, the exiled head of Kirti Monastery. He passed away at the site of his protest. The Dharamshala based Kirit Monastery in a late night release said Kalsang Kyab carried out his protest at around 6:30 pm (local time). "Kalsang Kyab doused his body with kerosene as he walked towards the local government office building, raising slogans," Kirit Monastery said citing sources in the region. "Upon reaching the office building, he then set himself ablaze and continued to raise slogans." The Chinese government's blackout of independent media in Tibetan areas makes independent verification of reports from the region difficult or impossible. Even the number of self-immolations is uncertain: according to activist group Rangzen Alliance and writer Woeser [zh], the current total is 92. (Woeser's tweet states 91, but predates news of the latest incident.) A post by Woeser written on August 1st and translated at High Peaks Pure Earth explains part of the discrepancy. U.S. government-funded Radio Free Asia reported four arrests following student protests on Monday. Independent experts quoted by the similarly funded Voice of America suggested that the self-immolations have moved into a new phase in recent weeks, with activists describing this as an attempt to sway the recently installed Party leadership in Beijing. [Columbia University's Robert] Barnett says the first phase of self-immolations began last year with monks and nuns trying to protect their monasteries from security crackdowns. The second wave, which he says occurred for most of the past year, involved individuals in small towns sharing sympathy with those monks and nuns. "But now in this phase we have laypeople staging these immolations in ways that are much more determined in an attempt to get a response from Chinese authorities, by having immolations in clusters, very close together, many on the same day or within a few days and many in the same place," said Barnett. James Leibold, a Tibet analyst for Australia's Latrobe University in Beijing says that a broader segment of the Tibetan community is also involved in the latest protests. […] But Leibold says so far there is no indication that the government has changed its position on Tibet. "Sadly, we hear the same rhetoric coming out of Beijing, and Chinese officials continually blaming a few black hands for collaborating with the Dalai Lama and the exiled Tibetan community to stir up trouble and to damage China's ethnic unity and harmony. There's just absolutely no will, it seems, to admit a failure of policy," he said. In a further broadening of the protest movement, Phayul reports that coordinated hunger strikes have broken out across Tibetan areas: More than 60 Tibetans from different walks of life began their solidarity hunger strike in their evening of November 26 in their respective places. According to Kanyag Tsering, an exiled monk who has been closely monitoring the situation inside Tibet, the Tibetans will end their hunger strike in the morning of November 28. The campaign is being observed in various cities across the tradition boundaries of Tibet. "The simultaneous hunger strike is being carried out in Tibet's capital Lhasa, Drango, Jomda, Zachukha, Tridu, Sertha, Siling, Rebkong, Kardze and Trindu in China," Tsering told Phayul. "They have also been offering prayers for the self-immolators." According to the same source, the Tibetans taking part in this campaign come from different walks of like and are "highly educated." "The participants in the solidarity campaign include government officials, writers, monks, and businessmen."
© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 18th party congress, Dalai Lama, hunger strike, media censorship, Robert Barnett, self-immolations, student protests, Tibet, United States, Voice of America, Woeser
Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall
 |
| China’s “Great Global Thinkers” for 2012 Posted: 27 Nov 2012 03:56 PM PST As the season of lists gets underway, Foreign Policy has released its ranking of the 100 Top Global Thinkers of 2012. Fresh from his coronation as GQ magazine's Rebel of the Year, and leading the Chinese contingent at number 9, is legal activist Chen Guangcheng: Chen shocked the world in April when he made a daring, next-to-impossible escape, climbing over the wall surrounding his house (breaking his foot in the process) and catching a ride some 350 miles to Beijing, where he took refuge in the U.S. Embassy. After a tense, days-long diplomatic standoff closely involving Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (No. 3), a deal was struck under which Chen would be allowed to travel to the United States to study. Now at New York University, Chen has embraced his new role as an evangelist for human rights, making the case that incremental change — one village or even one person at a time — can eventually transform a superpower. Against all odds, he remains optimistic, believing that China, taking a cue from Japan and South Korea, must "learn Eastern democracy." He even thinks it's inevitable: "Nobody can stop the progress of history," he says. An interview with Chen Guangcheng by Isaac Stone Fish accompanies the list. In it, Chen discusses how the central government allows abuses by local authorities—see Guizhou journalist Li Yuanlong's detention last week for a recent example—and the chances of change or even revolution in China's near future. The central government definitely knew I was illegally detained at home. As for how the local authorities invented lies to frame me to put me in prison, as for how they persecuted my entire family, [the central government] didn't necessarily know about the details. Yet now, six months later, I still haven't seen the central government follow the country's laws and keep its promise and investigate and deal with those officials who recklessly and illegally committed crimes.
Throughout Chinese history, has any emperor said they want to hand over power? Every emperor wants his power to last generation after generation. But can they? The Communist Party cannot monopolize all of the power in the country forever. This is a reality they must accept.
The possibility of China facing a revolution in 2013 is pretty big. This is something that the powers that be in China understand more than anyone else. It's a pity that international society still does not understand this and has still not prepared. America should immediately start moving from dealing with China's powers that be to dealing with the Chinese people. It definitely won't be like 1989.
Chen does not appear to view the possibility of revolution with any great relish: when asked what the worst idea of the year is, he answered "violence". Controversial artist Ai Weiwei, still unable to leave China over a year after his 81-day detention in 2011, is ranked 26th: […] Ai has found ways to occupy his time. When one of his Twitter followers asked in May whether he was working on any new artwork, Ai tweeted back, "I am the artwork." In April, he set up cameras throughout his house, providing a live feed on his website and to his 170,000 followers. ("Twitter is my city, my favorite city," he told FP this year.) The authorities soon pressured him into removing the cameras, evidently preferring that they be the only ones to watch the rotund 55-year-old work on his computer and play with his cats. But make no mistake — this performance art is deeply political. Throughout his career Ai has insisted that artists have a duty to humanity that outweighs the obligations of nationalism. Even declaring one's opposition to "trafficking children, selling HIV-infected blood, [and] operating slave labor coal pits" is enough to get branded as "anti-China" in today's political climate, Ai once noted on his blog, asking, "If we aren't anti-China, are we still human?" Foreign Policy also published a slideshow from Ai's first North American retrospective at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., noting that "the artist was not in attendance." British singer Elton John added a concert dedication to Ai's list of recent accolades on Sunday. While dismissing this "disrespectful" gesture, Global Times took the opportunity to critique Chen and Ai's inclusion in the Foreign Policy list: Western society is seriously biased against China. When US magazine Foreign Policy compiled a list of 100 global thinkers from around the world, the first Chinese on that list was blind activist Chen Guangcheng, and the second was Ai Weiwei. Even to Chinese people who have sympathy for these two people, this list may seem ridiculous. In a diverse era, we don't hold that the existence of people like Chen and Ai is unexpected in China. Also, we don't believe that the impact they have brought should be denied completely. The selection of Chen and Ai makes people wonder whether the word "thinker" in Chinese and English have different meanings. We can just say that some Westerners are increasingly unable to contain themselves over China's rise. They cannot control China through normal means and they are more likely to rush their fences. A more nuanced piece of Aiconoclasm came last week from Paul Gladston at Randian: There are […] significant dangers in the upholding of Ai as our sole representative/mediator of artistic resistance to authority within China. While Ai's bluntly confrontational and often bombastic stance can be readily digested within Western liberal-democratic contexts where romantic notions of heroic dissent in the face of overwhelming power still persist, it is by no means representative of the critical positioning of most other Chinese artists. Ai may have situated himself admirably behind enlightened westernized ideals of freedom and openness, but the sheer bluntness and reductive simplicity of his critical approach to authority have effectively foreclosed a more searching discussion of contemporary art within China as well as the complex, web of localized cultural, social, political and economic forces that surround its production and reception. […] Ai Weiwei is right in drawing our repeated attention to the debilitating injustices of totalitarian power within China. He is also right to upbraid western viewers for their inability to see past what are for them the pleasurable ambiguities of contemporary Chinese art. Less convincing, however, is Ai's wholly reductive view of the critical possibilities of contemporary art in China. By insisting on his own stridently oppositional approach towards power as the only legitimate game in town, and because we are already highly familiar with that approach, [he] has misrepresented the contemporary Chinese artworld. One might add that Ai is also romanticizing the conditions of criticality in the West. At 54 in the Foreign Policy list is Yu Jianrong, for his concise but detailed roadmap for reform. In April, he released a succinct, two-phase plan he called a "10-Year Outline of China's Social and Political Development." Despite its bland title, Yu's blueprint offers a timetable for Chinese reform that for once is as credible as it is ambitious. The plan puts dates and specifics to the task, advocating, for example, a stronger law on private property, the revealing of "information pertaining to government affairs" and "officials' property," and the abolition of "speech crimes," after which China should "open up" the media and political parties. Yu's short manifesto immediately caused a splash when he released it to his nearly 1.5 million followers on the popular microblogging site Sina Weibo (though the government has maintained a deafening silence). "We've already decided to change," Yu explained in an interview. "The question is: In which direction do we change, and from where do we start?" Sweeping reform in this authoritarian land of 1.3 billion won't be easy, but Yu's plan is as good a place to begin as any. The era, he said, of crossing the river "by feeling the stones" is over. China Media Project's David Bandurski translated Yu's plan in March. Soon afterwards, Didi Kirsten Tatlow described it at The International Herald Tribune, together with some criticism from Tsinghua University political scientist Liu Yu: Master plans like Mr. Kang [Youwei]'s, or Mr. Yu's are "unrealistic," she said. "All Chinese intellectuals, especially the men, they tend to blur the line with being an official and then they're thinking, 'How should I design a system for the country?' and 'How to make progress?' "In the West there are intellectuals who make proposals on specific things, but in general they don't make plans for the whole country," she said. What is needed instead, she believes, is a broad debate, among ordinary people. "A good plan should involve the whole society," she said. "There should be a big debate on where the country should be going." Yu's nomination for best idea of 2012 is Mo Yan's controversial selection for the Nobel Prize for Literature. Mo's chief rival for the award, Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami, took 49th place on the Foreign Policy list as a consolation prize. At 69 is environmentalist Ma Jun: […] A journalist turned environmentalist who founded the Beijing-based Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, Ma applies scientific rigor to exposing such corporate violations (more than 90,000 to date), flagging everything from a small coal-tar factory improperly storing its dangerous waste to Apple suppliers poisoning workers with a toxic chemical used on touch screens — as well as local governments that flout environmental regulations across China. Dozens of major multinationals now consult Ma's pollution readings when working with suppliers in China. And by documenting environmental violations that had long been obvious but were never compiled in a way the public could easily understand, Ma has given statistical ammunition to Chinese citizens trying to nudge the Communist Party into cleaning up its act. Wang Jisi, "China's most respected expert on the United States", came in at 73: […] What does Wang want us to know? That the feel-good stories U.S. officials tell themselves about China's global ascent are an elaborate form of denial. In an influential monograph co-authored by Brookings Institution senior fellow Kenneth Lieberthal, Wang this year described China's actions on the world stage as rooted in the conclusion that "America will seek to constrain or even upset China's rise." Beijing's view, he says, is that the United States is "heading for decline" and that China's development model provides an "alternative to Western democracy and market economies." The result? "[T]hese views make many Chinese political elites suspect that it is the United States," Wang says, "that is 'on the wrong side of history.'" And at 83 is the Taiwanese-American former head of Google China, venture capitalist Kai-fu Lee: In an article he published on his LinkedIn page in October, Lee named China's narrowly focused school curriculum and the risk-averse nature of Chinese students, as well as the country's chaotic Internet environment, among the reasons China hasn't yet produced its own Mark Zuckerberg. That may be why he has also started a popular education website encouraging Chinese students to think more creatively. Although none of his companies has exploded yet, Lee's ultimate contribution may be more fundamental: laying both the intellectual and financial groundwork for a revolution in the world's largest online community. Perhaps more significant to China for now than any of the above are Aung San Suu Kyi and Thein Sein, who top the list having begun to pilot the formerly reliable Chinese satellite of Myanmar (also known as Burma) into a more open and international orbit: Aung San Suu Kyi, the soft-spoken, iconic political activist whom devotees call simply "the Lady," may not seem like an obvious partner for Thein Sein, but she has become one by doing what few legends of her stature can: embracing the messy pragmatism of politics. Although Burma's struggles are far from over — she has warned that international investment has been too rapid, and ethnic violence is escalating — the willingness of both the Lady and the general to embrace short-term compromise and foster long-term reconciliation in what was only recently one of the world's most isolated countries is something to celebrate. Fittingly, Aung San Suu Kyi finally was able to accept her 1991 Nobel Peace Prize in June. She used the occasion to remind the world of those like her, who struggle in the most forlorn places: "To be forgotten too is to die a little. It is to lose some of the links that anchor us to the rest of humanity." It is a sentiment still felt from Aleppo to Havana, Pyongyang to Tehran, but also, as Aung San Suu Kyi and Thein Sein have shown, one that doesn't need to be permanent. See more on Chen Guangcheng, Ai Weiwei, Yu Jianrong, Ma Jun, Wang Jisi, Kai-fu Lee and Myanmar/Burma at CDT.
© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Ai Weiwei, Apple, artistic freedom, artists, Burma, central government, Chen Guangcheng, contemporary art, contemporary artists, education, Global Times, Google, Haruki Murakami, Hillary Clinton, HIV, house arrest, IPE, Kaifu Lee, kenneth lieberthal, Li Yuanlong, local government, Ma Jun, mo yan, Myanmar, Nobel Peace Prize, Nobel Prize, pollution, private property, reform, reformers, revolution, slave labor, surveillance, trafficking, transparency, wang jisi, Yu Jianrong
Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall
 |
| U.S. Will Not Endorse China Passport Map Posted: 27 Nov 2012 02:00 PM PST A new passport design incorporating a controversial map of China has met a range of responses from neighbouring countries over the last week. The map's apparent purpose is to force neighbours to acknowledge China's territorial claims when adding visas to the marked pages. To avoid this, Vietnam has taken to giving out visas on separate sheets of paper, while India is stamping in its own version of the map. At a press conference on Monday, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland presented the U.S. position: that accepting the passports for entry to the U.S. does not constitute endorsement of any territorial claims, and that the department expects "a conversation" on the issue with China. MS. NULAND: Our position, as you know, on the South China Sea remains that these issues need to be negotiated among the stakeholders, among ASEAN and China. And a picture in a passport doesn't change that. […] QUESTION: Do you care what China has – what they print inside of their passports? Does this raise any concern at all with you, because is it simply their business and they can do – they can put whatever they want in their passport? MS. NULAND: My understanding is that we – and I looked into this a little bit and didn't get a complete sort of brief on this – but my understanding is that we have certain basic international standards that have to be met in a passport in the way it's presented […] for us to honor it. And stray maps that they include aren't part of it, so – QUESTION: Okay. And does that – that would go for any country? MS. NULAND: Yes. QUESTION: So then, I mean, if Mexico put a new passport with a map that had Texas and New Mexico on it – (laughter) – that wouldn't be a problem? MS. NULAND: Again, that's a hypothetical we're hoping not confront, Matt. (Laughter.) […] As a technical legal matter, that map doesn't have any bearing on whether the passport is valid for U.S. visa issuance or for entry into the United States. There are a bunch of other issues – See also Global Times' special coverage of the passport controversy.
© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Aksai Chin, Arunachal Pradesh, India, philippines, South China Sea, State Department, Taiwan, territorial disputes, United States, Vietnam, visa
Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall
 |
| Military Growth Not a Threat, Says Defense Minister Posted: 27 Nov 2012 11:59 AM PST Chinese state media reports Chinese Defense Minister, Liang Guanglie, met the United States Navy Secretary, Ray Mabus, and called for mutual trust between the two countries. This meeting comes amid continuing tensions in the South China Sea, where the US has also played an active role. from Xinhua: Liang said that China will always advocate an active, sincere and practical attitude with friendliness in order to enhance talks between the two militaries. He added that they should cooperate in areas of mutual interest and manage disparities when conflicts appear. Noting that the military ties are an important part of the state-to-state relations, Liang called for equality, mutual benefit and practical collaboration while developing a new type of relationship between the two militaries. Mabus said the U.S. navy will continue to cooperate and exchange with the Chinese side in areas such as counter-piracy and joint drills. He also expressed the U.S. commitment in developing cooperative partnerships with China.
Despite China's growing military with its recent successful flight landing on its first aircraft carrier, an increase in its jet engine research budget, and unveiling of a new stealth fighter jet, Mabus said there is no need to 'worry' about China's growth, Reuters adds: The United States, Japan and many other Southeast Asian states have frequently expressed worries about China's double-digit defense spending increases and expanding naval reach, saying Beijing's plans lack transparency. "There is absolutely no need for that," Liang told Reuters, when asked about neighbors' concerns. "The Chinese military must develop, but there's no 'worry' or 'fear' as the outside world says," he said before a meeting with visiting U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. "That's not what China is about."
According to AP, there has been a push to increase contact and cooperation between the two countries: Along with acquiring an aircraft carrier, sophisticated fighter jets, and other modern hardware, China has stepped-up training among the 2.3-million-member People's Liberation Army. State media on Tuesday repeatedly showed footage of ground exercises in the Nanjing Military District that faces Taiwan, the U.S.-allied island democracy that China threatens to bring under its control by force if it has to. However, despite sometimes bellicose attitudes on both sides, there is also a growing push for greater contact and communication to avoid misunderstandings and build trust. Officers from the sides are meeting in China this week for exchanges on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations that will include a simulated coordinated response to an earthquake in a third country. Chinese and U.S. sailors have also cooperated in training missions and anti-piracy patrols off the coast of Somalia.
© Melissa M. Chan for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: China-US relations, defense policy, Liang Guanglie, military expansion, United States
Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall
 |
| People’s Daily Hails Kim Jong-Un as “Sexiest Man Alive” Posted: 27 Nov 2012 11:55 AM PST China's official Communist Party newspaper treated a satirical article naming North Korean leader Kim Jong-un the "Sexiest Man Alive" as a genuine report. The report by the People's Daily quotes The Onion, a humor newspaper, and includes a fifty-five image slideshow of Kim, from the People's Daily Online: U.S. website The Onion has named North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un as the "Sexiest Man Alive for the year 2012″. "With his devastatingly handsome, round face, his boyish charm, and his strong, sturdy frame, this Pyongyang-bred heartthrob is every woman's dream come true. Blessed with an air of power that masks an unmistakable cute, cuddly side, Kim made this newspaper's editorial board swoon with his impeccable fashion sense, chic short hairstyle, and, of course, that famous smile," it said. "He has that rare ability to somehow be completely adorable and completely macho at the same time," said Marissa Blake-Zweiber, editor of The Onion Style and Entertainment.
Although the People's Daily has been known to be a stern follower of the party line, the online version can print more controversial stories than its print version, The Washington Post adds: The text of the slideshow stopped there, omitting past winners of the Onion's sexiest man alive award, which include Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, convicted investor Bernard Madoff, Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and Mr. Zweibel himself. It isn't clear what the People's Daily editors were thinking. They couldn't be reached for comment late Tuesday. To be fair, the People's Daily website can be a saucier read than its staid print version. (Sample headline from Tuesday's overseas print edition: "India Should Resist the Impulse to Engage in Trade Protectionism.") It is operated by People.cn Co., a publicly listed company that is controlled by the People's Daily but has its own profit and audience targets and competes with a number of digital platforms that have popped up in China in recent years. Recent audience-grabbing features on the website and in other People's Daily-associated sites include photo slideshows of attractive women at this month's Communist Party Congress, China's top 10 nude models and a group that claims to be China's national pole-dancing team.
The Onion has also responded to the the reprinting of their article on the People's Daily, according to The New York Times: The editors of The Onion, for their part, added an update to their report on Tuesday, reading: "For more coverage on The Onion's Sexiest Man Alive 2012, Kim Jong-Un, please visit our friends at the People's Daily in China, a proud Communist subsidiary of The Onion Inc. Exemplary reportage, comrades." Regular readers of The Lede will be aware that this is not the first time The Onion has been apparently mistaken for a news organization by journalists. In September, Iran's Fars News Agency plagiarized The Onion, running an edited version of a satirical report as if it were real, and then defended itselfby claiming that the fake news item had uncovered a deeper truth. As The Lede suggested in September, the increasingly lighthearted tone in the reports of many serious news organizations, as they compete for attention on social networks in the Internet era, could be making such mistakes more common. The image of North Korea's leader featured on the People's Daily home page on Tuesday, for instance, was taken from a recent Time magazine cover that referred to him as "Lil' Kim," playing on a joke frequently made by bloggers who use the name of a female rapper to refer to the young leader. This is not the first time that Chinese media has mistaken The Onion for a genuine source of news, The Washington Post adds: People's Daily could not immediately be reached for comment. A man who answered the phone at the newspaper's duty office said he did not know anything about the report and requested queries be directed to their newsroom on Wednesday morning. It is not the first time a state-run Chinese newspaper has fallen for a fictional report by The Onion. In 2002, the Beijing Evening News, one of the capital city's biggest tabloids at the time, published as news the fictional account that the U.S. Congress wanted a new building and that it might leave Washington. The Onion article was a deadpan spoof of the way sports teams threaten to leave cities in order to get new stadiums.
Update: AP interviewed a People's Daily editor who acknowledged that the Onion report was satirical: "We have realized it is satirical," said the editor who works on the site's South Korea channel, one of the three channels where it was posted. He refused to give his name. When asked whether editors knew the Onion piece was satirical when the People's Daily item was first posted, he declined to clarify, but added that they picked up the news after first seeing it on China's state-run Guangming Daily website. He said that he hoped the incident wouldn't draw too much attention.
See Also The Onion on China, via CDT.
© Melissa M. Chan for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Kim Jong-un, North Korea, people's daily, satire, the onion
Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall
 |
| Notice: VPNs Are Not for Fun Posted: 27 Nov 2012 11:32 AM PST These two notices, posted to Google+ last week, inform employees at a business center in the Shandong capital of new measures to ensure that virtual private networks (VPNs) are used for work purposes only. VPNs allow users to connect to the Internet outside of China's Great Firewall. Without access to the free Internet, it would be near impossible for most international organizations to do business in China. But because they have "abused their privilege," these employees will now have to let technical staff know whenever they need access. 
Warning Recently, it has been discovered that at night in some rooms, staff have been privately logging on to prohibited websites (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc.). Upon discovering such activity, the violator's Internet access will be directly cut off and the police will be notified. In cooperation with police policy of Internet access through real-name registration, starting today, we will begin the trial implementation of PPPoE* real-name registration for Internet access. Jinan Zhi Jia Rui He Business Center
Jinan City Internet Monitoring Team
2012-11-19
* PPPoE: Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet 
Warning In order to eliminate access to prohibited websites through use of VPN software by internal staff, starting today, the VPN function will now be disabled. For those who must use a VPN to access the Internet, after preparing your file, go to D1 (88885681) and ask a technician to help set up your connection. Jinan Zhi Jia Rui He Business Center
Jinan City Internet Monitoring Team
2012-11-19
Read more about the travails of VPNs, Google, and the free Internet in China from CDT. Via CDT Chinese. Translation by Little Bluegill.
© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: censorship, Great Firewall, Internet censorship, Jinan, Shandong, VPN
Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall
 |
| Censorship Vault: Beijing Internet Instructions Series (20) Posted: 27 Nov 2012 08:32 AM PST In partnership with the China Copyright and Media blog, CDT is adding the "Beijing Internet Instructions" series to the Censorship Vault. These directives were originally published on Canyu.org (Participate) and date from 2005 to 2007. According to Canyu, the directives were issued by the Beijing Municipal Network Propaganda Management Office and the State Council Internet management departments and provided to to Canyu by insiders. China Copyright and Media has not verified the source. The translations are by Rogier Creemers of China Copyright and Media. 11 June 2006, 15:00, Network Management Office, Duty manager Concerning the matter of the Beijing Vice-Mayor Liu Zhihua, water it down, only reprint Xinhua copy, do not change titles, do not put it on main pages of websites and the important news sections of websites, do not set up special subject sections, do not make corresponding links, do not set up commentary trackers, it may be put in the lower part of the domestic news section in the news center. Forums, blogs, trackers and other interactive segments are not to post or discuss this, do not send short messages. 12 June 2006, 15:52, Network Management Office, Duty manager Everyone: For reporting the Shanghai Cooperation Summit, only use Xinhua copy, do not transmit copy from other sources; it is especially not permitted to reprint non-standard source copy that discloses the contradictions and disagreements between the member states; do not say that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is an anti-United States organization; forums and blogs also can only use Xinhua copy for posts, and are not permitted to issue copy with other content, where matters are discovered that do not conform to the above requirements, they are to be deleted without exception; Reports concerning the situation in Thailand must maintain neutrality, and not comment or play up the political situation, it is not permitted to use or post information from foreign media and websites. 12 June 2006, 16:55, Network Management Office, Duty manager No website may reprint all sorts of "Protect the Diaoyu Islands" or "Occupy the Diaoyu Islands" activities in the near future, forums and blogs may also not post this sort of information. 13 June 2006, 15:38, Chen Hua Concerning the matter of Liu Zhihua, without exception use Xinhua copy, everyone is requested to investigate their own websites for whether or not articles from the China Industry and Commerce Times are present, if they are, delete them without exception, the finance and economics channel is to be especially notified. 13 June 2006, 9:59, Network Management Office, Duty manager Everyone, please place the special subject of "running the web in a civilized manner" on the main page of present websites and in the part for running the web in a civilized manner, in the second line of the important news section of the news center, juxtapose it with the science and technology Olympics and the red meetings, the article of Zheng Peimin may be moved to the backstage. 14 June 2006, 11:12, Chen Hua In the last few days, posts concerning "college entrance exam questions were leaked in a number of districts in Liaoning" appeared forum, news trackers and blogs, creating a harmful social influence. All websites are requested to not print news and comment related to this matter, it is not to be discussed in forums, and existing articles and posts must be deleted. 15 June 2006, 15:26, Network Management Office, Duty manager "New Countryside Construction Triggers a Wave of Overseas Fact-Finding Trips, 30.000 Chinese Officials Go to Korea for Study," published by the Caijing Times is false information. All websites are requested to delete this article, where there are relevant posts in forums, these must also be timely deleted. 15 June 2006, 15:37, Network Management Office, Duty manager Stressed: For reports on the Shanghai Cooperation Summit, only use Xinhua copy, copy from other sources may not be used without exception, it is strictly prohibited to edit or translate foreign media information; close news trackers on information on the Shanghai Cooperation Summit; discussions on forums and blogs concerning the Shanghai Cooperation Organization are limited to posting of official Xinhua copy, do not open trackers; delete posts in forums that attack the Summit, attack the preparation work for the Summit, believe that this Summit is opposition to the United States, as well as debates on Iran, Pakistan and this Summit. 15 June 2006, 22:07, Chen Hua Concerning information on the accident of a military transport plane, only transmit Xinhua copy, no news trackers may be set up, forums are limited to posting official Xinhua copy, do not discuss. 16 June 2006, 18:33, Network Management Office, Duty manager Some media reprinted information on "sudden scandal about adding sports points in the Hunan college entrance exam." In order to guarantee the smooth process of higher education student recruitment work, and safeguard social stability, all websites are no longer to reprint this report, forums and trackers, etc., are also not to discuss this matter. 16 June 2006, 19:33, Fan Tao All websites are requested to investigate whether or not there are posts in forums and blogs concerning a folk organization in Guilin attacking a Xinjiang pickpocket and criminal (images and text), and speedily delete this post and corresponding posts. 17 June 2006, 14:31, Chen Hua Everyone, do not set up forums, blogs or trackers on taxis and drivers without exception, do not discuss corresponding topics. All are requested to deal with this. 17 June 2006, 18:35, Chen Hua Everyone, in recent times, not a few reports and posts have emerged online concerning "death through overwork" of the Shenzhen employee Hu Xinyu, all websites are requested to no longer transmit this sort of articles, existing articles must be completely pushed to the back stage, do not post articles concerning the "death through overwork" of Hu Xinyu in forums and blogs. 19 June 2006, 9:11, Lu Chao Internal information: there is a rumor that there will be a taxi driver strike on 1 July, please strengthen control over corresponding information, if there is information, timely give it to us, telephone: 85223522. 2006年6月北京网管办发出的禁令（二） 2006年6月11日15时00分 网管办值班 关于北京副市长刘志华一事，淡化处理，只转新华社通稿，不改标题，不放网站首页和新闻中心要闻区，不建专题，不作相关链接，不开评论跟贴，可放新闻中心国内新闻下部。论坛、博客、贴吧等互动环节不贴发，不讨论，不发短信。 2006年6月12日15时52分 网管办值班 各位：上海合作峰会的报道，只用新华社的，不得转发其他来源的；特别不许转载那些披露成员国之间矛盾和分歧的非规范稿源用稿；不要把上合组织说成是对抗美国的组织；论坛、博客也只能帖发新华社通稿，不得帖发其他内容的稿件，发现与上述要求不符的一律删除； 涉及泰国局势的报道要守中立，对其政局不评论、不炒作、不得引用、帖发境外媒体和网站的消息； 2006年6月12日16时55分 网管办值班 各网站不要转载近期的各种"保钓""登钓"活动，论坛、博客也不得帖发此类信息 2006年6月13日15时38分 陈华 关于刘志华的事，一律用新华社的稿件，今天有中华工商时报的稿子请大家清查自家网站，如有，一律删除，特别通知财经频道。 2006年6月13日09时59分 网管办值班 各位，请将"文明办网"专题放在目前网站首页和新闻中心要闻区二条的文明办网位置中，与科技奥运、红色会议并列，郑培民的可转入后台。 2006年6月14日11时12分 陈华 这几天，论坛、新闻跟帖及博客中出现有关"辽宁高考部分地区泄题"的贴文，造成不良社会影响。请各网站不刊发有关此事的新闻和评论，论坛中不讨论，已有文章和帖文即作删除处理。 2006年6月15日15时26分 网管办值班 《财经时报》刊发的"新农村建设引发出国考察潮 三万中国官员将赴韩学习"为虚假消息。请各网站删除此稿，论坛中有关帖文也要及时删除。 2006年6月15日15时37分 网管办值班 强调：上合峰会的报道只使用新华社稿件，其他来源稿件一律不得使用，严禁编译境外媒体消息；关闭上合峰会消息的新闻跟帖；论坛、博客中关于上海合作 组织峰会的讨论仅限于贴发新华社正式稿件，不开跟帖；清除论坛中攻击峰会，攻击峰会准备工作，认为这次峰会是与美国的对抗，以及议论伊朗、巴基斯坦参与这 次峰会的帖文。 2006年6月15日22时07分 陈华 关于军用运输机失事的消息只转发新华社稿，不得开设新闻跟贴，论坛只限于贴发新华社正式新闻稿，不议论 2006年6月16日18时33分 网管办值班 有媒体转载"湖南高考体育加分暴丑闻"消息。为确保高考招生工作顺利进行，维护社会稳定，各网站不再转载该篇报道，论坛贴吧等也不讨论此事。 2006年6月16日19时33分 范 涛 请各网清查一下论坛或博客中是否有关于桂林民间组织打击新疆小偷犯罪(图并文)的帖文,如发现,迅速删除此帖文及相关跟帖. 2006年6月17日14时31分 陈华 各位，一律不开设出租车及司机相关论坛、博客、帖吧，不讨论相关话题。请各自清理。 2006年6月17日18时35分 陈华 各位，近一段时间以来，网上有不少关于深圳员工胡新宇"过劳死"的报道和帖文，请各网站不再转发此类文章，已有的要全部压到后台，论坛和博客中也不要贴发有关胡新宇"过劳死"的文章。 2006年6月19日09时11分 卢超 内部消息：7月1日有出租司机传言罢工 ，请加强相关信息监控，有消息及时报给我，电话：85223522
These translated directives were first posted by Rogier Creemers on China Copyright and Media on November 27, 2012 (here).
© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Beijing, Beijing Internet Instructions, Canyu, censorship, Censorship Vault, Chen Hua, China Copyright and Media, civilized Web, college entrance exam, diaoyu islands, Directives from the Ministry of Truth, gaokao, guilin, Hu Xinyu, Hunan, Internet censorship, Iran, Korea, Liaoning, Liu Zhihua, Lu Chao, Ministry of Truth, Pakistan, shanghai cooperation organization, Shanghai Cooperation Summit, Shenzhen, social stability, thailand, United States, Xinhua, Xinjiang, Zheng Peimin
Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall
 |
| Princelings Hold Sway Now, But What About 2017? Posted: 27 Nov 2012 05:31 AM PST Reuters' Benjamin Kang Lim takes stock of the Communist Party's new Politburo Standing Committee, where power has shifted from the technocrats to the "princeling" faction under the recently-completed leadership transition, and ponders what it means: Of the seven men who now comprise the Communist Party's new politburo standing committee, the apex of political power in China, four are members of "the red aristocracy", led by the new general secretary of the party, Xi Jinping. The thriving of the princelings should not be a surprise, analysts and party insiders say. Rarely in its six decades in power has the party been under more stress. Public anger over widespread corruption, widening income inequality and vast environmental degradation have chipped away at its legitimacy. The party's over-arching goal is to maintain its grip on the nation, and moving so many princelings into top positions is akin to taking out a political insurance policy. "Fundamentally, princelings advocate maintaining one-party dictatorship," said Zhang Lifan, a Beijing-based political commentator. "This is (their) bottom line."
With five Standing Committee members expected to retire in 2017 due to an age limit, it remains to be seen whether the "princelings" can hold their slight edge on the Party's top ruling body. The New York Times' Edward Wong calls out recently-promoted Hu Chunhua and Sun Zhengcai, neither "princelings," who may have an inside edge on an open Standing Committee seat in five years: Mr. Hu's rising star got brighter this month when he was named one of 15 new members on the party's 25-seat Politburo. Political analysts say he could be on track to ascend to the Politburo's elite Standing Committee at the next party congress, in 2017. That would put him in the running for the top party job — and the mantle of leader of China — when Xi Jinping, the new party chief, steps down after his expected two five-year terms. Mr. Hu is the most prominent of a clutch of political stars known as China's "sixth generation." They were handpicked by party leaders and elders years ago to succeed Mr. Xi's fifth generation (the first generation was that of Mao Zedong). Now, those politicians are being slotted into some of the most important posts across China. Political insiders say Mr. Hu will probably be sent soon to Guangdong, a coastal province that is central to China's export economy. His closest rival, Sun Zhengcai, whom Mr. Locke also met this year, was posted earlier this month to Chongqing, the booming southwest municipality of 31 million once run by Bo Xilai, the disgraced party aristocrat. If Mr. Hu and Mr. Sun both make it onto the Standing Committee in 2017, they would be in position to vie for the top two party posts in 2022, which would confer on them the state titles of president or premier.
For more on Sun and Hu's prospects, see 'Chongqing, a Slippery Stepping Stone' on CDT.
© Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: CCP 5th generation, CCP 6th generation, communist party, Politburo Standing Committee, princelings
Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall
 |
Comments